Why Is Stephanie Dobbs In A Wheelchair

Seated between his father, Robert, and mother, Stephanie, Joshua Dobbs signs his letter of intent to play football at Tennessee on Feb. 6, 2013.

From the time he first laced up his cleats and strapped on a helmet at age 5, Tennessee senior quarterback Joshua Dobbs has been able to look into the stands and see his parents.

Robert and Stephanie Dobbs have never missed a game during their son’s football career. Stephanie has never missed a single athletic event while Robert missed only three summer travel baseball games 12 years ago.

Although the crowds have grown larger and the stakes have grown higher, the Dobbs have never wavered in their unconditional support.

“It has flown by, but each of the games still feels to me like those very first ones,” Stephanie Dobbs said Wednesday from her home in Alpharetta, Ga. “It’s really a privilege for your child to be able to do something they love in the competitive athletic arena playing in the SEC. We have enjoyed and savored all of those and certainly will be really lucky to continue to savor each one that comes.”

Joshua Dobbs will be returning to the state where it all began on Saturday (TV: WTVF-5, 2:30 p.m.) when No. 11 Tennessee (4-0, 1-0 SEC) plays No. 20 Georgia (3-1, 1-1) at Sanford Stadium in Athens.

He is trying to keep Tennessee in the SEC East driver’s seat for a return to Georgia in December to play in the SEC championship game in Atlanta.

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The last time Tennessee played at Georgia in 2014, Dobbs was a backup and didn’t take any snaps.

The Dobbs family home is only 60 miles from the Georgia campus, and several friends, former coaches and teachers will be in the stands cheering for Dobbs.

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“Joshua has a lot of high school classmates who go to Georgia and we have some friends whose kids attend Georgia who plan to go,” Robert Dobbs said. “Some of them said they will have Tennessee gear hidden under their clothes at the game.”

Dobbs is coming off a memorable performance in Tennessee’s 38-28 win over Florida on Saturday. He accounted for five touchdowns and threw for a career-high 319 yards to spark the Vols’ second-half comeback that snapped an 11-game losing streak in the series.

The 6-foot-3, 210-pound Dobbs was named the SEC Offensive Player of the Week and the Maxwell Award Player of the Week.

Dobbs has completed 61 of 107 passes for 805 yards with 10 touchdowns and five interceptions this season. UT’s all-time leader in rushing yards by a quarterback (1,570), Dobbs has rushed 54 times for 241 yards and four touchdowns in 2016.

Tennessee quarterback Joshua Dobbs (11) runs during first-half action against Florida on Sept. 24, 2016.

The morning after the Florida victory, Dobbs met his parents for their usual Sunday brunch in Knoxville. Instead of bragging about the outcome, he was more concerned about preparing for Georgia and studying. The aerospace engineering major had two exams and two papers due this week.

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“The interesting thing about Joshua is he’s the same Joshua as he was as a little boy playing sports. He has been blessed with talent and to be able to be successful in sports, so there were times playing football that he would be pretty dominating on the field and have phenomenal games,” Stephanie said. “But once he walked off the field that is where he left it. He’s always been very humble, so unless you were able to watch the game you would never know what he did or didn’t do.”

Although Dobbs was never seriously recruited by Georgia, he said it doesn’t provide any added motivation when the teams meet.

“In my class, they already had a QB commit like my sophomore year in high school, so they were kind of off the QB radar early,” said Dobbs this week, referring to Georgia junior backup Brice Ramsey. “I hadn’t even played varsity by that point.”

Tennessee wide receiver Josh Malone (3, quarterback Joshua Dobbs (11) and running back Jalen Hurd (1) celebrate with fans after defeating Florida 38-28 on Sept. 24, 2016.

Tennessee coach Butch Jones is glad Dobbs was overlooked by the local colleges. Jones vividly remembers pursuing Dobbs as part of his first recruiting class at Tennessee in 2013.

“It may have been the longest home visit in the history of home visits. I don’t want to say exactly, but I want to say it was probably four to five hours and Stephanie knew the NCAA rule book from the first page to the last page and had a lot of questions. Not just football, but from a personal growth and development standpoint to our philosophies,” Jones said Monday.

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“She had done her research from the previous schools we had been at, but also from an academic standpoint and the engineering program as well. Josh Dobbs would not be here if it wasn’t for our engineering department, and they did a great job. They had to prove to her and to Mr. Dobbs that we had the academics he needed for life after football and I think it was a great total team effort.”

Dobbs is on schedule to graduate in May and will have completed his five-year degree program in four years with a minor in business.

Tennessee quarterback Joshua Dobbs (11) jogs into the end zone for a touchdown against Northwestern during the first half of the Outback Bowl on Jan. 1, 2016.

“We couldn’t have asked for anything better for Joshua,” Stephanie said. “He has fantastic relationships with his professors and relationships with kids who are not just athletes, and yet he has such wonderful team chemistry with his teammates across the board.”

Robert and Stephanie Dobbs know they have only a few more opportunities to watch their only child take the field as Tennessee’s quarterback.

Despite having witnessed hundreds of games over the years, they never take a single snap for granted.

“This being his senior year, we are just embracing and enjoying every moment and feel blessed being able to see it and experience it,” Robert said. “I am thanking the good Lord that I am alive to see him in college and see him playing the game that he loves to play.”

Rhiannon Potkey on Twitter @TennesseeBeat

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