Greg McElroy identifies Tennessee’s breakout star entering 2023 season

Tennessee has undergone a changing of the guard on offense over the offseason, losing their top two offensive talent in Hendon Hooker and Jalin Hyatt to the NFL. The Vols will need two men to step up in their place — and ESPN’s Greg McElroy believes Josh Heupel has found them.

McElroy named new quarterback Joe Milton as Tennessee’s expected MVP of the 2023 season — but the Vols’ breakout star will be one of his main targets this season: Dont’e Thornton

“A transfer from Oregon, and he’s probably going to be the next in line at Rocky Top,” McElroy said. “He’s 6-foot-5, 215-pounds, and the thing that made Jalin Hyatt the Biletnikoff Award winner was his top-end speed. 24 miles per hour is insane when he gets into the open field. Well, guess what? Already on the GPS, Dont’e Thornton has already reached 24 MPH.”

Thornton was never used to his full potential in Eugene, but finished his 2022 season having played 11 games for the Ducks, leaving Oregon after catching 17 passes for 366 yards and two touchdowns.

“He didn’t get a ton of opportunities at Oregon, but that’s not the guy that he is expected to be in Tennessee’s offense,” McElroy said. “We know that they have weapons: Squirrel White, Bru McCoy, Ramel Keyton. But Dont’e Thornton can be the guy that really takes the top off the defense.”

If Thornton doesn’t pan out like McElroy predicts, the Vols should have more than enough production to compensate. McCoy leads the returning group, having been Hooker’s No. 2 option last season having caught 52 passes for 667 yards and four touchdowns.

Keyton opted to return to college for another season and looks to add to his 31 receptions, 562 receiving yards and — aside from Hyatt’s 15 touchdowns — had the most receiving touchdowns on the team with five. White is the other option having returned after hauling in nearly 500 receiving yards last season.

With this group having someone like Joe Milton — whose arm-strength has been well documented — as their gunslinger, Tennessee should once again have one of the SEC’s premier offenses in 2023.

That’ll be put to the test when the Vols kick their regular season off against Virginia, where they are 27.5-point favorite, according to Vegas Insider. After that, Tennessee’s first SEC test comes two weeks later when they travel to The Swamp for a matchup with the Florida Gators.