Josh Heupel reveals Dont'e Thornton will miss remainder of regular season

Tennessee receiver Dont’e Thornton is out for the final two games of the regular season after suffering an injury this past week, coach Josh Heupel revealed Monday. Thornton injured his right leg in Saturday’s 36-7 loss to Missouri.

The Vols receiver will miss games against Georgia and Vanderbilt to close out the year, though Heupel left the door open for him to return for the bowl game.

“Dont’e will be out for the remainder of the regular season,” the coach said. “We’ll see where we’re at as we head into postseason play.”

Thornton transferred to Tennessee this offseason after spending the first two seasons of his college career at Oregon. He is the Vols’ third-leading receiver with 13 catches for 224 yards and a touchdown.

Thornton unfortunately suffered the injury while making his first touchdown catch of the season, hauling in a 46-yard pass from Joe Milton. He immediately went down and grabbed his leg, having to later be helped off the field by the Tennessee training staff.

Thornton is the second Vols receiver to be lost for the remainder of the season with injury. Bru McCoy suffered an ankle injury earlier in the year after appearing in only five games.

The injury comes at a tough time as Dont’e Thornton was just starting to see an uptick in his production. He had managed six catches for 135 yards and a touchdown over the past three games. Redshirt freshmen Chas Nimrod and Kaleb Webb are expected to take on larger roles in effort to replace Thornton.

Webb entered the game against Missouri to finish with four catches for 38 yards while Nimrod had a pair of receptions for 17 yards.

“Young guys, there was some real positive things that they did through the course of the game,” Heupel said. “Chas, Kaleb, I liked a majority of what they did.”

So far this season, Webb and Nimrod have combined for 18 catches for 206 yards and two touchdowns. They should continue to split time in Thornton’s absence. Squirrel White and Ramel Keyton have been the top two options for the Vols this season and will have even more on their shoulders now with the depleted receiving corps.

Tennessee will aim to close out the season strong and hope that Thornton can make it back in time for the bowl game. It kicks off against Georgia at 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday in Athens.