Dont'E Thornton

Former wide receiver at Tennessee. 2024: 26 catches, 661 receiving yards, 6 TD.

WR · Tennessee · Sr. · #1

6′5″ · 214 lb · Baltimore, MD

CFB Index 56 · #160 of 466 WRsHigh confidenceLas Vegas — drafted 2025, Rd 4, Pick 6, #108 overall

Recruiting

4★

WR recruit

No. 57 nationally · Signed with Oregon

No college snaps yet.

His career numbers, season by season

The story

Former wide receiver at Tennessee. 2024: 26 catches, 661 receiving yards, 6 TD.

Signed as a 4-star recruit to Oregon in 2021.
Drafted round 4 by the Las Vegas in 2025.

His career, year by year

How it ended

Four seasons at Tennessee, 1,426 receiving yards — drafted at #108 overall by Las Vegas.

His career

He barely played early on. Then he did not come off the field.

The week the volume broke through — put up 118 yds at Vanderbilt.Vanderbilt · W 36-232024

20213 games

Signed with Oregon4-star out of Mount Saint Joseph

2025

Drafted by Las Vegasround 4, pick 108

Career arc

Recruit

★★★★

#57 national

CFB

College

2 teams

2021–2024

NFL

NFL Draft

R4 · #108

Las Vegas · 2025

Coaching lineage · 2021–2024

1 coach

2021–2024

Josh Heupel

Tennessee

Played his entire career under Josh Heupel.

Where He Ended Up · NFL

Las VegasEntering 2nd NFL season

#108Rd 4 · Pick 6

Las VegasEntering 2nd NFL season

View college career stats ↓

2024 snapshot

Season context · Team result + system

2021Oregon10-4HC: Bryan McClendon · Run-leaning

2022Oregon10-3HC: Dan Lanning · Run-leaning

2023Tennessee9-4HC: Josh Heupel · Run-leaning

2024Tennessee10-3HC: Josh Heupel · Run-heavy

Where this profile ranks vs the WR cohort

Box-score + play-by-play EPA percentiles

56Quality starter #160 of 466?

High confidence10 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: yards / catch (100th percentile). Strength: epa / target (98th percentile).

Real play-by-play efficiency

Yards / catch#3 / 610 · 100th pct

23.2

EPA / target#12 / 610 · 98th pct

1.60

TD rate#34 / 610 · 94th pct

14.3%

Explosive rate#70 / 610 · 88th pct

25.0%

Catch rate#413 / 610 · 32nd pct

85.7%

Box-score rates (5)

Yards / catch#3 / 541 · 100th pct

25.4

Long catch#9 / 541 · 98th pct

Rec TDs#65 / 541 · 85th pct

Rec yards#130 / 541 · 76th pct

661

Receptions#313 / 541 · 41st pct

Season trend

EPA / target— first qualifying season

Explosive rate— first qualifying season

Catch rate— first qualifying season

TD rate— first qualifying season

Yards / catch— first qualifying season

Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season. Most bars are box-score rates; EPA / success-rate bars are computed from real play-by-play (offense only — no defensive EPA model exists yet).

Splits & context

Splits · Per-game

2024 season · 11 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	REC/g	YDS/g	YPR	TD/g
Home7g	2.7	59.1	22.2	0.4
Road4g	1.8	61.8	33.0	0.8

First half vs Second half

	REC/g	YDS/g	YPR	TD/g
Weeks 1-76g	1.7	51.5	28.4	0.5
Weeks 8+5g	3.2	70.4	23.3	0.6

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Josh Heupel

Scheme reads (pass share, tempo, sack rate) need at least 3 team games — 2 games in so far.

Awards

Player standing · 2024

Rotational

Earning real snaps in the rotation without a starting job.

our read surprisingly productive for a receiver with no award recognition yet — top-1% yards per catch, top-2% TD rate.2024 profile

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Index Score

56 · #160 of 466 WRs

Former four-star. Now #160 at the position.

Career stats

Season	Team
2024	Tennessee	26	661	25.4	6	--
2023	Tennessee	13	224	17.2	1	--
2022	Oregon	17	366	21.5	1	--
2021	Oregon	9	175	19.4	2	--
Career		65	1,426	21.9	10	--

Season	Team
2024	Tennessee	--	--	--	--	--
2023	Tennessee	--	--	--	--	--
2022	Oregon	2	6	--	--	--
2021	Oregon	--	--	--	--	--
Career		2	6	--	--	--

Signature game

SIGNATURE GAME · Week 8 · 2024

W 24–17

vs Alabama

3 rec · 70 yds

A wire-to-wire battle — won by 7 at home.

With N. Iamaleava — 194 yds · 1 TD · 1 INT · QBR 81.2 · 44 rush yds (9 car) · J. Ross — 46 AVG · 2 IN 20 · 49 LONG

Signature plays

Signature plays · top plays by |EPA|

The plays that mattered most

fact

Week 14 · Vanderbilt · 2&5 · Q2 · EPA +6.75Nico Iamaleava pass complete to Dont'e Thornton Jr. for 86 yds for a TD (Max Gilbert KICK)
Week 11 · Mississippi State · 1&10 · Q2 · EPA +5.93Nico Iamaleava pass complete to Dont'e Thornton Jr. for 73 yds for a TD (Max Gilbert KICK)
Week 4 · Oklahoma · 2&1 · Q1 · EPA +4.83Nico Iamaleava pass complete to Dont'e Thornton Jr. for 66 yds for a TD (Max Gilbert KICK)
Week 8 · Alabama · 3&6 · Q3 · EPA +4.70Nico Iamaleava pass complete to Dont'e Thornton Jr. for 55 yds to the ALA 3 for a 1ST down
Week 3 · Kent State · 3&5 · Q2 · EPA +4.24Gaston Moore pass complete to Dont'e Thornton Jr. for 53 yds to the KENT 32 for a 1ST down
Week 1 · Chattanooga · 1&10 · Q1 · EPA +3.71Nico Iamaleava pass complete to Dont'e Thornton Jr. for a 1ST down
Week 6 · Arkansas · 3&2 · Q4 · EPA +3.60Nico Iamaleava pass complete to Dont'e Thornton Jr. for 42 yds to the ARK 25 for a 1ST down
Week 1 · Chattanooga · 1&10 · Q1 · EPA +3.01Dont'e Thornton Jr. 36 Yd pass from Nico Iamaleava (Max Gilbert Kick)
Week 14 · Vanderbilt · 1&10 · Q1 · EPA +2.76Nico Iamaleava pass complete to Dont'e Thornton Jr. for 28 yds for a TD (Max Gilbert KICK)
Week 1 · Chattanooga · 1&10 · Q2 · EPA +2.51Dont'e Thornton Jr. 10 Yd pass from Nico Iamaleava (Max Gilbert Kick)

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2024 season · 11 games

Box score · CFBD

Wk	Opp	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG	Note
Wk 1	W 69-3vs Chattanooga	3	105	35.0	2	59	2 TD catches
Wk 3	W 71-0vs Kent State	2	64	32.0	0	53
Wk 4	W 25-15@ Oklahoma	2	73	36.5	1	66
Wk 6	L 14-19@ Arkansas	1	42	42.0	0	42
Wk 7	W 23-17vs Florida	1	11	11.0	0	11
Wk 8	W 24-17vs Alabama	3	70	23.3	0	55
Wk 10	W 28-18vs Kentucky	5	36	7.2	0	9
Wk 11	W 33-14vs Mississippi State	3	104	34.7	1	73
Wk 13	W 56-0vs UTEP	2	24	12.0	0	12
Wk 14	W 36-23@ Vanderbilt	3	118	39.3	2	86	Season-high 118 yds
Bowl	L 17-42@ Ohio State	1	14	14.0	0	14
Total		26	661	26.1	6	86