Dont'E Thornton

#1 · WR · Sr. · Tennessee6′5″ · 214 lb · Baltimore, MD · Mount Saint Joseph

Dont'E Thornton: WR · Tennessee · #1.

Similar players

Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.

Javian HesterOklahoma · 2024 · 81% season match
Dacari CollinsLouisville · 2025 · 79% season match
Michael JeffersonLouisiana · 2021 · 65% season match
Matt LandersToledo · 2021 · 64% season match
Quentin SkinnerKansas · 2024 · 60% season match

Dont'E Thornton

WR · Tennessee · Sr · #1

Beats you over the top. The four seasons span two programs and three head coaches: Bryan McClendon, Dan Lanning and Josh Heupel. A game that shows it: 118 receiving yards and 3 receptions against Vanderbilt — Week 14, 2024.

Style of play

Play style

Stretches the field vertically. Every snap is a potential big play.

Fans

No outlet on our list has written about this player by name this season.

Tennessee in the news

Napier fired as Florida coachOct 30
2027 CB Preston Glasco commits to TennesseeOct 29
Tennessee fires head coachOct 26
Tennessee AD criticizes officiatingOct 25

Where to follow

Career stats

Swipe the table sideways for more columns.

Season	Team
2024	Tennessee	26	661	25.4	6	86
2023	Tennessee	13	224	17.2	1	47
2022	Oregon	17	366	21.5	1	58
2021	Oregon	9	175	19.4	2	66
Career		65	1,426	21.9	10	86

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

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2024 season · 11 games

Box score · CFBD

Swipe the table sideways for more columns.

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@ No. 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 No. 7 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@ No. 6 Ohio State	1	14	14.0	0	14
Total		26	661	25.4	6	86

Signature game

Week 14 · 2024

W 36-23

at Vanderbilt

3 rec · 118 yds · 2 TD

With N. Iamaleava — 257 yds · 4 TD · 1 INT · QBR 90.8 · 42 rush yds (6 car) · D. Sampson — 178 rush yds (25 car)

Signature plays

The plays that mattered most

Week 14 · Vanderbilt · 2nd and 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 · 1st and 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 · 2nd and 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 · 3rd and 6 · Q3 · EPA +4.70Nico Iamaleava pass complete to Dont'e Thornton Jr. for 55 yds to the ALA 3 for a
Week 3 · Kent State · 3rd and 5 · Q2 · EPA +4.24Gaston Moore pass complete to Dont'e Thornton Jr. for 53 yds to the KENT 32 for a
Week 1 · Chattanooga · 1st and 10 · Q1 · EPA +3.71Nico Iamaleava pass complete to Dont'e Thornton Jr. for a

4 more plays

Week 6 · Arkansas · 3rd and 2 · Q4 · EPA +3.60Nico Iamaleava pass complete to Dont'e Thornton Jr. for 42 yds to the ARK 25 for a
Week 1 · Chattanooga · 1st and 10 · Q1 · EPA +3.01Iamaleava to Thornton Jr.: a 36-yard touchdown pass.
Week 14 · Vanderbilt · 1st and 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 · 1st and 10 · Q2 · EPA +2.51Iamaleava to Thornton Jr.: a 10-yard touchdown pass.

Teams and coaches

2021Oregon10-4HC: Mario Cristobal · Run-leaning

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

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

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

Our ratings

CFB Zeitgeist Score 56 (#160 of 466). Show the ratings

Where this profile ranks vs the WR cohort

Box-score + play-by-play EPA percentiles · 2024 season

56Quality starter #160 of 466 · 2024?

10 metrics · season cumulative

2024 score: the 2026 sample is not big enough yet. The rows below are 2026 so far. 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 in 2024. 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

Home and road splits, scheme and staff

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

2024 season

Head Coach

Josh Heupel

Pass share

39.3%

373 pass / 576 run

Plays / game

73.0

13 games

Team sack rate

7.0%

412 dropbacks · PBP

Scheme: Run-heavy.

Awards

Player standing · 2024

26 catches in 11 games

Fewer catches a game than most FBS receivers who play every week.

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 Zeitgeist Score

56 · #160 of 466 WRs · 2024

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

Dont'E Thornton

Similar players

Style of play

Fans

Tennessee in the news

Where to follow

Career stats

Game log

Signature game

Signature plays

Teams and coaches

Our ratings

Splits

Awards

26 catches in 11 games

Four seasons, two schools, drafted

2021 3 games

2025