Tennessee Vols hit with a dose of bad news as Georgia week begins
It didn’t look good when Tennessee Vols WR Dont’e Thornton went down in UT’s 36-7 loss to the Missouri Tigers. The news unfortunately hasn’t gotten any better.
The Vols’ big wideout is out for the remainder of the regular season, at minimum, per Josh Heupel at his Monday press conference.
“Dont’e will be out for the remainder of the regular season,” Heupel said. “We’ll see where we’re at when we get into postseason play.”
Thornton was injured in the second quarter when he went to the ground in the end zone while scooping a ball off the turf for an impressive 46-yard touchdown catch that gave the Vols an early 7-3 lead.
Per sources close to the program, Thornton suffered a high ankle sprain. Those typically take several weeks to recover from, and with the Vols having just two regular season games remaining, that clearly fits with what Heupel said on Monday.
The Vols will not play in a bowl game until likely a couple of days after Christmas at the earliest, so there’s still time for Thornton to potentially recover and be able to appear in a bowl game for Tennessee.
The 6’5″ target was beginning to make a significant impact for the Vols in the passing game. He had the longest catch of the game for Tennessee in their 33-27 win over Kentucky – a 47-yard catch and run that helped UT extend its lead. He had the only highlight play for the Vols on Saturday as well with the touchdown catch that he was injured on.
Now, everyone will have to wait and see if that splash play was his last of the season, or if the Vols will get their big target back to try to finish a season that’s heading south on a high note.
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