‘You’re seeing him grow’: Vols not concerned with Dont’e Thornton’s slow start
Joey Halzle has no concerns over Dont’e Thornton’s slow start to the season. Tennessee’s first-year offensive coordinator knows the transfer receiver will get his eventually.
“What we do is different,” Halzle said during his press conference Tuesday. “And sometimes there’s a learning curve. You’ve seen it before, like we saw Jalin Hyatt, Year 1. Year 2 was different.”
Hyatt caught 21 passes fro 226 yards and two touchdown in 13 games in 2021, the first year under head coach Josh Heupel. He erupted with 67 catches for 1,267 yards and a Tennessee singe-season record 15 touchdowns, earning Consensus All-American honors and becoming the program’s first Biletnikoff Award winner.
Dont’e Thornton through three games: 5 catches, 65 yards
Thornton, the 6-foot-5, 214-pound slot receiver who headlined Tennessee’s transfer class after making the move from Oregon, has five catches for 65 yards through the first three games of the season.
He caught two passes for 12 yards in his debut with the Vols in the 49-13 win over Virginia on September 2. He didn’t have a catch against Austin Peay a week later, then on Saturday night in Florida caught three passes for 53 yards, including a 43-yarder in the third quarter.
“You saw Dont’e Saturday night make some big plays down the field,” Halzle said. “He got some balls on the edge and made a guy miss and had got us a nice play back on track when we were behind schedule. So you’re seeing him grow.”
The best part, according to Halzle, has been Thornton approach despite the slow start.
“What I love about Dont’e is his attitude hasn’t shifted,” Halzle said. “He hasn’t gone into (thinking) ‘Well, I’m not getting the production I want, so now I’m mad.’ All he’s doing is trying to figure out how do I get more production? What do I do? What do I need to learn? What more do I need to watch?
“He’s been meeting extra, like as much as anybody, like a freshman. So that’s what’s great about him and I expect his productivity to continue to grow as we go through the season.”
Up Next: No. 23 Tennessee vs. UTSA, Saturday, 4 p.m. ET, SEC Network
Halzle believes that’s the case for the rest of Tennessee’s wide receiver group, too, after some drops and missed connections early in the season.
“I think they’re a group of guys that works really hard,” Halzle said. “They’re intelligent, they’re athletic and they want it really bad. So I have no concern that we’re gonna operate at a high level in the passing game. They’ve done a bunch of really good stuff, like you watch them practice, like those guys are flying around the field. It’s a really good thing to see.
“That’s why as a staff, like there’s never been, alright, what do we do about this? It is coming along, we’re getting there. We need to get there faster. That’s on us. But I have no doubt in my mind that this is gonna come together at a high level.”
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