The highlight play and the final play of Dont’e Thornton’s first season as a Tennessee receiver were one and the same.
In the surprisingly inept performance by the Volunteers during their 36-7 loss at Missouri last November, the 6-foot-5, 214-pounder from Baltimore laid out to catch a beautiful 46-yard touchdown pass from Joe Milton III and give Tennessee a short-lived 7-3 lead early in the second quarter. Thornton suffered a lower-body injury on the score that sidelined him for the final two regular-season contests and the 35-0 thrashing of Iowa in the Citrus Bowl, but he is back for his senior season and has practiced all spring with the Vols.
“I feel very comfortable now having a year under my belt with this offense,” Thornton said Wednesday in a news conference. “I feel like everything is a lot easier for me, so now I can play faster and not have to think too much when I’m playing.
“As for last year, going down wasn’t anything I could control.”
Tennessee held its eighth spring practice Wednesday morning and is scheduled to conduct its second scrimmage Thursday night inside Neyland Stadium.