Dont'e Thornton Jr.'s second touchdown at Tennessee was more memorable than his first.
Ten months after suffering a season-ending injury on a touchdown catch at Missouri, Thornton raced towards the end zone after hauling in a first quarter pass from Nico Iamaleava and helped open the way for a 69-3 rout of Chattanooga to open the No. 15 Vols 2024 season on Saturday.
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Thornton looked healthy and back to full speed. More importantly for him, he looked comfortable.
"It felt great," Thornton said. "I felt like I needed to have it being my first game back, this is the game I expected to have. It felt good."
Comfort wasn't easy to come by for the 6-foot-5, 214-pound Thornton a year ago. He was poised for a big role in Tennessee's offense after transferring from Oregon but never found his footing as a slot receiver, where the Vols were looking to replace Biletnikoff Award winner Jalin Hyatt.
Thornton had seemingly found a home on the outside midway through the 2023 season, but then came the injury.
He was back to health by spring practices and competing for a starting spot on the outside. Thornton made a strong case for himself against Chattanooga. He led the team in receiving with three catches for 105 yards.
Two of those receptions went for touchdowns, the first for 36 yards to cap three touchdown first quarter for Tennessee (1-0) and the other for 10 yards in the second.
The one pass that Thornton didn't score on was 59 yards gain down the sideline.
MORE FROM VOLREPORT: Tennessee offense shines in season-opening rout of Chattanooga
"(Thornton) was starting to play his best football, most comfortable," Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel said. "Being healthy all offseason, being at home on the outside, he's just continued to be extremely comfortable in what we're doing offensively, and he's played really consistently."
The Vols' wide receivers room is deeper than it was last season, as evidenced by the near constant rotation they used in the first half. It's a healthier room, too.
Thornton was one of two receivers back from injury on Saturday. Bru McCoy, who went down with a knee injury on Sept. 30 against South Carolina, had a warm welcome to the field himself, totaling six receptions for 88 yards.
McCoy had a more difficult road to recovery, one that he traveled faster than expected. He credit, at least in part, Thornton for helping in that process.
"(Thornton) worked hard every single day. Just finding ways to improve himself," McCoy said. "It's been awesome to see. It's driven me and pushed me to be better."
MORE FROM VOLREPORT: Everything Josh Heupel said after Vols' season-opening win over Chattanooga
Thornton did more than just move to a different spot on the field.
His transition from figuring himself out to the confident player that headlined Tennessee's offense for half was the result of a simple change in his outlook of the game.
"My mindset going into the offseason was instead of letting the game get to me so much, have fun with it," Thornton said. "I knew at a young age, my reason for playing football was to have fun. Knowing that I'm in college, there were a lot of aspects to it that made the game stressful. I had to bring myself back to the old way of thinking. It's football. Football is to have fun."
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