Dont'e Thornton Jr. was one of Tennessee's biggest transfer portal hauls last spring.

At 6-foot-5, 205 pound, the former Oregon wide receiver brings both speed and size to an already talented receivers room and he has shown plenty of both through two weeks of fall camp, including Thursday's scrimmage inside Neyland Stadium.

Thornton has mostly worked at the slot position where 2022 Biletnikoff Award winner Jalin Hyatt excelled a year ago but has the ability to play the outside, too.

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"Dont'e's got the ability to play both and I think for us this year, we probably have a little bit more mobility," Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel said. "Guys can do multiple things within the offense than probably how we've played them, the first couple of years that I've been here."

Thornton, who had 26 catches for 541 yards and three touchdowns in two seasons at Oregon, has impressed in the open media portions of practices and is expected to compete for the starting role at the slot with sophomore Squirrel White.

"We're working him in different spots," receivers coach Kelsey Pope said. "We are doing a good job of trying his skillset to put him in some different situations. Just his growth the most was getting here and learning what we do, learning how we operate on the field and in the building. There is a work ethic. I think that has been brought on by the players. It is expected here now."

Thornton was attracted to Heupel's "receiver friendly" system that helped produce All-SEC seasons from Hyatt and Cedric Tillman that previous two seasons.

He had a calculated approach when weighing his transfer option, carefully researching Tennessee's offensive success under Heupel.

WATCH ON VOLREPORT: Tennessee football head coach Josh Heupel details fall camp scrimmage

"(The offense) is definitely a big reason for why I came here," Thornton said. "The biggest part about this offense is that coach Heupel want to throw the ball a lot of the time throughout his first two years. It was the most any head coach or offensive minded coach threw the ball with success in their first two seasons. If you're a receiver this will be the best place for you to be."

Though Tennessee lost Hyatt and Tillman to the NFL Draft, the Vols return a lot of experience at the position.

Bru McCoy, Ramel Keyton and White all contributed last season and two of them are expected to hold starting roles by the time the season kicks off against Virginia on Sept. 2 in Nashville.

The rest of the rotation is being ironed out in camp with 2023 class signee Chas Nimrod and redshirt freshman Kaleb Webb looking for early playing time after strong spring practices.

WATCH ON VOLREPORT: Tennessee football holds its first scrimmage of fall camp, ft. Joe Milton

The two stood out in the scrimmage according to Heupel.

"I think the rotation piece is going to be a little bit fluid with all of those guys," Heupel said. "Some of our young guys continue to grow and make some real strides too—Chas Nimrod, Kaleb Webb. The four older guys continue to push and compete. I like watch they've been doing. They've operated really efficiently in what we're doing offensively and within the scheme of what we're doing. I think they're playing with great fundamentals and techniques, so all in all, like what they're doing.

"The back half of training camp—we're essentially at the halfway point as far as pure training camp before we get into school—back half of it will be really important too."

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