Following the 2021 Oregon football season, the Ducks are being asked to replace 85 receptions, 1,262 yards, and 7 touchdowns from the wide receiver room.
With the loss of Devon Williams, Johnny Johnson, Jaylon Redd, and Mycah Pittman, Oregon is now left with a relatively young WR depth chart that consists of multiple underclassmen, and only one player — UCLA transfer Chase Cota — with more than two seasons of collegiate experience.
During spring practice thus far, we’ve been looking for which players are going to take a step up and potentially lead the room, both with their voice and with increased production on the field. While you can’t determine all of that just from watching practice, it seems like sophomore WR Dont’e Thorton is a promising candidate.
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After a relatively uneventful freshman campaign, Thorton broke out in the Alamo Bowl against Oklahoma, hauling in four catches for 90 yards and a touchdown. Prior to that, Thornton had played in just three games for the Ducks, where he had just 5 catches for 85 yards and a touchdown. It was a promising end to the season that gave fans a glimpse of what might be to come for the young pass-catcher.
“I feel like I’ve still got a lot of room to improve,” Thornton said on Thursday. “I’m still improving every day, but the bowl game let me know that I really can do this. Like, I really can play football at a high level, so that was really like my confidence booster there.”
As a former 4-star recruit who came to Oregon as the third-best WR to ever commit to the Ducks, the start of his career was understandably underwhelming for Thorton. There was a stacked WR room ahead of him, and while the Ducks weren’t finding much success in the passing game under Anthony Brown, a clear path to success on the field wasn’t always obvious.
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