Oregon Ducks sophomore wide receiver Dont'e Thornton has likely played his last snap in Eugene. He announced that he was entering the transfer portal Monday evening on social media.
Thornton saw an uptick in snaps in 2022 down the home stretch of the regular season after veteran wide wideout Chase Cota was injured against the California Golden Bears nearly a month ago. The 6-foot-5, 199-pound Baltimore native finished the season with 17 receptions for 366 yards and one touchdown.
He came to Eugene as a four-star prospect in Mario Cristobal's 2021 recruiting class. Prior to signing with the Ducks in 2020, he was committed to James Franklin at Penn State from February to August of 2019.
Very unfortunate news keeps piling up for the Ducks as the team looks for a lower bowl game after losing the opportunity to play in the Pac-12 championship game and a potential Rose Bowl appearance. With the departure of Thorton Oregon will still have a great receiving room coming back for the 2023 season.
Leading the group next season will once again be Troy Frankin and Kris Hudson as both led the team in both receptions and yards for the Ducks offense. Younger talent will have another offseason to develop and potentially make an impact as the third wideout with Cota departing after this season.
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Names including Kyle Kasper, Isaiah Brevard and Josh Delgado could carve out larger roles as the No. 3 wide receiver behind Troy Franklin and Kris Hutson. At the time of Thornton's decision, the 2023 class is slated to add two talented receiver commits in five-star Jurrion Dickey and four-star Ashton Cozart, who both have been hard commits for Oregon for some time.
As the weeks develop and the coaching carousel begins to ramp up there's potential for more athletes players to follow Thornton's decision and enter the portal. Thornton helped Oregon when they called his number this season and now he'll look for a new home.
Former offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham also parted ways with the program to become the head coach at Arizona State, so this could have a significant impact on player decisions to entering the portal moving forward.
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