Dont'e Thornton says he understands why Ohio State blew out Tennessee now that he's playing under former Buckeyes OC Chip Kelly

The Tennessee Vols ended the 2024 season with a 42-17 loss to the Ohio State Buckeyes in the first round of the College Football Playoff. 

Ohio State put up 473 yards of total offense in that matchup. Tennessee, meanwhile, mustered only 256 total yards of offense. 

Chip Kelly, the offensive coordinator for the Buckeyes last season, left Columbus a couple of weeks after Ohio State's win against Notre Dame in the national championship game to take the offensive coordinator job with the Las Vegas Raiders. 

That means former Tennessee wide receiver Dont'e Thornton, who was selected by the Raiders in the fourth round of the 2025 NFL Draft, will play under Kelly this fall after losing to him and the Buckeyes last season. 

Thornton was asked on Monday about playing under Kelly after losing to him last December. 

"I love it," said Thornton when asked about playing in Kelly's offense. "I played (against Kelly and the Buckeyes) in my last college game, in the first round of the playoffs, and they beat us bad. So being able to play in his offense, I see why they did that."

Ouch. That might be tough for Vols fan to hear. 

Thornton, by the way, noted that he's had to adjust to Kelly's offense after coming from Tennessee's offense, which didn't have as many route concepts. 

"Being in a more open offense, having more route concepts and different things like that, with me coming from my past offense, we didn't do too much of that...it was just an adjustment for me to make," said Thornton. "Once I got the hang of it, it's been a lot easier for me." 

Thornton is off to a great start with the Raiders, and it appears he'll play a key role in Kelly's offense this fall.