Where is Dont’e Thornton?

[RockyTop1794]

Didn’t see him out on the field and didn’t see him on the stat sheet. Can’t find anything out on Twitter or anywhere else on Vol Nation. Where is Thornton? Is he alive?

Edit: Case closed. He played, we just didn't need him.

 

[TheVolsFrog]

He had a pass to him that was a little long, if he had laid out he may have caught it up this game we pretty much took what NC gave us and ran the ball and put the TE's to work

 

[chuckiepoo]

Didn’t see him out on the field and didn’t see him on the stat sheet. Can’t find anything out on Twitter or anywhere else on Vol Nation. Where is Thornton? Is he alive?

He’s the fifth element. Only when destined…

 

[Vol in Buckeye Land]

More of a vertical route guy and they were playing a lot of dbs.

 

[cherokeeeVOL]

Pretty sure I saw him lined up wide a couple times

 

[walkenvol]

He had a pass to him that was a little long, if he had laid out he may have caught it up this game we pretty much took what NC gave us and ran the ball and put the TE's to work

Thornton is #1 correct ? That was the only play besides Pili’s boneheaded late hit that aggravated me - a lame arsed effort IMO.

 

[Franklin_Vol09]

Look at our reception distribution. TE and backs got way more receptions than WR by far.

 

[VolArmy74]

NC State schemed to take away the deep ball from WR. It worked except for when Squirrel got free. The deep passes were to the TE. Otherwise we ran the wheels off it. We only ran 67 plays. Partly because State opened with a long drive, and they gave us short fields off fumbles. Of those 67 we ran it 44 times and only threw 23 passes.

 

[MurphyVol]

It's weird that we won by 41 and Thornton/McCoy combined for 10 yards

 

[Pride85]

Look at our reception distribution. TE and backs got way more receptions than WR by far.

That is a good stat for this game. They played 3 deep all night to eliminate the deep throw. Gameplan took advantage of that.

 

[rocytop2624]

It's weird that we won by 41 and Thornton/McCoy combined for 10 yards

This is what having depth is like.

 

[MurphyVol]

This is what having depth is like.

Also like someone else said I guess we took what they gave. Not being critical at all but when a JH offense blows someone out it seems weird to have the WRs with 7 catches. That's a credit to coach for adapting.

 

[AllVol11717]

This is what having depth is like.

Agreed. It’s also what having a good playcaller is like.

If the defense sells out to stop the deep ball you find your yards elsewhere, and this staff did that exceptionally well.

 

[VFL-82-JP]

This offense can attack every part of the field, in every way.

When the opposing defense tries to take away the deep ball, we focus on the run and short pass.

Most defenses will try that, because Nico's arm scares them that much.

But that doesn't really slow down our scoring much, it just shifts where our attacks hit from.

So when the player you're excited to see this weekend is a bit of a no-show, don't fret. That just means the other team is trying to shut down the part of the field he specializes in. He'll be back another week. For now, enjoy other guys having a great day.

Go Vols!

 

[PEPPERJAX]

It's weird that we won by 41 and Thornton/McCoy combined for 10 yards

NC State had to pick a poison and limited our WRs. That is why Sampson along with the TEs had great games.

 

[wmcovol]

NCState chose to bleed to death. They played safeties deep, took WRs away but allowed the run game to dominate. And they ignored the TE all game.

 

[Chickenfarmer]

He didn’t even try to get his second hand up. Was trying to make a one handed highlight reel catch in the endzone. I rewound the DVR and watched in slomo. Totally disgusted by his lack of effort on that play. All about me.

 

[volbound1700]

He didn’t even try to get his second hand up. Was trying to make a one handed highlight reel catch in the endzone. I rewound the DVR and watched in slomo. Totally disgusted by his lack of effort on that play. All about me.

Meh... it would have been a very difficult catch. Keep in mind, TV slows things down. It is even faster in real time.

 

[kptvol1452]

NC State schemed to take away the deep ball from WR. It worked except for when Squirrel got free. The deep passes were to the TE. Otherwise we ran the wheels off it. We only ran 67 plays. Partly because State opened with a long drive, and they gave us short fields off fumbles. Of those 67 we ran it 44 times and only threw 23 passes.

State started game on long time consuming drive.... used over 1/2 qtr
Defense adjusted to their short passes and run game..... hats off to Defense
GO VOLS....

 

[Other_Guy]

It was the Sampson & TE show.

 

[VolKnight9]

Thornton is #1 correct ? That was the only play besides Pili’s boneheaded late hit that aggravated me - a lame arsed effort IMO.

I can agree with that to a degree but honestly a penalty or two that sends a message, I’m alright with. Like the block that the 2 o-lineman made all the way into the bench area of NC State. That’s sending a message. Yeah it cost us 15 yards but them boys on the other side of the ball realized real quick they were in for a long night.

 

[calban]

Brilliant example of Taking What They Give you and winning with it.

 

[UTFranklinVol]

Thornton is going to ball out this year based on how he played in my NCAA25 dynasty

 

[Delmar]

It's weird that we won by 41 and Thornton/McCoy combined for 10 yards

That just tells me that we have a bunch of weapons and can use them according to what the defense allows. Nice luxury to have.

 

[UTFranklinVol]

It's weird that we won by 41 and Thornton/McCoy combined for 10 yards

I 100% love that this was true. What it means is Nico and the offense adapted to what was available. We heavily utilized the tight ends and the running game and still won by such a wide margin! Now teams are going to have to think twice playing so many DBs deep!