Tennessee wide receiver Dont’e Thornton is out for the remainder of the regular season after suffering an apparent lower leg injury in the 36-7 loss to Missouri, coach Josh Heupel said Monday.

The Vols (7-3, 3-3 SEC) have two regular season games remaining at Neyland Stadium. They play Georgia (10-0, 7-0) on Saturday (3:30 p.m. ET, CBS) and Vanderbilt (2-9, 0-7) on Nov. 25 (3:30 p.m. ET, SEC Network).

Then comes a bowl game, when Thornton could possibly return.

"Donte will be out for the remainder of the regular season," Heupel said. "We'll see where we're at as we get into postseason play."

Thornton is the second UT wide receiver lost to an injury. Bru McCoy suffered a season-ending ankle injury in a win over South Carolina on Sept. 30.

Thornton, an Oregon transfer, has 13 receptions for 224 yards and one touchdown in his first season with UT. He suffered the injury while making his first TD catch. He got position in front of the Missouri defender and dove to catch Joe Milton’s 46-yard pass in the end zone.

Thornton remained on the ground after the catch and grabbed his right lower leg. He was helped off the field and did not return to the game.

How Tennessee replaces Dont'e Thornton

Thornton had just turned the corner in UT's offense after a sluggish start to the season.

Three games ago, Thornton moved from slot receiver to outside receiver, where he is more comfortable. He cracked the starting lineup and caught three passes for 63 yards in a win over Kentucky. And the play in which he was injured was his best catch of the season.

Redshirt freshmen Chas Nimrod and Kaleb Webb replaced Thornton in the Missouri game, and they're expected to do the same against Georgia.

VOLS MAILBAG Tennessee fans want Josh Heupel to take blame, fire coaches, bench QB Joe Milton

Webb has 10 catches for 109 yards and one TD this season. Nimrod has eight catches for 97 yards and one TD. They'll face physical defensive backs for Georgia who will play tight man coverage.

"You always try to put those guys in a position where they can go win," Heupel said. "In this one, there's a bunch of one-on-one (matchups). It's going to be tight contested coverage on the outside. At the end of the day, they're going to have to go win some of those battles."

Adam Sparks is the Tennessee football beat reporter. Email adam.sparks@knoxnews.com. X, formerly known as Twitter@AdamSparks. Support strong local journalism by subscribing at knoxnews.com/subscribe.

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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Tennessee football's Dont'e Thornton out for regular season with injury