Former Palm Beach Lakes football standout Brandon Thompkins found a home in Orlando nearly a decade after playing his last down with the Rams.
Brandon Thompkins (right) with Orlando Predators fan Alan Mentser, broke franchise records this season. (Photo provided)
The wide receiver completed his second season with the Orlando Predators of the Arena Football League last week, and it was a record-setting one.
Thompkins, 28, set franchise records for most receptions in a season (145) and all-purpose yards in a season (3,693). He led Orlando in receptions, receiving yards and kick returns.
The Predators finished 12-5 after falling to the Jacksonville Sharks 69-68 in a first-round playoff game Aug. 6.
Orlando also lost in the first round of last year’s playoffs. Thompkins, then in his first season with the team, was named Second Team All-Arena.
“It’s been fun,” Thompkins said of playing in Orlando. “I’ve never been able to interact with fans. Being back in Florida is fun, because I get to play in front of my whole family. They can come to the games in Orlando. I’ve learned to like it a lot. They show us a lot of love.”
Thompkins played three varsity seasons at Palm Beach Lakes. He graduated in 2006. (Post file photo)
Thompkins, a West Palm Beach native, played three varsity seasons at defensive back and wide receiver for Palm Beach Lakes.
He says he enjoyed his experience there.
“It was like playing with brothers,” he said. “We all still communicate to this day. Playing high school football was some of the best times in my life.”
Thompkins went on to play four years of college football at Arkansas State, where he started as a true freshman.
After graduating with a degree in criminology in 2010, he was signed as an undrafted free agent by the BC Lions of the Canadian Football League.
He joined the Spokane Shock of the Arena Football League a short time later, and also played for the Philadelphia Soul and Los Angeles Kiss before landing in Orlando in 2015.
Thompkins will remain in Orlando during the offseason, working out and hoping to earn an invitation to an NFL training camp.
“Football teaches you a lot of life goals, and I still have some goals in mind that I really want to reach,” he said. “And that’s being in the NFL.”
