Planet Athlete Academy 6-foot-3 senior guard prospect Sammy Thompkins has been one of the more underrated guard prospects in the country for some time. After having a very strong spring and summer performance last club season, Thompkins was considered as the state's best individual player early in the high school season, as he torched his opponents with numerous scoring outbursts. But Thompkins' career would take a winding twist early in the season, when he was released from the Vikings' basketball team by head coach Ray Portela.
As a result, Thompkins has had to pick up his basketball career with Planet Athlete Academy this season, a local prep school in the valley. While things did not work out for Thompkins on the Sunnyslope basketball team this season, he is still currently attending classes at Sunnyslope and is on pace to graduate in the spring. Thompkins, however, is competing for a loaded Planet Athlete program coached by Eric Bowman.
This week, Thompkins went for another scoring outburst, but this time it was against national basketball power - Findlay Prep (NV). In his team's loss to Findlay Prep this week, Thompkins exploded for a game-high 32 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists and 5 steals.
As a result, Thompkins is now receiving loads of Division-I interest, with numerous high-major programs now looking to get involved. This week, Thompkins scheduled a visit to St. Johns University for the weekend of 2/27. Over next weekend, Thompkins will visit St. Johns while they host Georgetown in an exciting match-up.
USC is now also very hot on Thompkins trail, while Utah, Cal, Colorado and Purdue have expressed serious interest in recruiting Thompkins as well. Thompkins also still holds scholarship offers from Rice, San Jose State, Sam Houston, Cal Poly and UC-Davis.
Thompkins will look to make his decision this spring and, while he plans to take several visits before reaching a decision, he could make a decision soon with the heated interest he has been getting.
We will continue to follow the recruitment of Thompkins closely, and bring you any recruiting updates as they continue to develop.
