Camden Thompson on playing two sports at WMU: ‘I couldn’t give one up just yet’
Whitehall senior Camden Thompson, left, talks to his teammates during a team camp at Hope College on Wednesday, June 12, 2024. He’s resting an injured ankle and isn’t playing yet. (Photo | Lenny Padilla).
HOLLAND, Mich. - Camden Thompson was pacing the sidelines as his Whitehall High School teammates played in a team basketball camp on Wednesday afternoon at Hope College.
It’s killing him not to play, but the incoming senior has to rest a lingering ankle injury.
Thompson is a competitor.
So much so that he committed to play basketball and football at Western Michigan University earlier this week.
“Western Michigan recruited me pretty hard,” Thompson said. “The coaches are great. They made me feel welcome there and they have great facilities there.”
The 6-foot-5 receiver on the football team and forward on the basketball team said he couldn’t choose just one sport.
“I didn’t want to limit myself and give up one of these sports,” he said. “I’ve love both of these for a long time. Basketball a bit longer than football. But I’m realizing what kind of future I can have in football. It was a hard choice, but in my heart, I wanted to play both. I couldn’t give one up just yet.”
Whitehall’s Camden Thompson shoots a jumper against Montague on Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024. (Photo | Lenny Padilla).
His basketball coach Christian Subdon wasn’t surprised that Thompson committed to WMU over his other college options.
“I’m super-excited for him,” Subdon said. “I went with him to WMU when he committed. You should have seen him light up when he said he was going to commit. I think they’ll take really good care of him.”
Thompson, who was a dominant receiver for the Vikings a year ago, won’t be playing that posistion in the fall.
“I’ll be playing quarterback this year,” he said. “Our quarterback (Kyle Stratton) just graduated. I last played QB my freshman year when I was on JV and we went 8-0. But I haven’t gotten a chance to throw the ball in about two years. But I’ll be fine.”
On the basketball court, he is one of the best players in the state. He averaged 20.7 points and a stunning 17 rebounds and 4.8 assists for the 22-1 VIkings.
“Everyone probably thinks its basketball,” he said of which sport he’s better at. “But I don’t think I’ve really gotten a chance to show how good I can bee in football just yet. I can get a lot better at football.”
Thompson has been fighting a bad ankle for the past few months and hasn’t been able to compete with his Grand Rapids Storm travel team for awhile. It also limited his time on the track and field team. But he did reach the state finals in the high jump for the third-straight year.
“I came back four weeks after a high ankle sprain,” Thompson said. “I never had the full range of motion in my foot. I just played on it. I should be good to go in about two weeks. We’ll see. Hopefully I’ll play at BCAM (at Grand Valley). I should be 80 percent by then.”
Thompson had basketball offers from Oakland University, Central Michigan, Stephen F. Austin, Bowling Green, Ferris State, Grand Valley State and Northern Michigan. He had football offers from Marshall, Akron, Saginaw Valley, Ferris State and GVSU.
Camden Thompson plays with the Grand Rapids Storm during the Storm Classic basketball tournament on Saturday, April 20, 2024. (Photo | Lenny Padilla).
