Cam Dooley and Brandon Thomas receive basketball offers

Published 12:00 pm Thursday, September 8, 2022

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Valley basketball stars Cam Dooley and Brandon Thomas received scholarship offers from Gadsden State Community College on Tuesday.

This was Dooley’s second basketball offer, and Thomas’ first offer.

Gadsden State is part of the National Junior College Athletic Association.

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Dooley is a hybrid player who could play guard or forward, and Thomas is a power forward.

Both of them played with each other for the Tri-City Elite AAU team over the summer, and now they’ll have the opportunity to play college ball together.

For Thomas, this is his first offer.

“I went to Gadsden State this summer,” Thomas said. “It was our first basketball camp when the live period wasn’t going on. I talked to one of the coaches there, and he said he liked me and Cam.”

Thomas liked what he saw from Gadsden State.

“It was good,” Thomas said. “The campus looked nice. They had little scooters to ride on. The gym was straight.”

Thomas has been hearing from other schools like Alabama State, Louisville and Texas Tech.

Thomas believes his leadership is his best quality on the court.

“I’m a leader, and I’m vocal,” Thomas said. “We don’t have a lot of vocal people. I can score when coach [Marshon] Harper needs me to score.”

Thomas and Dooley are not only teammates in Valley, but Thomas believes they’re a dynamic duo.

“If you ask me, we’re the best frontcourt duo in the state of Alabama,” Thomas said.

They played together over the summer for the Tri-City Elite AAU team.

“It went amazing,” Thomas said. “We both played in three tournaments. He averaged 17.8 points per game. I averaged 17.7 points per game. We had a lot of college coaches looking at us.”

Thomas has been working on his basketball skills while football season is going on. He trains with his AAU coach and coach Harper.

As for the upcoming season, Thomas has his sights set on a state championship.

“I’m looking forward to winning the 5A state championship,” Thomas said.

As for how Thomas can improve his exposure with colleges, he just wants to keep working.

“I need to keep working hard,” Thomas said. “Classroom comes first as always. I can get my name out there more. I haven’t been texting a lot of college coaches until now. I think I started too late. It’s going well for now. When I got my name out there, I had some college coaches texting me.”

Thomas believes Valley will have a good team this year.

“We were young last year,” Thomas said. “We only had two seniors. We’re going to be good this year.”