Highlights & Evaluation: Louisville RB Commit Lekhy Thompkins

The Louisville football program has picked up another running back in the Class of 2026, and Lekhy Thompkins has committed to the Cardinals.

Here is Louisville Cardinals On SI's full evaluation:

Prospect: Lekhy Thompkins
Position: Running Back
Measurables: 6-foot-1, 227 pounds
School: Jackson (Tenn.) University School
Top Offers: Maryland, Minnesota, Purdue, Virginia Tech, West Virginia
247Sports Composite Rating (Nat'l Rank): 0.8600 (1,033rd)

Lekhy Thompkins' Junior Year Highlights: HERE (Hudl)

Frame: As you can probably guess by his measurables, Thompkins has a lot of weight packed onto his frame for his position. He'll need to convert some of that weight to pure muscle, but he's got a densely-packed frame that isn't common among running backs, and he isn't a stocky as you would think. His height and wingspan are above average for the position as well.

Athleticism: Being a bigger body running back, it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that Thompkins has really good play strength. While it's his best athletic intangible, he also has solid north-south burst and good open field speed. That being said, his lateral footwork is average at best.

Instincts: While this is not super common among power backs, Thompkins' best trait as a runner is his vision. He might not be super explosive in doing so, but he routinely finds the open rushing to push the ball downfield. Not only can he muscle his way up the middle without exerting much force, Thompkins also does an underrated job of beating edge rushers and taking good angles to get to the boundary and turn on the jets. Additionally, while he is slightly inconsistent with it, Thompkins has also flashed a very good one cut to burst through open holes around the line of scrimmage.

Polish: On top of having really good ballcarrier vision, arguably the best aspect of Thompkins' game is his great contact balance. Whether it's beating the edge or plowing up the middle, more often than not, would-be tacklers simply glide right off of him, and it usually takes a gang tackle to bring him down. Additionally, Thompkins is a very good pass catcher out of the backfield, and has done it in a variety of ways: check downs, screens both as a running back or slot receiver, and after going in motion from either spot. On top of playing some at slot, he's also a two-way prospect who sees a fair amount of snaps at defensive end and linebacker.

Bottom Line: Overall, this is a solid pickup for Louisville. Thompkins does a lot of things really well, especially when you consider that he's a power back who also has good downfield vision and pass catching ability. Sure, he'll have to tone his frame a bit and fine tune a fee aspects of his game, but he won't be asked to do too much right off the bat with Isaac Brown and Duke Watson around.

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