Former Lakeland High School football standout Kendrey Thurman has a clear objective: get to the NFL.

“That’s my goal,” the 23-year-old Thurman said. “At least get the opportunity, that’s what I’m aiming for.”

But he is not playing on the college gridiron. The path he is taking is less conventional — he is looking to rise up through the ranks of arena league players.

The start of Thurman’s football journey was not unlike many young footballers in the city.

“I started playing with the Suffolk Steelers,” he said.

He noted he won a couple of championships with the Steelers, playing for the Pop Warner team for about six years.

For Lakeland’s junior varsity team, he played wide receiver and was named the team’s Offensive Player of the Year, he said.

Thurman said he played a year and a half of JV and a year and a half of varsity, moving up during his sophomore year in 2009 and playing defensive back and punt returner.

“My junior year was my senior year,” he said as he took extra classes and one more in the summer to finish high school in three years. “I was just ready to get out of it.”

He gained varsity experience as a wide receiver, safety, punt returner, kick returner and cornerback.

Former Lakeland coach Glenwood Ferebee recalled Thurman’s key strengths on the field as being speed and quickness, confirmed by his well-below-five-second time in the 40-yard dash.

“Kendrey was always fast,” Ferebee said. “I think he was running about a low 4.5 (seconds), high 4.4 when he was in high school, so we used his speed a lot.”

Thinking of the 2010 season, Ferebee said, “A lot of things that he did, they went unnoticed because we were 0-10 that year, but he still had an impact on our team as far as I think he scored about 10 to 12 touchdowns, and I think three or four of them came off of kick returns and punt returns.”

On defense, Thurman noted he had six interceptions and about 40 tackles.

He said his plan was to play college football, but he did not receive any offers, and he did not see the gridiron for about a year.

But he did not want to just give up on the sport, so he dedicated himself to honing his skills and began playing semipro football in 2011 for the Hampton Roads Redskins. They went 14-0 and won the championship in 2012.

“They had me starting at punt return, kick return and I was playing receiver,” Thurman said.

Next, Thurman played for two years with the Suffolk Chargers, posting decent stats as he started at wide receiver and defensive back while also seeing time at punt returner.

He then transitioned to indoor football, spending one season with the Virginia Knights in 2013. He scored six touchdowns on kickoff returns in six games, averaging over 145 return yards per game.

The Knights were part of a league that gave him exposure for bigger opportunities.

Later, the Pennsylvania Steam, a new indoor football franchise, signed him to its practice squad, and he was later promoted to the active roster as the youngest player on the team at 21, set to play defensive back and special teams.

Unfortunately, the franchise was sold to an ownership group out of Georgia before he had a chance.

Thurman returned to Virginia and started training for the Arena Football League. He got a chance to try out for the AFL’s Philadelphia Soul at the Philadelphia Eagles’ NovaCare Complex in October 2014, aiming to play at wide receiver.

Despite suffering an injury during the tryout, he was invited back based on how well he had done. Returning on Jan. 31, 2015, he ran a 4.4 in the 40, ranking 11th out of 225 players.

The Soul did not sign him but communicated interest.

“They told me they were going to keep in touch, so lately I have been working out, training for the (American Indoor Football) League,” Thurman said.

An AIF team called the Philadelphia Yellow Jackets has given him three workouts, two of which he has completed. He has gotten his 40 time down to 4.39 seconds and will return to Philadelphia on Jan. 9 for the final workout.

“This is like an opportunity to get me to where I need to be,” he said.