FOXBORO — The final play of Sunday’s training camp practice was like a coming out party for wide receiver Kenbrell Thompkins. The undrafted free agent broke free down the left sideline, gauged the ball in the air while triggering a roar of recognition from the crowd, then made a diving touchdown catch that drew the thousands of fans to their feet.

Thompkins couldn’t have arrived at that moment had he chosen a different route out of his Miami neighborhood Liberty City, his hardscrabble childhood home, and one that too frequently draws youth into drugs and violence, often leaving them dead or in jail.

Years before Thompkins turned his life around, he became familiar with the latter. He was arrested seven times prior to his 19th birthday and kicked out of high school three times before graduating.

There were too many low moments to identify rock bottom. The high road is easier to recognize. Thompkins has been riding that path for five years now. Out of trouble and completely changed, he is a success story of the most improbable order.

Swallowed by streets

It’s difficult for an outsider to grasp Liberty City. Thompkins was caught up in its ugly streets at an early age.

“A lot of things can get you off track (there), a lot of killing goes on, a lot of violence and drugs,” said Thompkins’ younger brother, Kendal, a senior wideout at the University of Miami. “I think it’s very easy for a person to get caught up in the streets down here.”

The Thompkins brothers grew up without a father figure, so Kenbrell learned life on the block where the John Doe Gang once ruled. His mother worked three jobs to support her family, so there was freedom to roam around.

Thompkins found trouble early, too. He accidentally shot himself in the arm while playing with a gun at age 7. By middle school, he was selling drugs.

Thompkins found peace on the football field, though, and he shined for Miami Northwestern High as a freshman, though the following three years got rocky. He was expelled as a sophomore, junior and senior. The final expulsion was a result of his arrest for armed robbery. He was later arrested for possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, which led to a 28-day jail sentence. That marked his seventh arrest in three years, and the myriad of college football powerhouses that scouted Thompkins turned away.

His high school coach, Roland Smith, always admired his star receiver when he was on school grounds or the football field, but when he left, it was a great challenge to keep him away from a group of friends who steered him in the wrong direction.

“I actually tried to tire him out so much (at practice) that he couldn’t hang out with his friends after in the evening,” Smith said. “That’s when I was most concerned about him because he had a crew that used to be around him that was up to no good.”

Smith, who had a similarly troubled childhood, pleaded with Thompkins to separate from his friends. But it’s not easy in such a harrowing neighborhood, where friends can protect you and slinging drugs can yield enough cash to at least provide the illusion of success. The temptations can be blinding.

“It was really scary to see him going down the wrong path and knowing what kind of talent and what kind of person that he really is,” said Steelers receiver Antonio Brown, who is Thompkins’ cousin and grew up in the same neighborhood. “I just think he got caught up in the wrong environment, picking the wrong friends, hanging around the wrong people and not having the right focus in the right places.”

Thompkins almost found a way out when he committed to Morgan State, but he didn’t have the grades to enroll.

That letdown — coupled with his brother’s success — helped put Thompkins on the path to redemption.

Finding the way out

Kendal Thompkins always wanted the best for his older brother.

“To really see my brother do that and go down that path, I never wanted it for him,” Kendal Thompkins said. “For him being the person I always looked up to, it hurt me.”

When his little brother earned a scholarship from Miami, life came into focus for Kenbrell Thompkins, who then recognized what he was throwing away.

Thompkins enrolled at El Camino College in Torrance, Calif., where he became dedicated to his grades and personal rehabilitation. Thompkins graduated as the two-year school’s all-time leading receiver, and athletic director Tony Barbone described him as the hardest worker on the team and model leader.

Thompkins signed a letter of intent with the University of Tennessee, but backed out when then-coach Lane Kiffin bolted for USC. Tennessee made it difficult for Thompkins to break his commitment, and he struggled to find other programs that were convinced of his turnaround.

That’s when his cousin backed him up. Brown played at Central Michigan for coach Butch Jones, who had since taken over at Cincinnati. Brown put himself on the line for his cousin.

“Antonio Brown is like a son to me,” said Jones, who ironically is now at Tennessee. “Antonio told me, ‘Coach, I’m willing to put my reputation on the line for him. I’m willing to put our relationship on the line for him.’ That got (Thompkins) into the door with us. Once I sat him down in the office, I saw a young man who was humbled. I saw a young man who was hungry. I saw a young man who didn’t deny the past. I think he owned up to his past, and he wanted another opportunity.”

The son of a longtime chief of police, Jones believed in Thompkins’ character from that meeting, but he instilled a zero-tolerance policy. Jones said he met every demand in three years.

Thompkins, who had to sit out in 2010 due to breaking his commitment to Tennessee, caught 78 passes for 1,077 yards and four scores in two seasons with Cincinnati. Most importantly in Jones’ eyes, Thompkins graduated with, of all things, a degree in criminal justice.

Jones called Thompkins’ graduation “one of the proudest moments” of his coaching career.

Ascension continues

Despite Thompkins’ apparent turnaround, NFL teams were too scared by the arrest record to draft him in April.

Jones, a longtime friend of Patriots player personnel director Nick Caserio, helped Thompkins secure a free agent deal with the Pats in May.

Thompkins has since caught the coaches’ eyes enough to spend the majority of the training camp’s opening week with the first-team offense. His best moment came with that sprawling touchdown catch Sunday, but Tuesday’s strong practice, from start to finish, made him look like a candidate for the 53-man roster.

There was a point when only a select few believed in Thompkins. Now, those who knew him best are willing to put their neck on the line for a person they love like none other.

“I notice a completely different guy,” Smith said. “Any coach I talk to says, ‘You can hear it in his voice. You can hear it in his spirit, everything.’ He’s real focused on what he’s trying to do.

“He is a real changed man. Trust me.’”

But make no mistake. Football didn’t save Kenbrell Thompkins. He saved himself.