Rhodes comes home to help Rattlers reload
Jada Rhodes 
Brookelynn Thomas
Special to the Outlook
Volleyball coach Gokhan Yilmaz clearly wants to reload the FAMU team for this year’s volleyball season. So far he has been able to get Jada Rhodes to return home, while adding former Winthrop standout Brookelynn Thomas to the roster.
Rhodes is a Tallahassee native who played the last three seasons at Alabama State. She is an outside hitter that was named Player of the Year in the Southwestern Athletic Conference.
“We watched Jada turn into one of the best players in our region from the other side of the net for the last three years,” said Yilmaz. “Jada will add a great deal of experience and a high level of play to our already good group of outsides. We are fortunate to add such a high-level local player to our roster.”
Rhodes had a stellar year in 2023. In addition to being named SWAC Player of the Year, she named First Team All-SWAC. Rhodes became the first non-Rattler to win the Player of the Year award since the Rattlers joined the league in 2021.
During 2023, Rhodes also recorded 1,000 career kills after finishing with 332 kills. In 2022, Rhodes was named Second Team All-SWAC after leading the Hornets with 359 kills. In 2021, Rhodes was named Second Team All-SWAC after leading the Hornets with 336 kills.
Thomas, the other new addition to the roster, is from Blythewood, South Carolina. She comes to FAMU after having an outstanding career at Winthrop, leading the Big South Conference in blocking.
“We are very excited to have Brookelynn join our roster,” said Yilmaz. “She will add dimension to our blocking scheme with her speed and explosiveness.”
In 2023, Thomas had a stellar year at Winthrop, reaching 500 career kills and surpassing 200 career blocks. She was named First Team All-Conference and Big-South All-Tournament team. She finished her senior season with 227 kills and 105 blocks.
In her 2022 season, Thomas was the top attacker at the Liberty Tournament, Big South Player of the Week, and was named honorable mention All-Conference, finishing with 197 kills and 67 blocks. Early in her collegiate volleyball career, she was named to the Big South All-Freshman Team, where she played 15 matches, totaling 93 kills and 30 blocks.
