He also practiced basketball and track Thornton accepted a football scholarship from the University of Texas at Austin.
[1] As a sophomore, he started 11 games, making 44 tackles (11 for loss), 4 sacks, 20 quarterback pressures (led the team) and one forced fumble.
[2] Thornton was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Dallas Cowboys after the 2004 NFL draft, dropping because of his knee injury history.
In 2005, he was expected to compete for the starting job against rookie DeMarcus Ware,[3] but he suffered a left knee injury in training camp that required career-ending microfracture surgery and was placed on the injured reserve list.
[6] Following his professional football career, Thornton worked for 3 years in private wealth management for Morgan Stanley Smith Barney.