[3] He began his sportswriting career during college at Syracuse, he served as sports editor of The Daily Orange for three years.
[2][4][5] During his time at Syracuse, Donovan McNabb was the Orange's quarterback, and Jim Boeheim's men's basketball team reached the national championship game in 1996.
[1][11] Thamel is a member of the Football Writers Association of America and has won numerous FWAA writing awards.
[11] He has also won several Associated Press Sports Editors (APSE) awards,[12] including first place for beat reporting in 2017 and breaking news in 2011.
He considers Peter King at Sports Illustrated and Joe Drape from The New York Times his biggest mentors.