The message South Carolina defensive line coach Lance Thompson hammers in public seems to be the one he lays down in his meeting rooms.
What makes a good defensive lineman? Down-to-down consistency. Ceiling is nice, but it doesn’t mean much if a player isn’t delivering something similar most of the time he’s on the field.
So when Kobe Smith, one of Thompson’s charges at tackle – and a player coach Will Muschamp said the team needs contributions from in 2017 – looked at the early parts of his spring practice, you can guess what his goal was.