Lance Thompson: 'He can be as good as anybody me or (Muschamp) has ever been around'
The subject of Javon Kinlaw came up this week when South Carolina defensive line coach Lance Thompson chatted with NFL scouts during the Gamecocks' Pro Day. Thompson was not surprised.
“I think he can be as good as anybody me or (South Carolina coach Will Muschamp) has ever been around defensively, and we’ve had some good ones,” Thompson said of Kinlaw. “I think he can be as good as he wants to be.”
Kinlaw, a 6-foot-6, 300-pound junior defensive tackle for the Gamecocks, did not participate in Pro Day, but he and the rest of the current South Carolina players were practicing on an adjacent field for much of the workout and then watched the latter portion of Pro Day.
“I think he catches everybody’s eye,” Thompson said Thursday after South Carolina’s seventh practice of the spring. “If you’re a football guy and you’re standing on the field and you see that big joker, you are like, ‘Who the heck is that?’ ”
Thompson knows that NFL people might be asking that question for real at the end of the 2018 season even though Kinlaw has only just begun to play college football. He joined the Gamecocks as a 340-pound junior college transfer last summer. By the middle of the season, he was starting at defensive tackle, and by the end of the year, he was the team’s most impactful tackle, finishing with 20 tackles, including seven for loss.
“That kid had a really tremendous year last year in terms of what he came in at and at the end of the season the level he was playing,” Thompson said. “When you know his history, this guy has done a great job. The best thing about him is his attitude, his willingness to work and wanting to get better. He’s really critical of himself. He’s very appreciative, a very humble guy.”
Kinlaw, a Goose Creek native, still has plenty of room to improve, said Thompson, noting “as far as an SEC defensive linemen, he’s not a strong guy” partly because of a high school background playing basketball.
“But he’s so long and he’s so big and he has natural power,” the coach said. “What I want him to learn how to do is recognize blocks quicker, be better with his blow delivery and block protection techniques, which comes with time and techniques and developing a primary pass rush move in pass rush situations and a couple counters off that instead of just using raw ability. Become a student of the game and really develop yourself in terms of your skill set.”
If Kinlaw does all that this fall, the sky is the limit, Thompson said.
“I just hope we have him in a couple years,” Thompson said. “You don’t see guys who are 6-5, 6-6, 300 pounds like he does. He runs like a linebacker. That’s rare and that’s one of the reasons we recruited him. We recognized that early on and just knew he needed time and reps to get better.”
Earlier this spring, Kinlaw wasn’t interested in talking about what the 2018 season might hold for him.
“Only time will tell,” he said. “I can’t just go out and make predictions now. I feel I can be as good as I want to be.”
This story was originally published March 22, 2018 at 11:38 AM with the headline "Lance Thompson: 'He can be as good as anybody me or (Muschamp) has ever been around'."