During his first two seasons at Clemson, Champ Thompson hadn’t seen a ton of time on the field.

Thompson logged 102 snaps as a sophomore last year, with a lot of those coming in the Pinstripe Bowl, where he made his first career start.

However, this season is playing out differently. Thompson has been a consistent part of the rotation at defensive tackle, already logging more snaps this season than he did all of last. He even started against fourth-ranked Miami.

While some of that might have originally been due to a severe lack of depth due to injuries to Kourtney Kelly and Markus Strong, along with the suspension of Vic Burley, Thompson made the most of those early opportunities. Since then, he’s been hard to keep off the field.

“The arrow is up by his name,” head coach Dabo Swinney said during his weekly press conference on Tuesday. “He has flashed. I have seen some improvement from him. Been positive traction there.”

Hearing those comments from his head coach only motivates Thompson more.

“I just really take it one day at a time,” the defensive tackle said. “Just putting my best foot forward and continuing to just try and get better. God has blessed me with the ability that I have. I just put the work in it and continue to trust in Him and work hard every day.”

After spending his first two seasons in what Swinney typically refers to as the crockpot, Thompson was intent on putting in the work to make a big jump in year three.

“One thing I knew I had to get better at was really being stout in playing the run,” Thompson added. “I put on some weight, got stronger. It really all came down to focusing on my technique and getting better at that.”

Thompson’s efforts don’t always show up on the box score, although he does have 12 tackles and 0.5 sacks, but it’s showing up when the staff cuts on the film. His improved play has factored into the Tigers’ having played much better on defense since the season-opening loss to LSU, and the hope is that trend continues on Saturday when Clemson hosts Charleston Southern at noon.

“Really, the improvement is that we just all kept our heads down and just came to work,” Thompson said. “We took a loss the first game, didn’t let it get to us, came back and every week we just keep working and keep getting better and better.”

– Photo courtesy of Bart Boatwright/The Clemson Insider