The first order of business was to watch every single snap of the players he inherited. Southern Mississippi's new defensive line coach, Derrick LeBlanc, popped in the 2012 film and it was not pretty.
Even for his best player.
Through the winless footage, LeBlanc saw Khyri Thornton — a massive, athletic man-child of a defensive tackle — take plays off. Loaf, at times. So they met one on one.
"His motor was an issue," LeBlanc said. "What I did was I pulled up some clips of him on the field not playing hard and we addressed it right away."
And in 2013, a problem for Thornton became a strength. His motor.
Eyebrows were raised when the Green Bay Packers selected this 6-foot-3, 304-pounder from Conference USA in the third round. Soon after the pick, defensive line coach Mike Trgovac cited Thornton's "competitiveness" and "explosion." Thornton repeated that he'd make a conscious effort never to quit on plays, even as Southern Miss lost by an average of 30.3 points per game last fall.