Brian Kelly on Mike Denbrock: I believe he's the best in the country

Mike Denbrock and Brian Kelly go back a long time. The two worked together at Grand Valley State from 1992-98 and at Notre Dame from 2010-16, and they’re now back together at LSU.

Denbrock is LSU’s new offensive coordinator and tight ends coach as Kelly gets ready for his first season in Baton Rouge after four years at Cincinnati. With Week 1 coming quickly, Kelly offered some high praise for Denbrock, putting him among the top assistants in college football.

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“I just think that he’s always been a really smart, intuitive play-caller,” Kelly said. “That’s why I’ve asked him to be my play-caller here at the top of the top. This is LSU. We’re here to win a national championship. So I get the chance to pick the best play-callers in the country. I think he’s the best play-caller. I’ve been together with him for a long time. I just think he’s intuitive. He’s smart, he knows football, he knows the offense I like to run and what I like to do.

“That’s obviously really key because our conversations are on point. I don’t have to explain a lot to him. He can go and go, ‘I know what you’re looking for there. Let’s go ahead and do that.’ I don’t know that there’s been this epiphany of he’s changed as much as he likes to do what I like do. We like to control the line of scrimmage, we want physicalness within the offensive structure, we want to use a tight end and three wide receivers and we want to push the ball down the field. We want big chunk plays. I think that’s kind of stayed consistent with his philosophy.”

Although LSU still hasn’t decided on a starting quarterback, Denbrock and Kelly will get a chance to showcase the offense Sept. 4 against Florida State.