Brian Kelly shares commitment to utilizing tight ends at LSU

Tight end can be an oft-forgotten piece of an offense, but not for LSU coach Brian Kelly. He says that his offenses tend to possess a real tone-setter at the tight end spot, someone who can move defenders around in the run game, play pass protect for their QB and go out and catch a few balls.

At SEC Media Days this year, while on the SEC Network set, Kelly was asked about the state of his tight end room and explained just how important they are to his operation.

“You want an edge to your offense and that starts with having a tight end,” Kelly told the SEC Network crew. “They’re both open edges. As we know, defensively, it’s a lot easier to attack those open edges. When you put a tight end into the alignment and he’s attached, it creates a better opportunity to run the football effectively. So the tight end was always going to be part of what we did.”

Kelly isn’t primarily looking for flashy pass catchers at the position. He wants someone who can run routes but butters their bread by getting into a three-point stance and mauling the defensive line. He says he’s not sure if the current LSU tight end room has any guys like that quite yet.

“We just did not have that tight end in place yet. We think we’re getting there,” he added. And LSU did have a stellar tight end last season in true freshman Mason Taylor, who ended the year as the third-leading Tiger receiver with 414 yards and three touchdowns. So he was more than solid as a rookie, but it sounds like he could still use some growth and maturity as a blocker.

Kelly went on to explain that he always wants to have physical tight ends on the edges of his offense.

“There’s a major commitment in the offenses that I run. Maybe that’s why Tommy Rees is at Alabama, there’s a commitment to tight ends there now too,” Kelly commented, taking subtle credit for the new Alabama OC hire.

“But the fact of the matter is,” the LSU coach continued, “when we talk about physicality at the point of attack, you got to work on that in practice. And you don’t have to be on the ground. You don’t have to tackle. But there has to be physicality at the point of attack with O-linemen, D-linemen, linebackers in their fits, and we do that virtually every day.”

With how terrific Taylor was in year one plus the development he’ll be getting thanks to Kelly and his staff, expect a stronger LSU tight ends unit this fall.