How new LSU offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock will shape the Tigers' offense

BATON ROUGE - When Mike Denbrock first met Brian Kelly, they couldn't have been more different people.

Both were graduate assistants at Grand Valley State. Denbrock had just finished his playing career and was from a small town in Michigan, while Kelly was an East Coast guy with a thick Boston accent and argyle socks.

"I didn't know what to make of him to be honest," Denbrock said Thursday.

It was the start of an unlikely relationship and friendship. After working together as graduate assistants, Denbrock joined Kelly at Grand Valley State when he took over as the head coach from 1992-97. He was then Kelly's offensive coordinator at Notre Dame from 2010-16 before he left for the same role at Cincinnati.

Their paths now meet again at LSU where Denbrock is Kelly's offensive coordinator again.

"Mike knows the game very well and is an outstanding recruiter," Kelly said. "I think when we talk about coordinators, it's not about what they know. It's about getting feedback and getting the entire staff part of what we do on a day-to-day basis."

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Kelly may be the key behind why Denbrock is at LSU, but he's not the same coordinator as he was the last time the two worked together.

At Notre Dame, Kelly called the plays on offense. Denbrock made his suggestions and added his wrinkles to the offense but it was ultimately Kelly's system. So Denbrock eventually left, going to Cincinnati where he would be in the same role but have the opportunity to call the plays and build the offense around his ideas.

"Especially working for a defensive head coach in Coach (Les) Fickell, it gave me the (freedom) to kind of create the things that I wanted to create on the offensive side of the ball," Denbrock said.

Denbrock will have the play-calling responsibilities for LSU.

"There's a hell of a combination that we can create between what we did at Notre Dame and what we did at Cincinnati," Denbrock said.

Denbrock's offense isn't predicated on a single idea or theory. It's focused on adapting to different defenses from week to week.

Running more sets and having multiple personnel groupings — whether it's with four wide receivers and one running back or having two tight ends with a running back and a pair of wideouts — were a few concepts that Denbrock is open to using more at LSU.

A key figure in shaping the new-look offense is quarterbacks coach Joe Sloan, who was the offensive coordinator at Louisiana Tech for the past two seasons, spending nine at the program overall.

Sloan and the coaching staff haven't spent much time with the players — Denbrock says they have less than two hours a week to spend with them — so he's excited to get to work with Denbrock when spring practices start on March 24.

"I was a fan of Cincinnati's offense," Sloan said. "We had some crossover where I got an opportunity to watch them play on film and some of the ways that he's attacked teams in the past. Whether that be through the drop-back game, whether that be through the run game, and establishing that identity upfront. And then also the different ways to attack a defense off of the run, or using whether it be play-action or a run-pass option stuff to get guys in different situations to be successful."

They started as opposites, but Kelly and Denbrock have developed more than just a working relationship. Denbrock not only attended Kelly's wedding but spoke at it as well.

It's a spark they're trying to reignite, this time at LSU.

"We're similar, really similar people, even though we're from opposite sides of the spectrum," Denbrock said.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: Mike Denbrock: What to expect from LSU football offensive coordinator