What kind of offensive approach should we expect from LSU Football in 2022?

LSU football head coach Brian Kelly announced the hiring of Mike Denbrock as the Tigers’ new offensive coordinator on Sunday.

Denbrock served as the offensive coordinator for the Cincinnati Bearcats from 2017-2021.

This past season, Denbrock led the Bearcats to the No. 11 scoring offense in the nation (36.9 points per game).

Prior to his time at Cincinnati, Denbrock worked on Kelly’s staff at Notre Dame in various roles for the Irish, including tight ends coach, wide receivers coach, and offensive coordinator (in 2014).

Denbrock also worked for Kelly at Grand Valley State.

Here’s what Kelly said about Denbrock in a statement announcing the hire:

"I’ve coached with Mike for many years. He’s one of the best offensive minds in the game, and we share an established trust, respect, and understanding that will help us maximize the talent of our players immediately. His offenses have maintained a consistent level of excellence throughout his entire career, and he understands how to develop players at every position. I’m excited for him to join our staff and elevate our program."

What kind of offensive approach should we expect from LSU football in 2022?

So kind of offense should we expect in Baton Rouge under Denbrock in 2022?

Based on what Denbrock has done at Cincinnati, we should probably expect an extremely balanced offense.

The Bearcats ran 864 players in 2021 — 464 rushing attempts and 400 passing attempts.

Cincinnati totaled 3,377 passing yards and 2,416 rushing yards.

355 of those rushing yards came from quarterback Desmond Ridder, which means Denbrock probably likes to utilize a quarterback’s legs, but it’s not a necessity in his offense.

Those splits, however, don’t tell the whole story of the Bearcats’ offense under Denbrock. It appears that Denbrock likes to pound the ball in the running game and then open things up a bit in the passing game. Ridder was No. 23 in the nation in 2021 in passing yards per attempt (just behind NFL draft prospects Matt Corral and Kenny Pickett). That tells us that Denbrock will bring an explosive element to the Tigers’ offense.

Denbrock also likes to get his tight ends involved — Cincinnati’s tight ends in 2021 accounted for nearly 20 percent of the Bearcats’ receiving yards.

That seems to align with Denbrock’s core offensively philosophy, which he calls “Code Red”.

Here’s how Denbrock described his “Code Red” offense to Football Scoop in late 2020:

"“The ‘R’ is for ‘Relentless,’ and we want to play that style, be that physically dominant football team.”“The ‘E,’ we want to be ‘Explosive.’ We needed to be more explosive offensively this year than we were a year ago, for sure. We’ve found some things over the course of the last year to this year that has allowed us to be a little bit more explosive in the running game and the downfield throw game.”“And ‘D,’ we want to be disciplined in what we do.”"

It doesn’t sound like there are any gimmicks to Denbrock’s offense — its success will rely on winning in the trenches and having athletic skill position players.

At LSU, Denbrock will have the best talent he’s ever had in his career. He shouldn’t have any issues making this offense work — it’s essentially reliant on winning matchups.

Fans should be excited. Denbrock may not be a huge name, but he has plenty of experience — something that LSU’s play callers (Jake Peetz and DJ Mangas) were massively lacking in 2021.