SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Mike Denbrock knows what it feels like to play at Texas A&M’s Kyle Field.
When Denbrock was LSU’s offensive coordinator in 2022, the Tigers lost in College Station, Texas, by a 38-23 margin. Denbrock’s LSU offense averaged 453.1 yards and 34.5 points per game throughout the 2022 season. It was held to 384 yards and 23 points that Saturday night.
Denbrock will make his return to Kyle Field on Aug. 31 (7:30 p.m. EDT on ABC) as Notre Dame’s offensive coordinator.
"It's a hornets’ nest,” Denbrock said. “It is loud. Chaotic. Warm, I think someone brought up. All of those things are true. And it's a very, very difficult, hostile place to function, especially as the visiting team on the offensive side of the ball.”
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Even though Texas A&M struggled in head coach Jimbo Fisher’s final three seasons with Aggies, Texas A&M still managed to compile a 16-5 record at home. Meanwhile, the Aggies were just 4-12 away from Kyle Field.
That’s how big of a difference Texas A&M’s home atmosphere has made in the performances of its team. New head coach Mike Elko should only elicit more enthusiasm from the fan base in his debut leading the Aggies.
The Irish spent time in preseason camp, which opened July 31, preparing for the hostile environment. That work will continue these next two weeks.
“We're going to have to, and we've already done this, work on different cadences and snap counts and things like that to make sure we're clued in,” Denbrock said. “We're going to have to be careful about how much motion and shifting and different things we build within the game plan because you can't hear. It's hard. Communication is hard.
"The work we've done with a good doctor about focusing and blocking out the noise, if you will, literally the noise at Kyle Field, is going to be a huge factor in how we perform. I think some of that, too, is the confidence and calmness that we can walk into that stadium with as a program and that comes with being successful on the practice field and building that confidence in one another."
When Notre Dame’s offense takes the field at Texas A&M, it will do so without a clear No. 1 option at wide receiver. The Irish brought in a pair of graduate transfers — Clemson’s Beaux Collins and FIU’s Kris Mitchell — and have a pair of sophomores — Jaden Greathouse and Jordan Faison — who could ascend into that role this season.
The Irish didn’t have a wide receiver fill that void last season, which led to tight end Mitchell Evans finishing with a team-high 29 receptions despite missing five games. No Notre Dame receiver recorded more than 27 catches last year.
Denbrock’s not ready to appoint anyone as the No. 1 receiver, but he likes the options for quarterback Riley Leonard in the passing game.
"I think the answer is yes, we do have the pieces to be more dynamic at the wide receiver position than over the last few years,” Denbrock said. “I think it's going to be a combination of guys. I don't know if there's necessarily one alpha that has kind of separated himself in that room.
“There's a bunch of really talented ones. And at times, they've flashed here, flashed there. They've all had their collection of different guys making good plays at certain parts of the scrimmage or a practice or whatever. So, at least in the beginning, it's going to be a little bit more of a mix and match. And the depth there obviously helps, there's some good depth there.”
Denbrock will continue to push every position on the offense to be the best version of itself. Even after the offense won Saturday’s jersey scrimmage by a 42-40 margin, Denbrock wasn’t satisfied. Being just barely better than arguably one of the best defenses in college football wasn’t quite good enough. He wanted a bigger margin of victory.
Much like the Texas A&M crowd will be in the season opener, Denbrock’s not afraid to raise his voice to get his point across.
“I hope that they can feel through how I coach them how important not only they are to me but how important this university and this football program are to me,” Denbrock said. “That’s where it really comes from. It’s a passion about helping them be better.
“Sometimes it’s a little direct but as I needed when I was a young person, sometimes I needed to be snapped back in the right direction. Hopefully, they understand it comes from a good place and they’ve done a great job with that.
“What’s great about it and what I really like about it is they’re starting to take that from me and I can’t wait for that to happen. So when I don’t have to be a lunatic in situations and they kind of fix it themselves, then we’re really going to be moving in a positive direction.”
Putting things in motion
The important aspects of Denbrock’s offensive scheme aren’t limited to what happens after the snap. Denbrock wants to pressure defenses with an offense that moves with urgency between plays and changes its alignments with pre-snap motions.
The grasp of that for Notre Dame’s players has come a long way from Denbrock’s initial offense installation in the spring.
"In the spring, I thought we were awful at it,” Denbrock said. “I'm a big believer that if you're going to use motion, it should actually be done with some urgency instead of a slow jog and ingraining that. Whether you're shifting formations or whatever, let's keep some pressure on the people we're trying — and then make them adjust to what we're doing.”
When a skill player completes his motion too slowly, Denbrock will chide him with a comment that resembles something like, “You motion over there so damn slow, you might as well line up over there. What's the difference?”
Denbrock and defensive coordinator Al Golden decided to carve time out of practices for the offense to drill down on pre-snap motion and the defense to react accordingly. That’s because Denbrock wants it to be a weapon for his offense, and Golden wants to be prepared for whatever opposing offenses my throw at his defense.
The work that Notre Dame sport psychology program director Joey Ramaeker has done with players can even help this aspect of Denbrock’s offense.
“Coach Freeman has said this to you guys, I'm sure, many times,” Denbrock said. “Our mentality of 'One Play, One Life' means whether you’re successful or unsuccessful, put it away, re-focus yourself, re-channel your energy on what you can control, which is the next play. And let's go on.
"With a system offensively that wants to play with some tempo to it, nothing's more critical than that. Whether you make a good play or make a bad play, it's gotta go bye-bye. And let's move. It's next, next, next, next, next. And the ability for the guys to kind of learn how to use their breathing to help them do that, or refocus themselves or reload, as we say as a program, is a really, really strong way of getting them back focused on what we're trying to get done."
Taking advantage of ND’s defense
The pre-snap motion portion of practice is just one example of how Denbrock and Golden collaborate to make each other better.
The whole defensive staff, Denbrock said, has been helping in providing feedback and working together to find ways to improve the offense.
“The communication piece of all this between the two staffs, in particular, is vital to what we’re doing, because we’re building a football team here, and I need to know information from him, and I hope he knows that when he needs something from me, he’s going to get it so we can make each other better.
“If there are adjustments to be made, if there are tells in what we’re doing, do we need to disguise this, that or something else better, or are we doing too much of this.”
Tight end strength
Evans didn’t participate in Saturday’s scrimmage, but he’s still on track to play in a season opener that will occur nearly 10 months after his ACL surgery.
“I'm so excited about where Mitch is going,” Denbrock said. “He's gotten involved a lot more last week, and we'll ramp him up a little bit more headed into this next week and try to get him toward the finish line and ready to go. I will echo again what Coach Golden said about where Coop [Cooper Flanagan] and Eli Raridon are and the things they've done.
"I like that room. Jack Larsen's done some good things. Woody [Davis Sherwood] is a tough, solid player that has a role. Kevin [Bauman], coming off two back-to-back knee surgeries, is in there in some short-yardage situations, letting it rip.
“So, I'm proud of those dudes in that room. I don't tell them that very much, but I like that collection of people. And they, Mitch included in that group, have an opportunity to take a lot of pressure off a lot of positions."
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