Kendal Briles has spent enough time around major-conference football to look like the kind of name Nebraska should at least put on the board.
That’s the case here: if Matt Rhule wants an experienced Power Four offensive coordinator, Briles checks a lot of boxes. He has called plays for more than a decade in the SEC, ACC and Big 12, and there aren’t many coaches with that kind of resume.
Briles got his start working for his father, Art Briles, at Baylor, where he helped shape the Bears’ explosive spread attack before taking over as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in 2015. From there, he moved through Florida Atlantic, Houston, Florida State, Arkansas and TCU before Shane Beamer brought him to South Carolina last December.
The track record is hard to ignore. Baylor led the country in scoring in 2015 at 48.1 points per game and in total offense at 616.2 yards per game, with Corey Coleman starring at receiver on his way to the Biletnikoff Award and a first-round NFL Draft selection.
At Florida Atlantic in 2017, Briles helped Lane Kiffin’s team win the Conference USA championship while putting up 40.6 points and 498.4 yards per game. Those numbers ranked eighth and ninth nationally, and running back Devin Singletary piled up 1,920 rushing yards and 32 rushing touchdowns to earn Conference USA MVP honors.
He kept the production rolling at Houston in 2018, where D’Eriq King accounted for 50 touchdowns in 11 games, throwing 36 and running for 14. That’s the kind of output that shows exactly why Briles’ offense has been so appealing.
His veer-and-shoot system leans on wide receiver spacing, tempo, vertical passing and RPOs that force defenses into bad choices. The structure can also create favorable numbers on the ground, and Briles has shown it can work against SEC defenses.
Arkansas was proof of that. His offenses finished seventh nationally in rushing in back-to-back seasons, averaging 227.8 yards per game in 2021 and 236.5 in 2022.
The 2022 Razorbacks also ranked 15th nationally in total offense at 471.2 yards per game. That group featured Raheim Sanders, an Associated Press first-team All-SEC selection, and center Ricky Stromberg, who earned first-team all-conference honors and won the Jacobs Blocking Trophy.
Briles’ TCU stint showed another layer of the offense. The Horned Frogs finished in the top 10 nationally in passing in each of his three seasons, Josh Hoover set a school record with 3,949 passing yards in 2024, and tight end Jared Wiley earned first-team All-Big 12 recognition in 2023.
This season at South Carolina, the balance has been there again. The Gamecocks are scoring 34.7 points per game, good for 24th nationally, and averaging 452.6 yards per game, which ranks 21st. They’re putting up 205.4 rushing yards per game, 20th nationally, along with 247.1 passing yards per game, which ranks 41st.
Briles has also worked with quarterbacks who bring very different skill sets, from mobile players like King and Arkansas’ KJ Jefferson to more traditional passers such as Hoover.
The biggest issue is money. South Carolina gave Briles a three-year, $6.3 million deal that pays him $2 million this season, $2.1 million in 2027 and $2.2 million in 2028.
That’s well above what Nebraska paid Dana Holgorsen, and the contract includes early-departure provisions. Any move would require Nebraska athletic director Troy Dannen to spend heavily to pry him away from Columbia.
There’s also the question of timing. Briles is already running an SEC offense, has real control over his system and is one of the highest-paid offensive coordinators in the country.
Still, his career path suggests he isn’t locked into one place. Since leaving Baylor after the 2016 season, he has worked at six schools in 10 seasons, including one-year stops at Florida Atlantic, Houston and Florida State before landing at Arkansas in 2020.
He spent three seasons with the Razorbacks, then three more at TCU before returning to the SEC with South Carolina this year. That kind of movement says he’s open to change when the right opportunity comes along.
It would not be easy to pull him away after one season, especially with uncertainty around Matt Rhule’s future. But Briles has bounced around enough to make him worth a serious look. Why not make him say no?
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