Bedell’s switch from OL to TE coach

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Auburn Football

Brad Bedell’s switch from OL to TE coach, from Boise State to Auburn, going ‘awesome’

Updated 9:09 AM; Today 7:02 AM

Tight ends coach Brad Bedell yells instructions during Auburn's football practice on Thursday, March 25, 2021. (Photo by Giana Han)

By Giana Han

In the 13 years following his career as an NFL offensive lineman, Brad Bedell coached offensive lines around the country. But somewhere between the end of the 2020 season and his arrival at Auburn, Bedell became a tight ends coach.

The transition has been “awesome.”

There’s no doubt changing gears after over a decade focused on the offensive line has pushed him out of his comfort zone, but that’s something Bedell embraces. It’s helped him gain hands-on experience with the passing game, an aspect of football he hasn’t been too involved with before.

But, most importantly, it allowed him to remain on coach Bryan Harsin’s staff. Bedell first joined up with Harsin at Arkansas State in 2013 as the offensive line coach for Harsin’s first head coaching job. While Harsin returned to his alma mater, Boise State, the following year, Bedell went a different direction and made two more stops before becoming a Bronco.

In 2017, Bedell rejoined Harsin on his Boise State staff. In his first year, four of the five starting linemen won all-conference honors. He coached Ezra Cleveland, a second-round pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, and Boise State reporters David Southorn, B.J. Rains and Jay Tust all pointed out how Bedell was a big factor of Cleveland’s development.

When Harsin left at the end of the 2020 season to take over the Auburn program, this time Bedell wanted to go with him.

“I wanted to be a part of his staff,” Bedell said. “I’ve been with Coach Harsin for years now, and I believe in the culture and I believe in really what he stands for in building a football program.”

So when Harsin approached him about coming on as the tight ends coach — not the offensive line coach — Bedell decided to go for it.

The Broncos who grew stripes: A look at who followed Bryan Harsin to Auburn

Five members of the Boise State football staff joined Bryan Harsin at Auburn. Here's who they are.

Auburn’s new coach is not completely without tight end experience. The former offensive guard actually played some tight end for the Green Bay Packers, although he never actually caught a pass. Bedell’s been involved with the tight ends in other offenses he’s been a part of, and as a run game coordinator and former lineman, he understands the importance of the tight ends’ ability to block.

“You know, the blocking aspect is that — that’s going to be awesome,” Bedell said. “But the route concepts … I really had to study in that regard.”

Bedell’s been a dedicated student, but he’s also has a good teacher. Harsin, who was a quarterback, not a tight end, when he played, started his coaching career as a tight ends coach. He knows what it takes to learn the position and then to teach the position.

“I have a great resource with him,” Bedell said.

Additionally, Bedell has reached out to tight ends coaches he has relationships with at other programs. He bounces ideas off them, talks to them about what he sees on film and discusses the best ways to teach.

Getting his role down will be important because Harsin and offensive coordinator Mike Bobo tend to use tight ends more than Auburn has in the past. The position group has a big role, and that’s becoming more and more apparent as Auburn gets further into spring practice.

Even though Bedell is learning some things right along with them, the tight ends have more than accepted this former lineman as their new position coach. Brandon Frazier told his mother, Jennifer, that he’s been learning a lot and that the room seems very cohesive while John Samuel Shenker spoke to his mother, Melody, about the valuable knowledge Bedell brings as well as his energy.

Bedell is a big guy with big energy, and he doesn’t try to hold it back when he gets out there with his players.

“That’s one thing I pride myself on is that I am going to run around and I am going to have a lot of energy, and develop that energy, and if that can bleed through the room, now all of a sudden everybody’s got it — now look out,” Bedell said.

[wde1968 262]

So we hire an NFL TEs coach put him on special teams to move an OL coach to TEs. WTF🤔🤔🤔

[meh130 1,056]

A few thoughts.

The ability to coach TEs is usually a secondary consideration for TE coaches. They usually also coach special teams, or are recruiting coordinators, or split the OL coaching duties.

Similarly, many WR coaches are hired mainly for their recruiting prowess, not their WR coaching ability.

We have not had a real TE position in the Gus Malzahn era. In Gus' offense, the "5" was a flexed out TE or "Big Slot". C.J. Uzomah was the ideal 5. The other "TE like" was the "3" or the H-Back, who was a cross between a fullback and an extra offensive lineman. Obviously, Jay Prosch and Chandler Cox were the ideal 3s. We rarely played with the TE on the line, hand-down, next to the tackle.

So an offensive line coach as a TE coach might be just what we need for Harsin's approach to using TEs, especially in the running game.

I expect the TEs will be considered part of the offensive line, and Bedell and Friend to both be involved in coaching the offensive line, with the TEs also doing receiving drills.

Given our offensive line woes, and our talent at TE, this might be just what we need to improve our performance.