LSU Coach Dishes On Epic Battle Between Patriots HC, Will Campbell

LSU Tigers head coach Brian Kelly has described the epic battle between New England Patriots coach Mike Vrabel and Will Campbell in a private workout.

Apr 25, 2025; Foxborough, MA, USA; New England Patriots first round draft pick Will Campbell addresses media during a press conference on the game field at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Eric Canha-Imagn Images | Eric Canha-Imagn Images

The New England Patriots selected LSU tackle Will Campbell with the fourth overall pick of the NFL Draft last week, and for head coach Mike Vrabel, it was a long time coming.

Vrabel became entirely enamored with Campbell when the 21-year-old displayed his strength and ferocity at a private workout, when Campbell planted Vrabel firmly on his backside during a drill.

From that moment moving forward, Vrabel's respect for Campbell increased infinitely, and that seemed to be when the Patriots decided they were taking the offensive lineman in the draft.

Well, LSU coach Brian Kelly opened up on the battle between Vrabel and Campbell, and his description of it seems pretty on brand for Vrabel.

“In my 35 years, I’ve seen a lot of workouts — this was a classic,” Kelly said, via Ben Volin of The Boston Globe. “The only time I saw something similar, there was a couple times that Mike Tomlin got involved in a couple of the workouts. But not to the extent of the physicality that Vrabel did. That was an all-time classic.”

Kelly went on to explain that Vrabel welcomed the challenge.

“What I love about Vrabel is he’s like, ‘All right, show me what you got.’ And Will’s like, ‘Are you sure?’ And (Vrabel) goes ‘If you don’t, I don’t like you,'” Kelly added. “And he freakin’ rocks him. It was on.”

Campbell was widely viewed as the best offensive lineman in the draft class, so it did not come as much of a surprise when New England nabbed him at No. 4, particularly with Travis Hunter and Abdul Carter already off the board.

The Pats had probably the worst offensive line in football last season, and while they made some moves to address it in free agency, they still needed a left tackle. Campbell should be able to solve that problem.

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