Chip Kelly will be the offensive coordinator in Las Vegas.

What Chip Kelly said about leaving Ohio State football to be Las Vegas Raiders’ OC

Chip Kelly felt the draw of the NFL.

“Obviously, this is the highest league of football,” Kelly said. “The competition is at an all-time high.”

During a news conference introducing him as the Las Vegas Raiders’ offensive coordinator on Wednesday, he discussed his return to the league, where he once spent four seasons as the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers.

Kelly, who was Ohio State’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach as the Buckeyes won the national championship last season, left for Las Vegas earlier this week.

He’ll be the coordinator for Pete Carroll, the newly hired Raiders coach who was a former peer in the then-Pac-10.

Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.

Before Carroll spent 14 seasons at the helm of the Seattle Seahawks, he led USC, overlapping with Kelly’s time at Oregon

I’ve got great respect for him,” Kelly said.

Kelly said the opportunity arose in the aftermath of the Buckeyes’ win over Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff final on Jan. 20.

The opportunity at Ohio State was an amazing experience,” Kelly said. “To be a small part of that team winning a national championship was really cool, and a chance to watch some players that were amazing and persevered and showed amazing resiliency and get a chance to say they’re champions for the rest of their life, was pretty cool.”