What was expected to be a closely contested game between two of the country’s best college football teams has been a one-sided romp 30 minutes into the matchup.
With first-year head coach Kalen DeBoer appearing in his first ever SEC game, No. 4 Alabama raced out to a 28-0 advantage and, eventually, a 30-7 lead over No. 1 Georgia at halftime Saturday at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
On its way out to the four-touchdown advantage, the Crimson Tide moved effortlessly up the field, with quarterback Jalen Milroe and wide receiver Ryan Williams imposing their will against the nation’s No. 3 scoring defense.
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On its first four drives alone, each of which ended in the end zone, Alabama racked up 258 total yards and averaged 11.2 yards per play, a dominant performance in any context, but especially against coach Kirby Smart and the Bulldogs , who annually trot out elite defenses filled with future NFL difference-makers.
For as impressive as Alabama’s players were in building that cushion — particularly Milroe, with 206 total yards and three touchdowns on those first four possessions — the Tide’s success on offense raised an understandable question: who, exactly, is calling plays for this high-powered attack?
Here’s what you need to know about Alabama offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan:
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Who is Nick Sheridan?
Nick Sheridan is in his first season with Alabama, where he serves as the Tide’s offensive coordinator.
Sheridan followed Kalen DeBoer from Washington, where the pair coached together for two seasons, from 2022-23. During that stretch, the Huskies compiled a record of 25-3, which included a run to the College Football Playoff championship game last season.
Sheridan was Washington’s tight ends coach during that time, though he had previous play-calling experience. For two seasons, from 2020-21, he was Indiana’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, a role he actually took over from DeBoer after his future boss left following the 2019 season to become the head coach at Fresno State.
Led by quarterback Michael Penix Jr., who would later join DeBoer and Sheridan at Washington, Indiana averaged 28.9 points per game during a benchmark 2020 season for the Hoosiers, who went 6-2 and rose into the top-10 of the national polls during a pandemic-shortened season in the Big Ten.
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With Penix hobbled or out for much of the 2021 season, Indiana’s offense suffered, with its scoring average dipping to 17.3 points per game, the eighth-worst mark of 130 FBS teams.
After the season, Sheridan was fired.
“I want to thank Nick for his work and commitment to our football program,” Indiana coach Tom Allen said in a statement . “He is a good football coach and a man of tremendous character, but we are in the need of a reset on the offensive side of the ball.”
From there, he rejoined DeBoer at Washington. The two were central figures in the program’s drastic turnaround. The Huskies led all FBS teams in passing offense in 2022 (369.8 yards per game) and finished second in total offense (515.8 yards per game). The previous season, Washington was 73rd in passing offense and 114th in total offense on its way to a 4-8 record.
The Huskies nearly replicated that offensive output the following season, finishing second in the FBS in passing offense (343.7 yards per game) and 13th in scoring offense (36) on its way to winning the Pac-12 in 2023. Though Washington’s wide receivers earned most of the praise in helping Penix put up cartoonish passing numbers, Sheridan’s tight ends helped, too, with Jack Westover leading the group with 46 catches for 433 yards and four touchdowns.
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Though Sheridan is now the Tide’s offensive coordinator, that originally wasn’t the plan. Shortly after DeBoer was named the Alabama coach in January 2024, Ryan Grubb, his offensive coordinator at Washington, had been hired for the same role with the Tide, one year after Nick Saban hotly pursued him for the same position before Grubb ultimately opted to stay in Seattle.
Grubb made it to Tuscaloosa this time around, but shortly after getting there, he was named the offensive coordinator for the Seattle Seahawks and new head coach Mike Macdonald.
Fewer than two weeks after Grubb’s departure in February 2024, Sheridan was named Alabama’s offensive coordinator. JaMarcus Shephard, Washington’s pass game coordinator and wide receivers coach for two seasons under DeBoer, is a co-offensive coordinator alongside Sheridan.
A Saline, Michigan native, Sheridan graduated from Michigan in 2010.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Who is Nick Sheridan? Alabama offensive coordinator helping Crimson Tide carve up Georgia
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