Why Alabama Football OC Nick Sheridan has less pressure than recent Tide OCs

For Alabama football fans, Nick Sheridan is a bit of an unknown. His coaching career provides minimal proof that he should become one of the Tide's best OCs. In 2013, Sheridan was the QB coach at South Florida. He was fired after that season. He then spent three seasons as a GA at Tennessee, before going to Indiana for two seasons as the Hoosiers' QB coach in 2018 and 2018. In 2019, after Kalen DeBoer was brought to IU, as the OC/QB coach, Sheridan became the tight ends coach. DeBoer left the next season for the head coach job at Fresno State, and Sheridan was assigned IU's OC/QB coach role for the 2020 and 2021 seasons. Indiana fired Sheridan after the 2021 season.

DeBoer quickly hired Sheridan after his IU exit, making him Washington's tight end coach for the 2022 and 2023 seasons. Initially, Sheridan followed Kalen DeBoer to Tuscaloosa to again coach tight ends. The plan changed when former Washington OC and briefly Alabama OC, Ryan Grubb decided to leave DeBoer and Alabama for an NFL opportunity.

Kalen DeBoer did not blink. His solution to losing his play-caller was to elevate Sheridan, while also giving wide receivers coach, JaMarcus Shephard assistant head coach and co-OC roles. Along with DeBoer and Grubb, Shephard got much credit for Washington's offensive success.

Nick Sheridan is not an unknown commodity. He had both success and failure at Indiana, with the failure affected by key injuries. Few college football experts would describe Sheridan's promotion at Alabama as a slam-dunk hire. That does not matter. All that matters is Kalen DeBoer is sold on Sheridan.

Alabama football fans have love-hate relationships with Crimson Tide Coordinators. Early in Saban's run, Jim McElwain was respected for multiple seasons. Crimson Tide fans loved what Lane Kiffin and Steve Sarkisian brought to Alabama offenses. No such love was garnered by Bill O'Brien and Tommy Rees.

Compared to those five Alabama OCs, Nick Sheridan is probably under the least pressure. The offense Alabama will run in 2024 will be a collaboration of multiple coaches, but most of all, it will be Kalen DeBoer's offense. Kiffin and Sark were wizards injecting newness into Nick Saban's Alabama offense. O'Brien and Tommy Rees were not. Sheridan does not have such a daunting task.

What Alabama football fans are hoping for, and should expect is an offense adjusted to Jalen Milroe's strengths. Rees might have tried to build around Milroe, but he did it ineffectively. O'Brien had a generational talent in Bryce Young, but too often the Tide's offensive success depended on Bryce's magic.

Another advantage for Sheridan is he understands how to respond to adversity. He was a walk-on QB at Michigan who eventually won a scholarship and started a few games. Getting back up after career failures is an admirable trait, that builds mental toughness. He will need that toughness going up against SEC defenses.

Last July, media coverage about Nick Sheridan described him as a Washington comeback story. He is less of a comeback story in Tuscaloosa, with tremendous help from an uber-talented roster and a boss known for being one of college football's sharpest offensive minds.