Just over 12 hours after Alabama defeated Oklahoma State to advance into the College Football Playoff, news broke that Nick Sheridan would be leaving the Crimson Tide at the end of their postseason run.
It gives us a glimpse into the potential future of Michigan State’s football offense, and it comes from an unlikely source: a former Michigan quarterback, albeit one with a bit of Spartan blood.
advertise
The program has yet to officially announce Sheridan’s hiring by new Michigan State coach Pat Fitzgerald, especially since the ninth-seeded Crimson Tide will face No. 1 seed Indiana in the CFP quarterfinals on Jan. 1 (4 p.m., ESPN) at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif. This is what the Spartans got from Sheridan.
path
Michigan State quarterback Nick Sheridan runs out of the pocket looking for an open player during spring training at Oosterbaan Field House affiliated with Schembechler Hall on March 15, 2008 in Ann Arbor.
On the pitch: Couch: A look at MSU’s basketball team on Christmas Day — how it’s fared historically and why MSU is a contender
The 37-year-old Saline native is the son of Detroit native and veteran coach Bill Sheridan, a former Grand Valley State star who served as a graduate assistant at Eastern Michigan (1984-85) and Michigan (1985-86 under Bo Schembechler) before playing in college and the NFL. After a long career that included three seasons with the Spartans from 1998-2000 under Nick Saban and Bobby Williams. Bill Sheridan also served as the linebackers coach with the Detroit Lions (2014-17) and is currently a senior defensive assistant with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
advertise
However, offense has been Nick Sheridan’s mission since he took the field in Ann Arbor in 2006. He appeared in two games in 2007, then started four of eight games in 2008, completing 63 of 137 passes for 613 yards and two touchdowns, then played two games as a senior in 2009 before embarking on a coaching career that began at his high school alma mater.
Sheridan returned to the college game in 2011, first as a graduate assistant and then as quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator at Western Kentucky University. He held the same position at South Florida in 2013 before heading to Tennessee from 2014-16 to serve as a graduate assistant under former Central Michigan coach Butch Jones.
Sheridan returned to the Big Ten Conference in 2017 as a member of Tom Allen’s staff at Indiana, where he spent the next five seasons. After two seasons coaching the Indians’ quarterbacks, including future NFL first-round draft pick Michael Penix Jr., Sheridan coached their tight ends in 2019 when Allen hired Karen DeBoer as his offensive coordinator. After DeBoer left to become Fresno State’s head coach in 2020, Sheridan was promoted to offensive coordinator in 2020 and 2021.
progress
Meet new people: Michigan State football team under new coach Pat Fitzgerald
advertise
In his two seasons as Indiana’s head coach, Sheridan has directed an offense that has been hit and miss, reflecting Penix’s precarious health.
In 2020, the Hoosiers ranked 94th in total offense (359.5 yards) and 59th in scoring (28.9 points). Much of what Sheridan did was based on the passing game, where IU ranked 43rd in the Air Football Bowl subdivision (250.9 yards) but only 114th among 127 teams that season (108.6). The Hoosiers went 6-2 in the pandemic-shortened season; their only losses in the Big Ten were to Ohio State and then to Mississippi State in the Outback Bowl.
Then in 2021, Indiana’s offense struggled as Penix tore his ACL for the second time and then suffered a season-ending shoulder injury five games into the season. Sheridan was sacked after Indiana ranked 124th in total offense (290.0 yards) and 123rd in scoring (17.3 points). Along with Allen, went 2-10 overall and winless in the Big Ten Conference. That included a 20-15 loss to MSU.
When DeBoer was hired by Washington, he asked Sheridan to be his tight ends coach in 2022 and 2023. Then, when Alabama came calling, Sheridan returned to serve as DeBoer’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in 2024. With Jalen Milro at quarterback, the Crimson Tide went 9-4 but missed the CFP. Sheridan’s offense ranks 22nd nationally in scoring (33.8 points) and 42nd in total offense (410.2 yards), but Alabama averaged just 269.3 yards per game but scored a total of 33 points in losses to Tennessee, Oklahoma State and Michigan (19-13 in the ReliaQuest Bowl).
advertise
DeBoer shuffled his staff this offseason, bringing in longtime friend Ryan Grubb, who will lead the Seattle Seahawks offense in 2024. However, DeBoer praised Sheridan in July, calling Sheridan and Grubb’s relationship “amazing” during their time together in Washington.
January 8, 2024; Houston, Texas, USA; Washington Huskies tight ends coach Nick Sheridan during the 2024 College Football Playoff National Championship game against the Michigan Wolverines at NRG Stadium.
“This guy is unbelievable as far as his offensive mind and football mind,” DeBoer told reporters. “The way he organizes, the way he teaches, the way he recruits. I mean, he recruits at a high level… He has deep relationships with our players because that’s who he is. He has high character.”
This season, with Grubb taking over the reins and Sheridan serving as co-offensive coordinator, the Crimson Tide ranks 39th in the Football Bowl Subdivision in scoring (31.4 points) and 74th in total offense (380.1 yards). Alabama is once again a pass-heavy team, ranking 22nd in yards per game at 270.2 and 26th in passing offense, with quarterback Ty Simpson throwing for 3,500 yards, 28 touchdowns and only five interceptions.
advertise
“Our quarterback room has better conditioning than any quarterback room in the country,” DeBoer said earlier this season, referring to Sheridan’s position work the past two seasons.
idea
Quarterbacks coach Nick Sheridan instructs players during Crimson Tide spring practice on March 5, 2025, in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
How Sheridan’s offense performs will be what returning starter Alessio Milivojevic and the rest of MSU’s quarterbacks – as well as incoming Cade Coffman – want to know and learn from. So will wide receiver Nick Marsh and Michigan State’s running back corps, who are exploring the transfer portal.
Building trust will be the first step upon Sheridan’s arrival. After being named offensive coordinator last year, he cited three pillars on the “Next Up” video podcast: “We talk about dominating the football, we talk about attention to detail, we talk about explosiveness.”
advertise
Much of that was the orchestration that established DeBoer as one of the top young coaches in the game and landed him the job with the Crimson Tide. That involves running a pro-style offense, Sheridan said, “where we try to highlight our playmakers.” Success, he added, requires scoring touchdowns in the red zone, running the ball and creating big plays.
“We’re talking about winning margin — the difference between your turnover rate and your explosive play margin,” Sheridan told podcast host Adam Breneman.
“The simplest way to explain it is, if you’re in a game, no matter how explosive the opponent is on offense, we have to match and exceed to win the game. The same goes for turnovers.”
what he inherited
Michigan State’s Alessio Milivojevic (bottom) is sacked by Michigan’s Derrick Moore in the fourth quarter on Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025, at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing.
Ironically, the biggest problem facing Sheridan will be one left behind by one of his current colleagues: fixing MSU’s porous offensive line.
advertise
Chris Kapilovic, who was fired along with much of the rest of Mel Tucker’s staff after the 2023 season, has coached the position at Alabama for the past two years. Now, Chris Kapilovic is starting to lay the groundwork to rebuild the depth and toughness in the program’s offensive trenches that were waning toward the end of Mark Dantonio’s 13-year tenure. Michigan State missed out on several high-end offensive line recruiting targets but found a few, although much of the other high-end talent he accumulated transferred out of the program after Tucker was fired and Jonathan Smith was hired. Among them was Geno VanDeMark, who followed Kapilovich to Tuscaloosa to join DeBoer and Sheridan.
In 2024, the Spartans ranked 116th out of 133 FBS teams with three sacks per game (36 total). Michigan State has allowed 37 carries this season, ranking 12th nationally, and averages 3.08 sacks allowed per game, ranking 123rd nationally. Aidan Chiles started the majority of the past two seasons before entering the portal earlier this month, sacking 51 times in 20 starts. Milivojevic was sacked 16 times in nine games, including seven in his first career start, took over the starting job for the final four games, and was hit hard on several other occasions.
Lack of time and congestion affected every aspect of MSU’s offense under outgoing coordinator Brian Lindgren. The Spartans rank 107th in rushing (122.8 yards) and 97th in total offense (345.5 yards) while averaging just 24.6 points per game (89th). They average 21 points per game in the Big Ten, ranking 12th among 18 teams, which is a big reason why MSU is 4-8 overall and 1-8 in league play. The Spartans have missed the bowl for the fourth consecutive season and fifth time in six years since Dantonio retired during the 2019 season.
Trying to keep Marsh in the mix and signing new Detroit Catholic Central four-star wide receiver Samson Gash (who remains committed to the Spartans but was not signed early on) will be critical once Sheridan arrives. Alabama has been trying to get Gash to back out of his commitment, opting to wait to sign during the period that began on February 4th. Meanwhile, the NCAA transfer portal will be open Jan. 2-16.
advertise
Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. follow him @chrissolari.
Subscribe to the “Spartan Speak” podcast for new episodes Apple Podcasts, Spotify Or wherever you listen to podcasts.
This article originally appeared in the Detroit Free Press: What Nick Sheridan brings to Michigan football as new OC