Nick Sheridan hopes to see 'simple execution' in Alabama's scrimmage

The 2024 regular season is around the corner and the Alabama Crimson Tide are getting ready for another scrimmage. For offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan, his hope is to see the team execute.

This is a season of turnover for Alabama. It’s a new coaching staff and, with that, a new offensive system. That’s going to make it incredibly important to have those fundamentals figured out ahead of the season and in these scrimmage situations.

“I think simple execution,” Nick Sheridan said. “Taking care of the football. Communication. Alignment. Assignment. Those are the things you’re looking for in a first scrimmage.”

While Alabama did have the opportunity to scrimmage during the Spring and in front of fans for the A-Day Spring Game, the roster was not finalized at that point. After all, the Transfer Portal was still set to open up again and with that more players came into and out of the program. On top of that, not every freshman typically enters the program ahead of Fall Camp.

With all of that in mind, scrimmages in August ahead of the season tend to be some of the most important when getting ready for the year.

Alabama has also been practicing in full pads, hoping to make sure the entire team is ready for live action heading into the season.

“For us, once you get into the operation with shoulder pads there’s a lot of similarity on a couple live periods today. I thought the guys took care of the ball, I think that’s the biggest thing when you get into live portions of practice is the ball carriers holding on to the football,” Sheridan said.

“So I thought they acclimated and did a nice job that way and I’m sure there’ll be things that will go back and also improve on. But for a lot of the guys, whether you put thigh pads on for the offensive line, that doesn’t change their practice, you know? It’s really more the runners, the guys that are carrying the ball, acclimating to getting full speed tackles.” 

Nick Sheridan is an offensive coordinator for the second time in his career. He previously held that role, as well as being the quarterbacks coach, at Indiana. It’s the same role he is holding at Alabama. He also has plenty of experience with Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer. The two worked together as offensive assistants at Indiana and he was an assistant under DeBoer while at Washington.

Over the years, DeBoer has become known as one of the best offensive minds in college football. With that have come high expectations for Sheridan and what the two can do with the Alabama team and players like returning quarterback Jalen Milroe.