Everything Alabama OC Nick Sheridan said about Tennessee loss

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Alabama offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan spoke to local reporters on Monday morning, less than 48 hours after the Crimson Tide’s 24-17 loss to Tennessee. In its second loss of the 2024 season, Alabama was held to under 315 yards for the second week in a row and scored a season-low 17 points in the road defeat in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Below is everything Sheridan said during his 10-minute press conference on Monday.

Sheridan on Jalen Milroe’s play, how to build up his confidence…

“I think none of us coached or played well enough in the game Saturday, and that starts with me. Our ability to execute consistently and take advantage of the opportunities that we were presented, we obviously fell short in those spots. And it’s all of us. We’re all involved in that. Jalen’s an extremely confident player. I have no concerns about that at all. His preparation creates that confidence for him, and I know he’ll get back to work this week, just like the rest of our players will.”

Sheridan on Milroe walking up to communicate checks at Tennessee…

“In those environments, you don’t really have a choice on how you have to communicate relative to the proximity of one another. You have to get that close to be able to talk. I would say that we had some communication issues, there’s no doubt about it, particularly early in the game. I thought as the game went on, our guys settled down and adjusted to the crowd, but that’s something that moving forward we’ll have to be cleaner and better when we get back in those environments.”

Sheridan on the run game struggles…

“I want to give credit to our opponent and some of the things they did. But I thought there were some execution issues by all parties, whether it was decision-making and read plays, whether it was simple fundamentals or technique. I thought there were some effective runs in the game. Our guys did a nice job and we were hatted up correctly and the runners did a nice job of running hard and physical. But it wasn’t consistent enough, and certainly, that starts with me and our ability to put them in the best positions to be successful and ask them to do things they can do well.

“There are lots of those things where we have to make sure we tighten that up and do better because I do think this is a group that can run the ball effectively. We’ve got to make sure we improve in that area and give them enough shots at it to show what they are capable of. We’re looking at that first as a staff and then certainly identifying the things we need to improve on because that’s an area where I think when we can do a lot better than what we’ve done. And I know we have the players to do it, I know we have the scheme to do it, I know we have the staff to do it. And so that certainly will be a point of emphasis for us this week, for sure.”

Sheridan on not taking advantage of three defensive turnovers…

“You have to take advantage of those opportunities in those games against the teams that you’re playing against. Credit our defense for doing that. To this point, in the games where we’ve played the best collectively as a team, we’ve done that. Our defense has created turnovers, and we’ve been able to put points on the board off of those. Unfortunately for us this past week, we didn’t do that. It was disappointing because I certainly felt like there were opportunities in the game for us to capitalize on those, and we didn’t do it. It goes back to execution, the calls that you make. You always reflect on that and what you could have done different, but certainly that was a factor in the game and I was disappointed that we weren’t able to capitalize on those ones.”

Sheridan on how much run game inconsistency affects red-zone playcalling…

“You’re always trying to make decisions that will help your team win and that’s a moving target as the game is progressing. I think some of the things that occurred in the game on Saturday, particularly early in the game as we were getting behind the chains in second-and-long situations or third-and-long, you know, we were in a lot of those in the game. That makes it harder to be committed to running the ball when you’re in second-and-long situations

“So you’re just always trying to identify what’s going on in the game? How are our players seeing it? What is the opponent trying to do and how can we best attack them based on what situation occurs? But certainly controlling the line of scrimmage and running the football, particularly when you’re on the road is important, and like I said, we have the players to do it. We have the staff to do it. We have the scheme to do it. And so that’ll certainly be an emphasis moving forward.”

Sheridan on his message to Milroe…

“I think Jalen’s made some incredible plays for us this year. I don’t think there’s any doubt about it and certainly some of the success we’ve had offensively he’s been at the forefront of it. So he knows that and certainly when you come up short there’s always plays that you would like back. There’s always moments — coaches and players. And that’s not just the quarterback, that’s everybody and so that’s part of competition. We know we can play better. We have to play better. We have to coach better and so I think everybody that competes at a high level understands what that looks like and how to respond and how to get up off the mat and get back to work and get prepared and ready to go play in the next game. And that’s no different for coaches, players, everybody.

“When you fall short, you don’t do as well as you like and as what you expect to and what the standard is you gotta get up off the ground and keep swinging, keep working and have confidence in what you’ve done. That’s the biggest message to the guys is we have seen it. It’s not like this is something that you’re chasing that you haven’t done or shown. And so that’s the message not just to Jalen but to the rest of the group is to get back to playing the type of football we know we’re capable of playing and that’s our task this week.”

Sheridan on Kane Wommack’s familiarity with Missouri DC Corey Batoon…

“Certainly any type of crossover experiences or relationships that you have amongst staff you always have questions. I would say what great coaches and Coach Batoon is the same is you try to adjust what you do based on the personnel that you have. And so there’s always core fundamentals and principles that both Kane and Coach Batoon share but each group is a little bit different, each year is a little bit different, and I think the way that they play, I think the effort, the toughness, the physicality, the disruption of the football, I think those are the things that you see aside from maybe some similarities schematically because I think great coaches like the ones we’re going against this week, they just adjust to who they have and what their players do best. And so year to year that may look different. But I think the style of play and how they play, those are things that show up with Coach Wommack and Coach Batoon.”

Sheridan on using Kendrick Law, Kobe Prentice vs. seasoned defenses…

“We’re always looking at utilizing all of the personnel that we have and how we can best put our players in a position to be successful. That’s for every position. Who can give us the best chance of winning, practices the best. I think both those guys are really talented players. I know they’re gonna have big moments for us here down the stretch. I think, not just those two in particular, but all the guys, we need everybody to continue to progress, continue to learn, continue to grow so that we can utilize them all here down the stretch.”

Sheridan on Alabama receivers ‘shooting jumpers’ on QB sneak…

“Yeah, you’re talking about the quarterback sneak? Yeah, there’s nothing on the field that we’re not coaching, so that’s sort of how I’d answer that.”

Sheridan on what defenses have done to limit Milroe as a runner…

“I think there were some effective runs. There’s obviously some read elements of some of those runs where we need to make sure we make the right reads all the time. I think the negative yardage plays and going backwards, that’s really what’s hurt us as far as the production and that standpoint and some of that has been in the pass game. And so just eliminating those, I think, will help us obviously stay ahead of the chains, get more at-bats as far as just opportunities for that and you’re trying to find new ways and creative ways for all your players.

“Obviously, you get this far into the season, there’s certain things that you have tendencies on. There’s certain schemes or sets that you’ve run plays at before, and you’re trying to counter that with other types of schemes. So yeah, I think we’ve gotta eliminate the negative plays. That would be the biggest thing that I would say is when we have negative yardage plays, it’s hard for anybody to overcome that, and so that certainly skews some of the stats that way and that’s what we’ll be focusing on.”

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