It could’ve been awkward. Ryan Grubb comes back to Tuscaloosa after a Seattle detour and takes the play-calling reins from Nick Sheridan, the man who just finished winning the Tide’s offense in 2024. Usually, that’s a situation where coaches start to look over their shoulders for job alerts. But not for these two geniuses. Instead, Alabama’s new OC is making it very clear that his co-OC isn’t just sticking around. He’s an asset. 

In an interview with Ryan Fowler on Tide 100.9 podcast on June 12, Ryan Grubb dropped his verdict on Nick Sheridan, who’s also Alabama’s QB coach. “Nick’s the best and I mean that,” he said. “Before Alabama, the communication we have. He understands what Nick’s had for the quarterback position, recruiting the right kind of guys, he’s got a great eyes for talent.”

These two aren’t strangers. They grinded together at Washington in 2022-2023, crafting an offense that played for a national title. So this is a collaboration, not a tug-of-war. “When you have the same line of thinking, it’s easy to finish each other’s sentences,” Grubb’s words sum it up.

Ryan Grubb, the man Kalen DeBoer trusted to take Washington to the national title game, is now calling the shots for the Crimson Tide. But unlike most OC hires, he’s not doing it alone. He admitted that having Nick Sheridan groom the QBs lets him roam, plan, and fine-tune the system with fresh eyes. “In just a lot of ways, it frees me up to build a focus on other things when I need to, obviously,” he said. 

“That QB play caller relationship is vital, and so for me right now just to think that the ground that we’re able to cover with the guys is incredible,” Ryan Grubb added. “And that’s the part of it, the freedom I can have within the system and within the building just to go about my day.” That means Nick Sheridan gets to mold the signal-callers day-to-day, while the OC focuses on orchestrating the full symphony. And the symphony has a potential conductor already warming up after Grubb’s post-A-Day comment. 

Ryan Grubb doubles down on his Ty Simpson verdict

The first time Ryan Grubb dropped a bombshell on Alabama’s QB dilemma was on April 14, after A-Day. When asked who would suit up for QB1 if there was a game the next day, he didn’t hesitate to name Ty Simpson. Fast forward to June, and he’s still holding on to his previous verdict.

“He is right now and we don’t really deal in absolutes,” Grubb said. “But I was trying to answer that as honestly as I could. I knew that people are looking for direction, and so are the guys in the room, and so those are not surprising things.” 

Ryan Grubb also added why Ty Simpson is ahead of Keelon Russell and Austin Mack. “Our post spring evaluation is down with the guys and Ty could carry the football better,” he said. “He operates it better, he improved for an older quarterback, and I know young to playing and starting experience, but as an older guy, especially towards the later part of the spring, he really started to show more of those characteristics.”

During the spring game, he completed 14 of 25 passes for 167 yards and a touchdown in 2024 and was the only QB with zero interceptions in the spring game. Still, it’s not set in stone, as the OC added, “We’re still gonna let him compete. Still on right now, and we will again in fall camp.” 

Kalen DeBoer’s staff may be new to Tuscaloosa, but they’re far from unproven. Along with the HC, Ryan Grubb and Nick Sheridan know how to build a winner. They’ve done it before. And with Alabama opening the season against Florida State in Tallahassee, there’s zero margin for complacency.