Walk-on Nick Sheridan a legitimate contender for U-M's starting QB job
By SCOTT BELL • FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER • April 8, 2008

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He simply calls himself a “late bloomer.” But if the U-M starting quarterback competition goes his way, Nick Sheridan will be more commonly known as the big man on campus than by his self-attached title of humility.


Regardless of what Sheridan is called around Ann Arbor, any sort of recognition is a feat in itself for a walk-on with just a handful of high-school starts.

“When I came to Michigan, you know I really didn’t know what to expect, but I just wanted to help the football team in any capacity that I could,” Sheridan said. “I just went out there and competed my butt off every day and worked hard and you start to get reps and you start doing better and better and people started to notice you and get more reps.”

Sheridan sat behind an incumbent starter for most of his high school career at Saline High School. When he finally got the chance to start his senior season, Sheridan broke his collarbone. He said the team was primarily run-focused, so even when healthy, Sheridan wasn’t wooing many potential college suitors.

Because of this, Sheridan didn’t receive a single Division I scholarship offer. Sheridan could have played at a Division III school, where he had “a few options.” But he opted to walk on at Michigan after then-coach Lloyd Carr persuaded him to do so when Sheridan attended U-M’s summer camp. Sheridan’s dad, Bill, was a defensive assistant for the Wolverines under Carr (2002-04) before taking a job with the New York Giants.

Even though he’s still not on scholarship (Sheridan said U-M coach Rich Rodriguez hasn’t approached him about the situation yet), the 6-foot-1 quarterback without a career completion is still a serious contender for the U-M quarterback position.

“Our guys have made progress, in particular Steve Threet and Nick Sheridan have gotten better I think all the way along,” said Rodriguez, who said the two have a lead on David Cone in the competition so far. “They have picked stuff up mentally as quickly as they could.”

Sheridan, a sophomore, said he was originally just worried about making it through his first camp and had no visions about competing for a starting job so soon. But he quickly realized he might be able to do more than just prepare the scout team each week, even before the Wolverines’ depth chart thinned out with Ryan Mallett’s transfer.

“As I got here, I thought maybe I was more competitive than I thought compared to other quarterbacks that were here,” Sheridan said.

Now, with just Threet, Cone, incoming freshman Justin Feagin standing in his way, Sheridan is closer than many would have imagined from taking meaningful snaps at the Big House.

U-M notebook: Quarterbacks 'weren't particularly sharp'
BY MARK SNYDER • FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER • April 13, 2008

New Michigan football coach Rich Rodriguez insists his first real depth chart will not arrive until late August, the week of the Utah opener.

So, until then, all Michigan has to show for quarterbacks is Saturday's controlled scrimmage and the bits of observations taken from it.

Redshirt freshman Steven Threet, who has missed practice time this spring with a deep thigh bruise, returned for Saturday's practice using what he called "the Robocop thigh pad" and led the first-team offense.

He said that has been his role for much of the spring with walk-on Nick Sheridan running the second-team group, as occurred Saturday.

"There's a certain comfortability," Threet said about Rodriguez's spread offense. "There's still a lot of room to grow. I'd like to get to the point where it's not looking over to the sideline as much, but that comes with time."

There was a moment Saturday when Threet ran over to Rodriguez and offensive coordinator Calvin Magee, but Rodriguez quickly waved Threet back to the huddle.

"He played better in every scrimmage other than today," Rodriguez said. "Our quarterbacks were sharper in days other than today. Today they weren't particularly sharp, but they competed."

Threet was the most effective quarterback on Saturday, throwing the sharpest passes, though some were dropped, and showing a command of moving around.

Sheridan had a few more opportunities to run, but his passing touch was not great.

Third-stringer David Cone played a few series, yet labored trying to move out of the pocket.

Michigan showed very little of the West Virginia spread-option version, relying mostly on a shotgun passing game with a few conventional runs mixed in. While there were a few option pitches that worked, there were a few that saw the ball bouncing away.

"We've got to fit our offense around the talents of our skill players, especially our quarterback, and we've done that for 17 years now," Rodriguez said of his system. "Whatever they do well, we'll try to enhance."

No. 4-ranked quarterback in the nation commits to Michigan for 2009
April 25, 2008

Fans will have to wait a year, but it appears coach Rich Rodriguez has his quarterback for Michigan.


Kevin Newsome, a four-star recruit out of Chesapeake, Va. who stands 6-foot-3, 210 pounds, verbally committed to Michigan this morning, according to Rivals.com.

A national Top 50 recruit in the 2009 class, Newsome is ranked No. 39 overall and the fourth quarterback overall on Rivals' list. The top three have already committed to other schools.

With no experienced quarterbacks playing this fall and none an established highly-ranked dual-threat (running and passing) like Newsome, he would seem to have a good chance to compete for playing time in the fall of 2009. Rvials reported he visited Michigan two weeks ago.

"The offense is certainly a question mark because I'd rather throw the ball more than run," Newsome told rivals.com. "But I think I fit into it well and they said they'd throw the ball more because I'm more of a complete passer than they've had in the past."

Newsome is Michigan's sixth commitment for the 2009 class.

The verbal commitment is not binding until a letter-of-intent is signed in early February.

Football:Michigan lands another QB commitment
Michigan has received its second verbal commitment from a quarterback within a week.

Shavodrick Beaver of Wichita Falls (Texas) Rider High has decided to attend Michigan beginning in 2009, TheWolverine.com reported Tuesday. Beaver has yet to visit the school. Beaver, a 6-foot-3, 177-pound, four-star quarterback, was visited Tuesday by quarterbacks coach Rod Smith .

Dual-threat quarterback Kevin Newsome committed to Michigan last week.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/articl ... SPORTS0101

Looks like we got another QB: