Former Illinois Football Quarterback Hired by Rams

Former Illinois Football Quarterback Hired by Rams

According to a tweet from Adam Schefter of ESPN, the Los Angeles Rams have hired former Illinois Football star Nate Scheelhaase as their passing game coordinator.  Scheelhaase was the Illinois quarterback from 2009-2013 under coaches Ron Zook and Tim Beckman. Under his leadership, Nate became Illinois’ all-time leader in career total offense (10,634 yards). As well as the first QB in Illinois Football history to lead the team to two consecutive bowl victories. (2010 Texas Bowl, 2011 Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl) Certainly an Illini great, with a ton of special moments wearing orange and blue. One of the most thrilling was Nathan’s comeback victory vs in-state rival Northwestern in 2011.

Background

The former Illini Quarterback has been coaching for coach Matt Campbell at Iowa State in the Big 12 since 2018. The 33-year-old began coaching his career at Illinois from 2015 to 2017 as assistant director of football operations/running backs coach. From there, Iowa State hired Nathan as running backs coach from 2018-2021. In 2022, head coach Matt Campbell gave Nate the go-ahead as Offensive Coordinator and Quarterbacks coach for the Cyclones. A rapidly growing career, that is now taking his talents to an NFL staff.

Scheelhaase is set to replace LA Rams CO- offensive Coordinator Jake Peetz, who is transitioning to the Seahawks as their pass game coordinator. Under his coaching, Iowa State was able to accomplish some tall very tasks. They broke the school record for total offense in 2019 and followed it up with the second-best scoring offense in Cyclone history in 2020. The Cyclones made the Big 12 Championship game in 2020, and qualified for a New Year’s Six bowl for the first time in school history. They beat down Oregon in the PlayStation Fiesta Bowl by a final of 34-17. Scheelhaase is a very well liked and respected coach amongst the coaching ranks, and Illinois fans will have a lot to look forward to in his future coaching endeavors.

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