PEORIA — A former Fighting Illini quarterback has taken over the helm of the No. 1-ranked offense in the NFL.
Nate Scheelhaase has been elevated to offensive coordinator by the Los Angeles Rams, a big step for the Rams’ passing game coordinator who is heading into just his third year as an NFL coach and will work under Sean McVay.
He replaces Mike LaFleur, who served three seasons as OC and has been hired as new head coach at Arizona.
Scheelhaase is already on the radar of other NFL teams as a head coach. After helping the Rams reach the NFC title game, he earned interviews for vacant head coaching jobs with the Cleveland Browns, Baltimore Ravens, Pittsburgh Steelers and Las Vegas Raiders.
He is part of the McVay coaching tree that has produced current or former NFL head coaches in LaFleur (Cardinals), Zac Taylor (Bengals), Matt LaFleur (Packers), Brandon Staley (Chargers), Raheem Morris (Falcons), Kevin O’Connell (Vikings) and Liam Coen (Jaguars).
Scheelhaase was Illinois’ quarterback from 2009-13. He holds the Illinois Fighting Illini football record for career total offensive yards with 10,634.
Scheelhaase also has the Illini record for most career passing yards with 8,568, the highest season completion percentage with 66.74% (287–430), and the second most career rushing yards by a quarterback with 2,066.
This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Former Illini QB named Rams offensive coordinator after several NFL head coach interviews
Reporting by Dave Eminian, Peoria Journal Star / Journal Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
