Nathan Scheelhaase (born November 8, 1990) is an
American football coach and former
quarterback, who is the current the
offensive coordinator
An offensive coordinator is a member of the coaching staff of an American football or Canadian football team who is in charge of the team's offense. Generally, along with the defensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator, this coach re ...
for the
Iowa State Cyclones
The Iowa State Cyclones are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Iowa State University, located in Ames. The university is a member of the Big 12 Conference and competes in NCAA Division I, fielding 16 varsity teams (6 men's and 1 ...
. He played
college football
College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States.
Unlike most ...
at
Illinois from 2010 to 2013. While playing at
Rockhurst High School, he won the 2008 Missouri Gatorade Player of the Year.
High school career
Scheelhaase attended Rockhurst High School in
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the 36th most-populous city in the United States. It is the central ...
. While at Rockhurst, Scheelhaase was a good student as well as a ten-time varsity letterman in football, track, and basketball. He was a four-star prospect on both
Scout.com and
Rivals.com. He was ranked as the seventh best dual-threat quarterback on Rivals.com. In football, Scheelhaase won the
Thomas A. Simone Award, which is given to the most outstanding high school football player in the Kansas City Metropolitan area, his junior season. He was the fifth player from Rockhurst to have won the award, and the first since Brandon Shelby in 1999. Scheelhaase also was the recipient of the Missouri
Gatorade Player of the Year
The Gatorade Player of the Year awards are given annually to up and coming high school student-athletes in the United States. They are given for boys' baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine playe ...
for football his junior year. His junior year, he led Rockhurst to a 13-0 season, and a Missouri Class-6 state championship passing for 1861 yards, 20 touchdowns and only five interceptions. On the ground he also rushed 120 times for 917 yards and 14 scores. He is 6’2” weighing 190 lb., and he runs a 4.5 40-yard dash.
Recruiting
Scheelhaase committed to the
University of Illinois on July 16, 2008.
Scheelhaase was recruited by the
University of Oklahoma, the
University of Missouri, the
University of Iowa, the
University of Arkansas, and the
University of Kansas among others before signing with Illinois. Scheelhaase played safety as a sophomore and said some schools had talked to him about the possibility of playing on defense, but under center is where he wanted to be. "Most everybody is recruiting me at quarterback and that's what I think I'm gonna play."
College career
Scheelhaase was redshirted his freshman year; Illinois started QBs
Juice Williams
Isiah John "Juice" Williams (born November 19, 1987) is a former American football quarterback. He played college football at Illinois. After his senior year of high school in 2005, Williams was considered a top recruit for the quarterback po ...
and Eddie McGee.
Scheelhaase became the starting quarterback for the 2010 season. Nathan led Illinois to a
6-6 season; completing 137 passes on 241 attempts for 1,583 yards in the regular season, along with 17 touchdown passes and 8 interceptions. Scheelhaase also ran for 806 yards on 175 carries and 4 touchdowns, and was an excellent complement to Illini RB
Mikel Leshoure in the running game.
In the
2010 Texas Bowl
The 2010 Texas Bowl was the fifth edition of the college football bowl game, and was played at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas. The game started at 5:00 PM US CST on Wednesday, December 29, 2010. The game was telecast on ESPN for the second tim ...
against Baylor, Scheelhaase completed 18 passes on 23 attempts for 242 yards with no interceptions. Scheelhaase had a 55-yard touchdown run late in the game, and led Illinois to its first bowl victory in more than a decade. The Fighting Illini won, 38-14.
Statistics
Scheelhaase's college stats at the completion of the 2013 season. Source:
Records
Scheelhaase holds the
Illinois Fighting Illini football record for career total offensive yards with 10,634. Other records held by Scheelhaase are the third 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.
Coaching career
On May 19, 2015, the University of Illinois announced it had hired Sheelhaase as Assistant Director of Football Operations. He had been offered the same position the year previous, but declined it because of a previous commitment to a youth ministry in Louisville, Kentucky. On August 29, 2015, after the firing of Scheelhaase's head coach from his playing days,
Tim Beckman
Timothy David Beckman (born January 19, 1965) is a former American football coach. He served as the head football coach at the University of Toledo from 2009 to 2011 and at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign from 2012 to 2014, compi ...
, Illinois offensive coordinator
Bill Cubit
William John Cubit (; born October 14, 1953) is an American football coach and former player. Cubit was the head football coach at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, first on an interim basis in the 2015 season and then promoted t ...
was promoted to interim head coach, which opened up a slot on the Illinois coaching staff, and Scheelhaase was promoted to running backs coach.
Iowa State
On January 25, 2018, it was announced Scheelhaase was hired as the running backs coach under
Matt Campbell at
Iowa State
Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the n ...
. In 2019, he became the wide receivers coach for Iowa State. In 2021, in addition to coaching the wide receivers, he was given the additional titles of running game coordinator and running backs coach. In 2022 he was promoted to offensive coordinator.
[https://cyclones.com/news/2022/12/5/football-scheelhaase-named-cyclones-offensive-coordinator.aspx]
Personal information
Scheelhaase's father, Nate Creer, started at defensive back for the
University of Iowa, and started for the 1985 team that lost to
UCLA in the
Rose Bowl to finish 10-2, and be ranked No. 10 at the end of the season
AP Poll. He was named as one of Iowa’s all-time team MVPs.
References
External links
Illinois profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scheelhaase, Nathan
1990 births
Living people
American football quarterbacks
Illinois Fighting Illini football players
Illinois Fighting Illini football coaches
Iowa_State_Cyclones_football_coaches