Perfect Pairing: Indiana's Penix and Sheridan Have 'Phone-a-Friend' Thing Down Pat
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Nick Sheridan finally has his dream job, and just when he's ready to get to work, his star quarterback is a thousand miles away.
Sheridan is Indiana's new offensive coordinator, getting promoted in January after three years as an assistant at Indiana, coaching quarterbacks for two years and tight ends for one. He's one of the brightest young coaches in the country and he's been handed the keys to an Indiana offense that set all sorts of records a year ago in an unprecedented eight-win season, the school's first in 26 years.
And then COVID-19 happened.
Just a few days into spring practice, the coronavirus pandemic shut everything down. Dorms were closed at Indiana, classes pushed online and all the students were told to go home.
That included all the football players, even his quarterback. Michael Penix Jr., who went back to Riverview, Fla., and his parents' home just outside of Tampa. And just like every other coach and player across the country in college football, the two can't do anything together other than talk these days, either on the phone or by video conference.
This would be a big problem for a lot of people. But it works just fine for Penix and Sheridan, because they've had hundreds of conversations over the past seven years, dating back to the time when Penix would camp at the University of Tennessee as a high school freshman and a young Sheridan was a graduate assistant for the Volunteers.
Their relationship — even from a long distance — goes that far back.
"I first met Coach Sheridan when he was still at Tennessee, and we talked a lot when I was committed to go there,'' Penix said last summer for our Sports Illustrated Indiana series on Florida recruiting. "And when he came to Indiana, we talked on the phone all the time, even when I was still committed.
"And he would always say, 'we're here for you if anything ever changes.' Well, it did. Now, this is great. I'm really looking forward to working with him every day.''
When Tennessee fired Butch Jones and hired Jeremy Pruitt, they pulled Penix's scholarship offer just days before signing day. Sheridan and the Hoosiers pounced quickly, and all 10 coaches went to Florida for their in-home visit with the Penix family. A few days later, Penix picked Indiana.
And the rest, as they say, is history.
Two guys, an emerging young coach and an even younger promising quarterback, are now attached at the hip.
VIDEO: Penix talks about recovering from surgery
New roles in their important relationship
Sheridan's role has changed a lot in their relationship the past few years. He was Penix's quarterback coach in 2018, and he was the tight ends coach a year ago after Kalen DeBoer took over as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. But Sheridan was still actively involved. And now he's the boss after DeBoer left to become the head coach at Fresno State.
"I'm very excited to work with him,'' Penix said recently. "The whole offense is excited. He's a great guy, and even last year he was with the tights ends, he was always involved with all the other positions. He brings a lot of humor, and you always know when he's in the building.
"He's just a great presence and I can't wait.''
It's the same thing for Sheridan.
"I tell his parents all the time, that I feel like I've grown up with Michael. There's a lot of truth to that,'' Sheridan said this week by phone. "And to see him now, all grown up, 220 pounds and ready to be something really special, well, that's just been a great part of this journey with them''
The wait through the pandemic has been difficult, but they've tried to make it all work. Sheridan meets with Penix and the other quarterbacks three times a week by conference call for about 30-45 at a time, staying under the two-hour mandate by the NCAA. It's helped a lot that Sheridan is simply "enhancing'' the offense Indiana ran a year ago, not starting from scratch. When the time comes to get back on the practice field — whenever that may be — the Hoosiers will be just fine.
Penix — who won the starting job at Indiana a year ago but struggled to stay healthy after getting knocked out of three games with shoulder and clavicle injuries, plus a concussion — has found a way to stay in shape in Tampa. The 6-foot-3 left-hander still has been working out and throwing when he can with his Florida trainers while still following all the social distancing guidelines.
All of his passes? Far more than 6 feet.
"I'm out training myself, personally,'' Penix said by phone earlier this week. "The coaches sent out individual workouts to the whole team. We all try to find gyms. If we have dumbbells, we do dumbbell workouts or body-weight (workouts).
"We're just trying to find different ways we can stay ready or stay in shape. That's what I've been doing myself and I've been going to my quarterback coach and I've been training and running on my own for the most part.''
Penix has worked hard in the weight room after cleared from his November clavicle surgery in January and he's added close to 20 pounds of muscle to better handle the rigors of playing quarterback in the Big Ten. When C.J. Bennett, his Florida quarterbacks trainer, first saw him a few weeks ago for a workout, he was impressed with how cut he was. The added strength is obvious.
"The ball is just jumping off his hand right now,' Bennett said.
Leadership skills come in handy in trying times
Leadership is big part of Penix's job, too, and he's made of point of keeping in touch with his Indiana teammates and pushing everyone to stay in shape so when they get back to Bloomington, they'll be ready to pick up where they left off.
"We all push every day, and we push each other. Basically, if you want it that much, then you'll go out and put in the work and all the work that you need to be able to come back and be successful,'' Penix said. "That's what all of us have been taking into consideration. I can guarantee you that all the players have been working extremely hard and pushing themselves.
"We know what we want to achieve, and are ready to go out and give it our all every day.''
That communication is important, he said. This is his team, after all.
"I talk to a lot of players every day between different group chats or any type of text messaging. It's not difficult,'' Penix said. "It's something we've always done off the field. That's what makes us strong as a team because of that connection we have and that bond that we have, so we always communicate with each other, even when times are hard like this.''
Penix was really looking forward to having a big spring with his teammates. He's fully recovered from a clavicle injury in November that ended his season and required surgery. He had to wait a couple of months to throw, but he is "definitely 100 percent'' now.
He also has been tearing it up in the weight room, adding 20 pounds of muscle and getting up to 220 now. He looks completely different, and he's planning on staying healthy, which has been a struggle so far during his career. He only played in three games as a freshman, leaving the Penn State game with an ACL injury. Last year, he played in six games, but couldn't finish three of them because of the various injuries.
Adding the weight and muscle should help him hold up better. He's kept the weight on at home, too, getting plenty of his mother Takisha's home cooking back in Florida.
"My mom's been cooking a lot for me. My weight's definitely been staying the same, maybe even going up a little bit,'' Penix said. "I'm certainly not losing any weight. That's one thing that I have to continue to make sure I push on, and it's a big factor because I can't just go out and not come back at my weight.
"That would be letting my team down, and that's something I'm not going to do.''
Penix said he wants to come back home to Bloomington as soon as he can and start throwing to his receivers again and working more closely with Sheridan to fine-tune this offense. But he has no idea when they will be allowed to do that.
Talking is one thing; doing is another.
"We are always communicating. We always talk about how we want to run things and how to stay on the same page and make sure we don't get off the page.''
Staying safe is still first priority
For Sheridan, there is no blueprint for this COVID-19 world, not with all of his players scattered across the country. They do all they can.
"Our first priority as coaches is always the safety and well-being of our players,'' Sheridan said. "We want to make sure they are staying safe, and staying up with their academics, because that's all new too, doing everything remotely. So we just try to communicate with them as best we can under the guidelines.
"We all love football, and we can't wait to get back to it, but there are a lot more important things going on in the world right now. We just have to follow the experts and do what we're told. When we can finally get back at it, that's above my pay grade. I know the coaches and athletic directors and school presidents are all talking all the time. Whenever it may be, we'll be ready to go to work.''
Until then, Sheridan and Penix will continue their chats, just like they have all these years. There's plenty of depth in their relationship, and that's a big thing. It's a luxury a lot of teams don't have right now. And for an Indiana team that wants to improve on its eight-win season, starting Sept. 4 at Wisconsin, every day matters.
"You can't simulate reps, obviously, but we've really gotten a lot done in our video conferences,'' said Sheridan, a former Michigan quarterback from 2006-10 who is the son of a football coach. "I can't imagine trying to do all this 20 years ago, so technology has made it so much easier for us to stay current.
"We have a lot of guys in this offense who have a lot of experience, and they know this offense,'' Sheridan said. "Because of that, we get a lot done, and hopefully that keeps us ahead of the curve. Michael's been great. I mean, he has great physical talent, and no one will ever deny that, but he's also very smart too, and he really does a great job mentally as well.''
Michael Penix Jr. started three games last year that he couldn't finish, forced to leave with either a shoulder or clavicle injury, or a concussion. (USA TODAY Sports)
Related stories on Michael Penix Jr,
- FROM FLORIDA TO BLOOMINGTON: The amazing recruiting story of Tampa Bay Tech quarterback Michael Penix Jr. to Indiana. CLICK HERE
- HIS TEAM NOW: Even after just one start, it's clear that this Indiana team belongs to Michael Penix Jr. now. CLICK HERE
- SEASON ENDS AFTER SURGERY: After injuring his clavicle in the Northwestern game and needing surgery, Penix's season comes to an end. CLICK HERE
