Nathan Scheelhaase
Nathan Scheelhaase is an American professional football coach and former quarterback who is the pass game coordinator for the Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League. He previously served as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Iowa State University in 2023. Scheelhaase played college football 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. While at Rockhurst, he was a 10-time varsity letterman in football, track, and basketball. Scheelhaase 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 as a junior, which is given to the most outstanding high school football player in the Kansas City Metropolitan area. He was the fifth player from Rockhurst to have won the award, and the first since Brandon Shelby in 1999. Scheelhaase also won the Missouri Gatorade Player of the Year for football as a junior while leading Rockhurst to a 13–0 season, and a Missouri Class-6 state championship passing for 1,861 yards, 20 touchdowns, and five interceptions. He also rushed 120 times for 917 yards and 14 scores.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 and Eddie McGee.Scheelhaase became the starting quarterback for the 2010 season. Nathan led Illinois to a 2010 [Illinois Fighting Illini football team|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 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 which helped secure Illinois's first bowl victory in more than a decade, winning 38–14.