Alabama Moving TE Coach Bryan Ellis to Quarterbacks Coach

Ellis has been on Alabama's staff since Kalen DeBoer's first season in 2024 and has a lot of collegiate experience coaching quarterbacks.

July 30, 2025; Tuscaloosa, AL, USA; Tight ends coach Bryan Ellis coaches tight end Peter Knudson as he does a rep during the first practice session of the preseason for the Alabama Crimson Tide. | Gary Cosby Jr. / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

With Nick Sheridan off to Michigan State as offensive coordinator, Kalen DeBoer was in the market for a new quarterbacks coach.

He will be making a move from within the program. Tight ends coach Bryan Ellis will be shifted over to become the new quarterbacks coach according to a report from Football Scoop.

Ellis has been on staff at Alabama since DeBoer's first season in 2024. This is his second time replacing Sheridan. He first did so prior to the 2024 season when Sheridan was promoted from TE coach to offensive coordinator to replace Ryan Grubb, who had gone to the Seattle Seahawks at the time. .

However, this is not Ellis' first time working with quarterbacks. He was a collegiate quarterback himself at UAB from 2007 to 2011. He was the passing-game cooridnator at Western Kentucky in 2016 and coached quarterbacks at USC in 2018. He returned to Western Kentucky in 2019, where he served as offensive coordinator and QB coach.

Prior to coming to join DeBoer at Alabama, Ellis was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Georgia Southern from 2022 to 2023.

"When you start to make decisions that way, it’s about the people and the place," Ellis said in spring of 2024 about his decision to leave Georgia Southern to come to Alabama. "I think there’s great people here, and it’s the University of Alabama. And it’s really not much more than that.”

While at Georgia Southern in 2023, the Eagles finished in the top-30 nationally in completion percentage and passing offense. He coached Georgia Southern quarterback Kyle Vantreese to throw for 4,253 passing yards and 27 touchdowns in 2022.

His two-year stint at Alabama so far is actually the first time he has coached tight ends. Grubb will still be the offensive coordinator for the Crimson Tide next season.

While Ellis is a familiar face within the program, he will be expected to break in a new starting quarterback for the Crimson Tide next season. Alabama's 2025 starter, Ty Simpson, declared for the NFL draft.

Alabama's 2026 quarterback class includes returners Austin Mack (redshirt junior) and Keelon Russell (redshirt freshman) alongside true freshmen Jett Thomalla and Tayden Kaawa. None of the four quarterbacks has significant in-game collegiate experience. Mack appeared in four games for the Tide in 2025, taking over for an injured Simpson in the second half of the Rose Bowl. Russell played in two games during his true freshman campaign.