Q&A with Michigan quarterback Nick Sheridan

But after breaking his leg in spring practice, Sheridan watched as freshman Tate Forcier established himself as the likely starter. And when freshman Denard Robinson arrived, Sheridan slipped to No. 3 at quarterback.

To be sure, he'd rather be playing that spending his Saturdays equipped with a sideline headset, able to put some of football knowledge passed down from his father - New York Giants defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan - to work.

Sheridan spoke with AnnArbor.com about growing up in a football environment and about maintaining a long-distance relationship with his dad and other housekeeping (literally) matters.

Q: How does having a dad that coaches in the NFL and that has a lot of years of coaching experience benefit from you?

A: My dad's been a great resource to me. But that's not all my dad has been. He knows a lot about football, but he's also given me a lot of insight and a lot of great advice. I have a great relationship with my dad, and I'm very close with him.

Q: Did you grow up spending a lot of time around your dad's work?

A: I went to his practices all the time, and I've been around football along time. But as I got older, I had my own practices and was less awestruck by people. When you're a little kid, everybody's a superstar, but as you get older, you find that they're just people like you.

Q: Having spent your high school years in Saline, do you feel like you really went away to college?

A: No - I don't feel like I'm away from home, and I'm not. That's OK - I moved around a lot when I was little because my dad coached (at Michigan, Army, Michigan State, Notre Dame) and so I didn't feel bad about not going too far from home with a great university and the best college football program in the country right here, it was an easy choice.

Q: Did you ever get used to all the moving around?

A: I don't know if you get used to it, but I feel fortunate to have lived in a couple of different places and you get comfortable meeting new people, and so I've had a great childhood.

Q: Outside of Saline, where was the best place you lived?

A: Probably West Point (N.Y.), when my dad was coaching at the United States Military Academy and Army. I had a great time there and lived there from ages 4 to 10, and there were a lot of woods and places to play.

Q: Where did you like living the least?

A: Probably Granger, Ind. - right outside of South Bend when my dad coached at Notre Dame for a year. I didn't really have a good time there, but I made some friends that I still keep in touch with.

Q: Last year, you were featured along with your roommate Stephen Schilling on the Big Ten Network in some sort of a Dating Game type setting. You didn't seem to fare too well. Would you like another crack at it?

A: I would do that again - I think we'd do better. We had only been roommates for a couple of months at that point. We've been roommates for over a year now, and I think we know each other a little better. But I watched some of the other episodes and they asked other Big Ten players a lot easier questions. They asked us some really weird questions that I really didn't know how to answer.

Q: Does Schilling have any annoying habits?

A: He's a good roommate and there's not too much that really ruffles my feathers. I'm not a perfect roommate and neither is he, but we get along well.

Q: He kind of cast you as the neat freak of the apartment. Is that fair?

A: I don't think I'm a neat freak. I keep the common areas clean, but my room can get a little messy - I've got a busy schedule and there's a lot of days I get home and I just want to go to bed. So I'm not a neat freak, but I don't think I'm a messy person, either.

Jeff Arnold covers sports for AnnArbor.com and can be reached at jeffarnold@annarbor.com or at (734) 623-2554.