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Doug Nussmeier, pictured here during a press conference in December 2013 before Alabama's Sugar Bowl game against Oklahoma, has been hired as Jim McElwain's offensive coordinator at Florida. (Vasha Hunt/vhunt@al.com)

Alabama fans know Doug Nussmeier as the offensive coordinator between Jim McElwain and Lane Kiffin, but Nussmeier has more of a connection to McElwain than just that of successor in Tuscaloosa.

Nussmeier, whom McElwain has hired as his offensive coordinator at Florida, was the quarterback at Idaho in 1990-93 while McElwain was an assistant at rival Eastern Michigan. They later worked together on John L. Smith's staff at Michigan State from 2003-05, and Nussmeier ultimately succeeded McElwain as OC at Fresno State in 2008 before following him at Alabama in 2012-13.

McElwain says that comfort level is a bonus.

"Nuss and I can sit and talk the same language and it's not going to take a five-hour conversation," McElwain told the Orlando Sentinel recently. "It's going to take a two- or three-minute, 'Oh. Yeah. You know what I'm getting at?' And boom. There you go."

A focus for McElwain's new coordinator heading into the spring will be quarterback, where Treon Harris is expected to compete with Will Grier after finishing the 2014 season as the starter. Skyler Mornhinweg is also still on the roster, and Nussmeier hopes to add another signal-caller in the 2015 class.

"It's hard to find teams that don't have a good quarterback that are successful," Nussmeier told the Sentinel. "I think it will be a great competition. I don't think there's any reason to say it will just be two."

Arkansas: Offensive coordinator Jim Chaney has accepted the offensive coordinator job on Pat Narduzzi's staff at Pittsburgh, according to Sports Illustrated.

Georgia: The Bulldogs have hired McNeese State co-offensive coordinator Rob Sale as their offensive line coach, according to the Macon Telegraph. Sale, who played at LSU, was an assistant strength and conditioning coach and offensive analyst at Alabama, before his three-year stint at McNeese.

Kentucky: After a second close call, Saturday's double-overtime road win at Texas A&M, USA TODAY examines seven weaknesses of the Wildcats' "suddenly vulnerable" basketball team.

LSU: There's so much interest in the Tigers' vacant defensive coordinator position, the search could take a while, according to the Advocate.

Mississippi State: The Clarion-Ledger's Michael Bonner offers this comparison of outgoing defensive coordinator Geoff Collins and incoming defensive coordinator Manny Diaz.

Missouri: Can the Tigers win the SEC East for the third straight year in 2015? The Columbia Daily Tribune's David Morrison sees Georgia and Tennessee as Missouri's top competition.

Ole Miss: JUCO quarterback signee Chad Kelly arrived in Oxford over the weekend, but still has "one unspecified requirement" to fulfill to join the team in good standing after a December arrest following a bar fight, according to the Clarion-Ledger.

South Carolina: The key for the Gamecocks to bounce back from 2014's disappointing 7-6 season is rediscovering a pass rush, The State's Josh Kendall writes.

Tennessee: Though he isn't expected to be in a full-fledged competition for the starting quarterback job like last year, there's "no indication" that Nathan Peterman is looking to transfer, according to the Knoxville News Sentinel.

Texas A&M: Kenny Hill's transfer leaves the Aggies short of scholarship quarterbacks, the Houston Chronicle's Brent Zweneman writes.

Vanderbilt: Derek Mason will join Mississippi State's Dan Mullen, Nebraska's Mike Riley and Pittsburgh's Pat Narduzzi in breaking down tonight's national championship game in ESPN2's "Film Room," according to the Tennessean.