Nix and Morris bonding

[aubiefifty 18,230]

AUBURN, Alabama—The addition of Chad Morris as Auburn’s offensive coordinator is a positive development, according to Auburn's starting quarterback, true freshman quarterback Bo Nix. A veteran coach who has worked with guys like Deshaun Watson and Tajh Boyd at Clemson as they put up huge numbers as the Tigers broke more than 100 school offensive records in his time there from 2011-14, Morris has helped develop some of the top passing games in the country.

Putting together a season that earned him SEC Freshman of the Year honors, Nix goes into the Outback Bowl game already owning Auburn's freshman records for passing yards (2,366), pass completions (200), pass attempts (351) and touchdown passes (15). With Morris coming onboard to work with him, Nix said he’s excited to see what the next chapter holds starting with the Outback Bowl against Minnesota.

“I feel like this bowl game could really help and give us a stepping stone for next year,” Nix said. “It gives us a game together to understand what he sees throughout a game and understand what he wants me to be looking for. It kind of gives us a jump-start to next year and the first game. We would have already had a first game and that helps with this year and build upon next year so we can start fast.”

Auburn quarterback Bo Nix fires a pass against Georgia at Jordan-Hare Stadium on Nov. 16, 2019. (Photo: Adam Sparks, 247Sports)

 

It hasn’t taken long for Nix and Morris to build a rapport with football at the center of things. A coach’s son, Nix is a student of the game and watches film constantly to try to improve himself and the Auburn offense. That’s something that Morris said he sees in the young quarterback and it comes from his desire to come out on top every time steps on the field.

“When you look at Bo, he’s a winner,” Morris said. “That’s all he knows. He comes from a winning family. Being able to observe him on the other side of the field this year and watching his skill set, and watching him develop this year from game one to when we played him, you just saw progress each week.

“Now being here just the short five days that I’ve been around, he can’t get enough film work with me, he can’t come in the office enough. He’s picking my brain and wanting to know what I see. That’s exciting because you know you have a quarterback that wants to be elite and is going to do what it takes to be elite.”

For Nix the opportunity to sit down with Morris has already given him things to work on and improve as he learns more about the game from another viewpoint.

“It’s extremely fun,” Nix said. “You can’t ever know enough offense so just being able to pick someone’s brain and learn something new in the offensive world, just as a quarterback that’s fun for me. I enjoy talking offense and talking football.”

In the end the quarterback position is as much about the intangibles as it is talent. When you have both it gives you a chance to be very successful when you put the pieces in place around him, but it all starts with the mental side of the game for Morris. Put in the work and good things will happen. Morris noted that so far he’s seen that work from Nix and he’s excited for the future at Auburn.

“I’ve said this in my coaching background at all levels, if you have one of those guys, you have a chance,” Morris said. “It doesn’t matter what level of football you’re at, it’s an absolute must.”

[AuburnTiger4Life 2,225]

Great article. I love Bo’s fire to constantly improve 

[shabby 2,039]

I noticed the article talked about freshmen of the year and it makes me.womded just how good was Nixs first year at the helm. I feel like he did a great job making decisions and kept interceptions at a fairly minimal rate. He averaged about 200 yards per game through the air and a few more by land. His pass completion percentages however indicate a need for strong development. 56% is not very impressive. I'm sure the lack of many short range dink and dunk passes impacted that number. If Morris can help.with accuracy issues I feel like Nix will be stellar 

 

[twilli13 600]

23 minutes ago, shabby said:

I noticed the article talked about freshmen of the year and it makes me.womded just how good was Nixs first year at the helm. I feel like he did a great job making decisions and kept interceptions at a fairly minimal rate. He averaged about 200 yards per game through the air and a few more by land. His pass completion percentages however indicate a need for strong development. 56% is not very impressive. I'm sure the lack of many short range dink and dunk passes impacted that number. If Morris can help.with accuracy issues I feel like Nix will be stellar 

 

I felt like it was kinda both...the limitation of the offense not having enough qb friendly throws and Nix just not being as accurate as I thought he would be. For instance I know Stidham and I think Sean White were more accurate in the offense. I suspect and hope Morris can help Bo improve fundamentally and expand the offense to provide better passing options. 

[AU64 10,122]

37 minutes ago, twilli13 said:

I felt like it was kinda both...the limitation of the offense not having enough qb friendly throws and Nix just not being as accurate as I thought he would be. For instance I know Stidham and I think Sean White were more accurate in the offense. I suspect and hope Morris can help Bo improve fundamentally and expand the offense to provide better passing options. 

Heard a scary comment yesterday to the effect that most quarterbacks don't improve their accuracy much from one year to the next.....which is one reason that folks were so impressed with what Burrow did.      For example...Shea Patterson and Fromm dropped several percentage points from last season.  

Some QBs/coaches run up their completion percentage with "quasi-handoffs" but mostly basic passing stats do not improve much.   I recall efforts to help Nick improve his passing accuracy without too much success.   

Hoping Bo and Chad find a way to beat the odds and at least get him into the low to middle 60s which is typical for Div QBs who run standard offenses.  

[twilli13 600]

6 hours ago, AU64 said:

Heard a scary comment yesterday to the effect that most quarterbacks don't improve their accuracy much from one year to the next.....which is one reason that folks were so impressed with what Burrow did.      For example...Shea Patterson and Fromm dropped several percentage points from last season.  

Some QBs/coaches run up their completion percentage with "quasi-handoffs" but mostly basic passing stats do not improve much.   I recall efforts to help Nick improve his passing accuracy without too much success.   

Hoping Bo and Chad find a way to beat the odds and at least get him into the low to middle 60s which is typical for Div QBs who run standard offenses.  

You may be right here. I'm really really hoping he does though because that 49% vs power 5 opponents is just not gonna cut it to get us where we want the program to go. I was actually incredibly surprised at how inaccurate he was in quite a few games. Freshman mistakes tend to be more turnovers and generally getting rattled type issues which I felt Nix did really well with overall. The lack of accuracy though was an odd thing to pinpoint with such high highschool accolades and being known as a fairly developed prospect with a father coach. 

[Sizzle 3,948]

8 hours ago, AU64 said:

Heard a scary comment yesterday to the effect that most quarterbacks don't improve their accuracy much from one year to the next.....which is one reason that folks were so impressed with what Burrow did.      For example...Shea Patterson and Fromm dropped several percentage points from last season.  

Some QBs/coaches run up their completion percentage with "quasi-handoffs" but mostly basic passing stats do not improve much.   I recall efforts to help Nick improve his passing accuracy without too much success.   

Hoping Bo and Chad find a way to beat the odds and at least get him into the low to middle 60s which is typical for Div QBs who run standard offenses.  

I wouldn’t count on him making that kind of jump. Only way I see it going up that much is from dinking and dunking

[Auburn2Eugene 2,317]

12 hours ago, shabby said:

freshmen of the year

As much as I like the fact he won this award, if we are being honest, Nix winning that award, by in large was a farce.

Derek Stingley should have won that award. 

But hey who cares who deserves it since our boy won amirite?

[Auburn2Eugene 2,317]

For the record,  I do believe that if Gus could hand over the offense to Chad like he did Steele, Chad and Nix could be a lethal combination.  

 

Oh and as far as accuracy goes, for all the awards he won, Nix has never won any awards for accuracy. Expecting him to pass for over 60% at the FBS level when he has never done so is asking a lot... 

[I_M4_AU 8,933]

9 hours ago, Auburn2Eugene said:

Expecting him to pass for over 60% at the FBS level when he has never done so is asking a lot... 

Isn’t coaching the thing that can improve his accuracy?  Just because he hasn’t been real accurate doesn’t mean he never will, with the right coach anything is possible.  Remember how Burrow was in 2018?  In one year later he won the Heisman just because he had the right coach and played in a better system.

Coaching and motivation is what elevates performance, if you just know what you know you will never improve.

[AuburnTiger4Life 2,225]

22 hours ago, twilli13 said:

I felt like it was kinda both...the limitation of the offense not having enough qb friendly throws and Nix just not being as accurate as I thought he would be. For instance I know Stidham and I think Sean White were more accurate in the offense. I suspect and hope Morris can help Bo improve fundamentally and expand the offense to provide better passing options. 

That’s hilarious 

[steeleagle 2,945]

2 minutes ago, AuburnTiger4Life said:

I felt like it was kinda both...the limitation of the offense not having enough qb friendly throws and Nix just not being as accurate as I thought he would be. For instance I know Stidham and I think Sean White were more accurate in the offense. I suspect and hope Morris can help Bo improve fundamentally and expand the offense to provide better passing options. 

That’s hilarious 

 

I agree to a certain extent. White was pretty accurate within 20 -30 yards. But anything over that and it declined the farther he had to throw it. He could not throw it 60 yards at all.

[bigbird 60,939]

7 minutes ago, steeleagle said:

I agree to a certain extent. White was pretty accurate within 20 -30 yards. But anything over that and it declined the farther he had to throw it. He could not throw it 60 yards at all.

For the most part, games are won between 5-30 yards. Passes caught over 30 yards are not a winning strategy.

[Gowebb11 9,871]

22 hours ago, AU64 said:

Heard a scary comment yesterday to the effect that most quarterbacks don't improve their accuracy much from one year to the next.

On my own, I pulled up several multi year starters stats and I found the opposite. Most of them improved each year as a starter. What was pretty telling in that exercise is how few QBs start for their entire Freshman year. I believe with a year under his belt, improved timing with his receivers and an easier schedule his completion % numbers will improve a lot. 

[AuburnTiger4Life 2,225]

33 minutes ago, steeleagle said:

I agree to a certain extent. White was pretty accurate within 20 -30 yards. But anything over that and it declined the farther he had to throw it. He could not throw it 60 yards at all.

The passing yards/TDs aren’t even close

[Auburn2Eugene 2,317]

1 hour ago, I_M4_AU said:

Isn’t coaching the thing that can improve his accuracy?  Just because he hasn’t been real accurate doesn’t mean he never will, with the right coach anything is possible.  Remember how Burrow was in 2018?  In one year later he won the Heisman just because he had the right coach and played in a better system.

Coaching and motivation is what elevates performance, if you just know what you know you will never improve.

I was under the assumption he had gotten just that since birth. I mean his dad was an Auburn legend at QB, and college level offensive coordinator before becoming a high school coach in which he won multiple state championships. 

 

I mean I feel ya and I truly believe if anyone at Auburn can help Nix turn that corner its Chad Morris. But this isn't some largely unknown QB that played at some small 1A school that never went to camps and walked into Auburn undeveloped. We are talking about a kid who has had college level coaching since he was in diapers. You say he just needs coaching. I agree the right coach can do wonders with any QB with the skillset Nix possesses, but I cant help but wonder if that's what it will take to improve his accuracy because he has legitimately had college level coaching since he was in diapers. 

[AU64 10,122]

30 minutes ago, Gowebb11 said:

On my own, I pulled up several multi year starters stats and I found the opposite. Most of them improved each year as a starter. What was pretty telling in that exercise is how few QBs start for their entire Freshman year. I believe with a year under his belt, improved timing with his receivers and an easier schedule his completion % numbers will improve a lot. 

I think the easier schedule will help and experience will help though he was not much better after 10 games than in game #1 so not sure how much experience it takes for a guy to turn the corner.  

The person who made the comment was a long time college coach so I guess he has some knowledge on the matter.   And I just got a couple at random that I mentioned....and did not mention Stidham since that would be blamed on Gus.   BUT...but Auburn2Eugen has some good comments.   I think the % completion will go up next year because of him having some easier throws but accuracy down the field ?    that's where it would be nice to see some improvement. ….rather see passing for yards than passing for stats.   Hoping Chad can make that happen. .

[JDUBB4AU 5,287]

11 hours ago, Auburn2Eugene said:

As much as I like the fact he won this award, if we are being honest, Nix winning that award, by in large was a farce.

Derek Stingley should have won that award. 

But hey who cares who deserves it since our boy won amirite?

Hate to say it but I agree with the Stingley comment . That kid is a top ten pick in a few years . 

[Auburn2Eugene 2,317]

7 minutes ago, JDUBB4AU said:

Hate to say it but I agree with the Stingley comment . That kid is a top ten pick in a few years . 

Well yeah. Dude is a first team All American AS A TRUE FRESHMAN IN THE SEC. Him not winning SEC Freshman of the Year was... well surprising to say the least. I'm stoked Nix won that award, but he didnt deserve it IF WE ARE BEING HONEST AND TAKING OFF OUR ORANGE AND BLUE GLASSES.

I hate saying it also but it's a fact. Facts arent always popular around here so I guess get ready for downvotes. 

 

Edit: thanks for being honest 

[JDUBB4AU 5,287]

23 minutes ago, Auburn2Eugene said:

Well yeah. Dude is a first team All American AS A TRUE FRESHMAN IN THE SEC. Him not winning SEC Freshman of the Year was... well surprising to say the least. I'm stoked Nix won that award, but he didnt deserve it IF WE ARE BEING HONEST AND TAKING OFF OUR ORANGE AND BLUE GLASSES.

I hate saying it also but it's a fact. Facts arent always popular around here so I guess get ready for downvotes. 

 

Edit: thanks for being honest 

No question. Just calling it like I see it 

[toddc 13,197]

1 hour ago, Gowebb11 said:

On my own, I pulled up several multi year starters stats and I found the opposite. Most of them improved each year as a starter. What was pretty telling in that exercise is how few QBs start for their entire Freshman year. I believe with a year under his belt, improved timing with his receivers and an easier schedule his completion % numbers will improve a lot. 

Not to mention that defensive coordinators were probably playing him differently because he was a freshman, early in the year at least, but will have to respect him more in year two.

[toddc 13,197]

50 minutes ago, Auburn2Eugene said:

Well yeah. Dude is a first team All American AS A TRUE FRESHMAN IN THE SEC. Him not winning SEC Freshman of the Year was... well surprising to say the least. I'm stoked Nix won that award, but he didnt deserve it IF WE ARE BEING HONEST AND TAKING OFF OUR ORANGE AND BLUE GLASSES.

I hate saying it also but it's a fact. Facts arent always popular around here so I guess get ready for downvotes. 

 

Edit: thanks for being honest 

Well obviously the ones who voted BN as the Freshman of the Year saw it differently, and I don’t know of any reason for them to favor BN over anyone else.

[soblfly 33]

3 hours ago, Gowebb11 said:

On my own, I pulled up several multi year starters stats and I found the opposite. Most of them improved each year as a starter. What was pretty telling in that exercise is how few QBs start for their entire Freshman year. I believe with a year under his belt, improved timing with his receivers and an easier schedule his completion % numbers will improve a lot. 

I agree. I saw a lot of dropped passes. Good opportunity to improve execution and gel during the off season. 

[Gowebb11 9,871]

3 hours ago, AU64 said:

I think the easier schedule will help and experience will help though he was not much better after 10 games than in game #1 so not sure how much experience it takes for a guy to turn the corner.  

We have a different perspective on this one. I think he improved immensely. In game 1 he played against an eventual 10 win conference champ, and in games 11 and 12 he faced off against two top 10 ten teams loaded with future NFL talent. In between he faced several bowl teams, a 10 win UF team and an undefeated playoff team. Some of the SECs greatest QBs haven’t done that, much less as a true freshman. Legends like Tebow, Cam, Dak, and Manziel were asked to fill package roles or redshirting as freshman, so it obviously took them more experience than Bo had to turn the corner. And Joe Burrow had almost identical stats to Bo last year, as a redshirt junior. As a true freshman BN was asked to be the number 1 QB all season, and do it against one of the hardest schedules in college football. Some have done one or the other, but I cannot find one who did both with better results. We do agree that his touch on the deep ball could improve, and that Chad should be able to take his game to the next level. 

[Tigerpro2a 5,650]

On 12/20/2019 at 12:34 PM, twilli13 said:

I felt like it was kinda both...the limitation of the offense not having enough qb friendly throws and Nix just not being as accurate as I thought he would be. For instance I know Stidham and I think Sean White were more accurate in the offense. I suspect and hope Morris can help Bo improve fundamentally and expand the offense to provide better passing options. 

One thing Bo did more often than JS8 or SW13 was throw the ball away to avoid a sack. I would like to know what Bo's adjusted completion percentage would be if you take all the throw aways and WR drops out. I would be willing to bet it would be around 65-68%. He is one of the best at getting the ball out to avoid a sack and he is only a freshman. That was extreme maturity. JS was horrible. I think Bo is going to be elite and I have a feeling he has a sophomore breakout party...rather than sophomore slump!