Nix eager to be next 'elite' QB

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Nix eager to be next 'elite' QB coached by OC Morris

Posted Dec 23, 2019

6-8 minutes

Auburn Football

Todd Van Emst/AU Athletics

Auburn offensive coordinator Chad Morris speaks with quarterback Bo Nix during Auburn football practice on Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2019 in Auburn, Ala. Todd Van Emst/AU Athletics

Shortly after the departure of Kenny Dillingham for Florida State, Gus Malzahn met with Bo Nix and told him his plan.

Auburn’s seventh-year head coach needed a new offensive coordinator — his third in as many seasons— and he already knew who he wanted to fill that vacancy. He told Nix he was going to bring on Chad Morris, the recently fired head coach at Arkansas and one of Malzahn’s closest friends and confidants in the coaching business.

Nix was understandably excited about Malzahn’s decision. He knew whichever choice Malzahn made would be for the betterment of the team and the offense specifically, but the hiring of Morris was a particularly inspired one from Nix’s perspective considering Morris’ accomplished history of coaching quarterbacks.

“Obviously, he's done a great job, and he's had some really great quarterbacks, going all the way back,” Nix said. “Even in high school, he coached some really good ones. So, his track record of quarterbacks is really encouraging.”

That list of Morris proteges at the position include Jevan Snead, who was a top-40 prospect nationally coming out of Stephenville High in Texas, where he lost just two games under Morris’ tutelage before signing with Texas. Morris then inherited Garrett Gilbert when he took the Lake Travis High job in 2008. Under Morris, Gilbert helped lead Lake Travis to a 16-0 campaign and a second straight Texas state championship while passing for 4,581 yards and 55 touchdowns. As a top-15 prospect nationally, the five-star quarterback signed with Texas.

Morris’ history with quarterbacks continued during his one season as offensive coordinator at Tulsa, where G.J. Kinne threw for 3,650 yards and 30 touchdowns before Morris jumped to Clemson. There, the Tigers went 32-8 with Morris running an offense led by quarterback Tajh Boyd, who was named the ACC Player of the Year during his second season under Morris in 2012. That year, Clemson set school records for total yards per game at 512.7 and points per game, with 41, ranking sixth nationally in scoring and ninth in total offense. The Tigers followed it up with 508.5 yards and 40.2 points per game, both top-10 nationally, in 2013 during Boyd’s senior season.

During his three seasons working under Morris’ guidance, Boyd threw for 11,575 yards and 103 touchdowns while adding 25 rushing scores. While at Clemson, Morris also notably recruited and helped the Tigers sign four-star quarterback Deshaun Watson, who went on to win the 2016 national championship and twice finish as a finalist for the Heisman Trophy.

While Morris didn’t have nearly that kind of success with his quarterbacks the last two seasons at Arkansas, it shouldn’t take away from his notable track record at the position over the course of his career and at different levels of the game.

“When you go way back and start looking at the number of quarterbacks we’ve coached and developed and the success that those guys have had, there’s one thing that stands in mind is they’re winners,” Morris said. “They’re winners on the field, they’re winner off the field. They come from winners.”

Nix has the opportunity to become the next member of that list after a freshman campaign that had some promising highs and worrisome lows but still resulted in him being named the SEC Freshman of the Year while passing for 2,366 yards and 15 touchdowns and another 301 yards and seven rushing touchdowns.

“I just feel really honored to be a part of that list,” Nix said. “I'll just continue to learn things about him, learn how he does things — because every coach will do things differently. So, I'll just continue to learn him, and he'll continue to learn me. Hopefully we can be a great team.”

That process began in earnest last week when Auburn commenced its preparation for the Outback Bowl against Minnesota (Jan. 1 at 12 p.m. CT in Tampa, Fla.). The team practiced throughout the week before taking a break for the holidays, and it was the first opportunity for Morris to familiarize himself with his new team.

Morris spent much of the week observing and getting to know Auburn’s personnel, but he also worked with Nix and backup quarterback Cord Sandberg hands-on, learning how each goes about the day-to-day of being an Auburn quarterback and just generally getting a feel for the player he will undoubtedly spend the most time with starting in the spring. Nix views it as somewhat of a “jump start” for next seaso, and Morris already sees some of those winning qualities in Nix he had in his other quarterback success stories.

“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 skillset 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.”

How soon Nix can make that jump to “elite” status under Morris remains to be seen, but it’s a partnership that both teacher and student are eager to see pan out in 2020. After a freshman season that included receiving a good foundation of knowledge from Dillingham and Malzahn, Nix said he’s ready to piggyback off that and take advantage of Morris’ experiences and knowledge of the position — as well as his familiarity with what Malzahn does offensively.

“I feel like I can just continue to grow,” Nix said. “There's so much left that I have to continue to learn.”

That, above all else, is a promising trait to see from Morris’ standpoint: a quarterback willing and eager to dive into the details and intricacies of the position. With Auburn’s 2020 opener still nine months away, Nix will have ample time to do that and continue to build his relationship with his new offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.

“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, so that is, it’s an absolute must.”

Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.