Bo Nix reviews his performance

[aubiefifty 18,231]

As season ends, Bo Nix reviews his performance

By Giana Han

5-6 minutes

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With one whole season and almost one whole pandemic season under his belt, Auburn quarterback Bo Nix has earned the title of “experienced.” But as he wraps up year two, there’s still a list of things he wants to improve on.

“I’d love to continue to make strides in all aspects of my game,” the sophomore said.

Nix opened his sophomore campaign with an impressive display against Kentucky, but things fell apart against Georgia the next week.

From there, Nix and his Tigers had close games against opponents they had previously beaten soundly. They lost to an unranked team when Nix threw three interceptions. And they also dominated the reigning national champions, helped along by Nix’s bomb to Anthony Schwartz for a 91-yard touchdown play.

Now, Auburn is sitting at 5-4, looking at, at best, a six-win season. Reflecting on Nix’s performance, Malzahn said he’s seen him grow in leadership, toughness and competitiveness through those nine games.

“Competitor” is a word that’s been used a lot this season to describe Nix. It’s been Malzahn’s way of pointing out his efforts at the end of the South Carolina loss, where he almost brought the Tigers back from the deficit, and the final quarter of the Alabama game, where Nix managed to find the end zone after being held back all game by the No. 1 team in the country.

Personally, Nix sees his contributions to the run game as one of his biggest successes this season. It’s added another element to Auburn’s offense, and it’s developed as Nix has gained a greater understanding of how he matches up with other guys in the league.

“I think this year, I’ve kind of found out in different ways how strong and fast I really am,” Nix said. “So it’s kind of the knowledge of knowing that I can keep up with these guys, and I can run with them, even though, like I said, you come into college and guys are completely different. It’s kind of me just figuring out my strengths and what I’m good at and how I can be a capable runner, and I can be successful.”

It’s a strength that Nix would love to see himself improve even more. But he also wants to see improvement in other areas, ones that he hasn’t had as much success in.

His accuracy is a big focus. As a freshman, Nix completed 58 percent of his passes. This season, he’s improved that by three percent, completing 61 percent of his passes. But even with the growth, there are still some plays where he wildly misfires. Generally, Nix’s problem is he overthrows the ball. He’s overthrown Schwartz, who’s one of the fastest wide receivers in the country, by several feet, and he also sent one way about 6-foot-7 Brandon Frazier’s hands. But there have been a few, like the one to Eli Stove in the game against Texas A&M, where he also just completely missed the receiver.

Nix’s completion percentage would go up if the throwaways are taken out. With all the trouble on the offensive line this season, Nix experienced a lot of pressure from defenses. Sometimes he kept plays alive with his legs, but sometimes he threw it away or made a bad pass in haste. Whatever the reason, Nix is looking forward to improving his accuracy next year.

The other thing Nix would like to improve is his pocket awareness. In the beginning of the season, Nix showed a tendency to escape too early rather than let the play develop. Once again, he did have to work around an inexperienced line, but there were times when he could have stayed and made a better play.

Over the course of the season, Nix started to show improvement with this. However, when he’s under a lot of pressure, he sometimes reverts to his old habits.

“(I want to) continue to build on my pocket awareness and just sit in the pocket, make throws — which I’ve done really well this year,” Nix said. “Then at the same time, knowing when to get out of the pocket — knowing that happy medium and just finding the fine line between those two.”

Nix has the Mississippi State game and potentially a bowl game to gain more real experience against opponents. After that, he’ll be able to focus on these things during offseason training. The difference between this offseason and the last one, though, is that Nix may actually be able to participate in spring ball and a normal fall camp. He’ll also be in year two of offensive coordinator Chad Morris’s offense, and the players around him will all be more experienced.

“I think he’s in a super spot, and the fact that he’ll be able to actually go through spring with coach Morris and receivers and do all the different things in preparation you normally get to do, that’s really going to help,” Malzahn said.

[cole256 17,085]

Now this scares me more than anything I've ever read as far as Bo

[AU_Twisterman 83]

37 minutes ago, cole256 said:

Now this scares me more than anything I've ever read as far as Bo

You are correct.  You can take a whole lot out of this, in what is seemingly an innocent article.  I'm not sure how to put it in writing.  My takeaway is that Bo is not being coached (demanded) to meet a high standard of play that is befitting major college football.  That is putting it as nicely as I can.

[LeonardAU 237]

16 minutes ago, AU_Twisterman said:

You are correct.  You can take a whole lot out of this, in what is seemingly an innocent article.  I'm not sure how to put it in writing.  My takeaway is that Bo is not being coached (demanded) to meet a high standard of play that is befitting major college football.  That is putting it as nicely as I can.

at this point I just assume Gus actually teaches all his QB's to throw off the back foot.  

[Barnacle 9,107]

1 hour ago, cole256 said:

Now this scares me more than anything I've ever read as far as Bo

Scares me more about coaching, still. I think he's likely regurgitating the feedback he's gotten about what he's done "really well." 

[countoff 331]

Leaving the pocket too early might be due to his lack of faith in the offensive line and I would love to see how he plays behind a competent line.

Bo is elusive (which is good) and he can contribute to the run game (which is also good).  But I simply can't find an excuse for him not setting his feet before he throws.  He's at the end of his 2nd year as the starting quarterback and he still doesn't set his feet.....Simply unacceptable for both him and his coaches.

[cole256 17,085]

44 minutes ago, Barnacle said:

Scares me more about coaching, still. I think he's likely regurgitating the feedback he's gotten about what he's done "really well." 

Them too but if o know anything about great players they know what playing great is. I've never seen a guy who is very good say bad play is good. Usually they get into it with people because they demand so much be good. I can't say I've really even seen a QB talk about how good he is. He says he's so fast and strong......but the pocket stuff blew my mind

[EastAl_Tiger 228]

good. stick him in the backfield and let him run the ball.

[Barnacle 9,107]

1 hour ago, cole256 said:

Them too but if o know anything about great players they know what playing great is. I've never seen a guy who is very good say bad play is good. Usually they get into it with people because they demand so much be good. I can't say I've really even seen a QB talk about how good he is. He says he's so fast and strong......but the pocket stuff blew my mind

https://giphy.com/gifs/producthunt-mind-blown-blow-your-26ufdipQqU2lhNA4g

[woodford 3,732]

The spring excuse in the last paragraph. Like clock work. 

[twilli13 600]

Bo will probably get incrementally better, but I dont expect any major jump under this coaching staff. See as evidence literally every qb Gus has coached. Has any qb gotten much better under Gus in his 2nd or 3rd year? Maybe it's the qbs he recruits, maybe it's the supporting cast, maybe it's the coaching...more than likely all of those things. I dont even care the root cause anymore. 

[USATiger 741]

34 minutes ago, woodford said:

The spring excuse in the last paragraph. Like clock work. 

It really is a shame that Auburn wasn't allowed to have spring practice like all of the other FBS teams.  Poor Gus, if only life were fair.

[woodford 3,732]

Georgia didn’t have a spring practice and beat us with a walk on QB. I HATE when people are tone deaf and/or don’t read the room. Be aware. 

[twilli13 600]

30 minutes ago, USATiger said:

It really is a shame that Auburn wasn't allowed to have spring practice like all of the other FBS teams.  Poor Gus, if only life were fair.

This. At this point, beyond sick of the well this or that was the reason we wuttin good, next we are set up crap. Gus's definition of set up for a great year seems to be 9-4 at best these days. I honestly feel like the guy checked out a long time ago but just cant take the hit to his pride to leave voluntarily. 

[Tigerpaul53 33]

It was easy to count how many times he said “I”. Also easy to count the zero “we’s”

[JDUBB4AU 5,287]

He stayed in the pocket really well?? I hate to be an ass, but this article is insulting honestly. It’s laughable 

[aubiefifty 18,231]

whats laughable is the progress he has made between year one and two. this means unless the lightbulb comes on for bo he is a four year starter. this does not comfort me. i am afraid i jinxed bo because i bought a bo knows {nix} t shirt off ebay and i cannot find it. and why does gus never go to a coaching clinic anywhere? does he send his assistants to any? even bear bryant humbled himself to learn a new "O". and i even remember when he refused to let one of his qb's go to a guru to try and get better because he was afraid some kind of damage might be done and hurt more than help?

[aubearcat 2,163]

26 minutes ago, aubiefifty said:

even bear bryant humbled himself to learn a new "O". 

Think about the situation at bammer. Saban, arguably top 5 all-time great in college football coaching history has radically evolved his offensive philosophy. He went from a run heavy relying on lower scores and strong defense to roasting the score board and out scoring opponents. Since transitioning to that style, they’ve poured WRs, RBs, and OLs into the league and now Tua and Jones will probably both be in the league. Not to mention still littering the league with defensive players. 
In the meantime, Gus, who’s supposed to be an offensive guru has tweaked his offensive scheme in no manner to keep up with today’s game. AUburn is lucky to get 3-5 guys in the league a season while uga/bammer are getting that many in just the first round or two. Gus is getting AUburn in such a deep hole with our rivals it almost seems hopeless. 

[woodford 3,732]

22 minutes ago, aubearcat said:

Think about the situation at bammer. Saban, arguably top 5 all-time great in college football coaching history has radically evolved his offensive philosophy. He went from a run heavy relying on lower scores and strong defense to roasting the score board and out scoring opponents. Since transitioning to that style, they’ve poured WRs, RBs, and OLs into the league and now Tua and Jones will probably both be in the league. Not to mention still littering the league with defensive players. 
In the meantime, Gus, who’s supposed to be an offensive guru has tweaked his offensive scheme in no manner to keep up with today’s game. AUburn is lucky to get 3-5 guys in the league a season while uga/bammer are getting that many in just the first round or two. Gus is getting AUburn in such a deep hole with our rivals it almost seems hopeless. 

That's the scariest part of this situation. That's why it needs change today.

[cole256 17,085]

The fact that he thinks he's good means he still hasn't grown up and he's not being accountable

[woodford 3,732]

12 minutes ago, cole256 said:

The fact that he thinks he's good means he still hasn't grown up and he's not being accountable

He’s played daddy ball his whole life. You think accountability is something that comes natural to him? I love his competitiveness, but he needs someone (who is not related to him) to offer him serious guidance and help in the game of football at this level. 

[TitanTiger 21,241]

Some of these posts are coming dangerously close to moving beyond critiquing a guy's play on the field and into personal shots.  Let's reel it back in.

[Malcolm_FleX48 1,872]

Again, I think that it was a mistake to basically anoint and roll with Bo his whole Freshman year and relegate all other QB depth that aspired to play to be injury insurance or bench-riders with no shot of getting to run the full offense or be a capable backup. Now, what you have is what you get and you can't bench Bo without him transferring and upsetting the large part of the fanbase that believes in "The Legend of Bo Nix."

This is what I was afraid of from the moment that I saw this, I knew the writing was on the wall:

[JDUBB4AU 5,287]

59 minutes ago, Malcolm_FleX48 said:

Again, I think that it was a mistake to basically anoint and roll with Bo his whole Freshman year and relegate all other QB depth that aspired to play to be injury insurance or bench-riders with no shot of getting to run the full offense or be a capable backup. Now, what you have is what you get and you can't bench Bo without him transferring and upsetting the large part of the fanbase that believes in "The Legend of Bo Nix."

This is what I was afraid of from the moment that I saw this, I knew the writing was on the wall:

I remember this . I bet gatewood said at that moment . “Yep I can’t play for this guy anymore”

[japantiger 4,117]

15 of 32 for 125 yds...47%....less than 50% against Ms State.   I've never seen a QB bale on a pocket so quickly.    Gus has never developed a QB.

 

I don't think he could start for another SEC team.  I think he would be 3rd string kicker at Vandy.