Bo Nix, Tez Johnson reflect on reuniting at Oregon, dominating in season opener

Bo Nix and Tez Johnson are more than just former high school teammates reuniting on the field at Oregon. The two are adoptive brothers stemming back Johnson moving in with the Nix family in their home state of Alabama.

And while it’s been a long, circuitous path for the pair to be playing at Oregon, the duo debuted on Saturday at the collegiate level to much success. For Johnson, it was a dream Oregon debut with three receptions for 41 yards, including the first of the game.

“Really a dream come true. I always pictured it this way. It was just surreal just being able to play in this stadium,” Johnson said on the Pac-12 Network postgame show.

Johnson began his college career at Troy before transferring to Oregon this offseason. Nix joined the Ducks ahead of the 2022 season after starting his career at Auburn.

Nix hadn’t realized his first pass on Saturday was completed to Johnson.

“I didn’t realize that, but that’s pretty awesome,” Nix said. “And to be honest with you, it’s only a God thing. He put us here in this moment. First day he moved into our house, he’s wearing an Oregon sweatshirt and the next thing you know, we’re playing football together at Oregon after neither one of us went there out of college.”

Johnson had some humor about the first reception and what the moment meant for him. He wasn’t particularly nervous at any point.

“Uh, catch the ball, first,” Johnson said. “I did have little butterflies coming out of the tunnel hearing the motorcycle. That’s when my butterflies just really hit me. But it was more excitement than just nervousness. But I lined up and I just see him ready to snap the ball and it’s just, ‘All I gotta do is catch the ball first.'”

And behind Nix and the rest of the offense, the Ducks rolled over Portland State, winning 81-7 and setting a modern program record for points scored.

Afterwards, Nix wasn’t surprised they had such a potent offensive performance in them.

“I think we were excited just to get to the game on Saturday. We’ve been practicing a lot. Feel like we’ve been going against our defense forever. We just want to see another opponent. And we knew we had the talent and the skill. We knew we had the experience and we just wanted to put it together and we came out here today and that’s what happened,” Nix said.

It’s already got the both of them excited to get back on the field at Autzen Stadium again soon.

“It’s a blessing, like Bo said. It was just everything I dreamed of,” Johnson said. “Looking forward to just playing some more games at Autzen Stadium. It’s going to be a fun year, so can’t wait.”