His inconsistency behind him, Bo Nix now starring at Oregon

One of the benefits of the transfer portal for fans is that it offers hope – hope that the new running back can run for 1,000 yards, that the new linebacker understands gap responsibility, that the new cornerback actually can play man-to-man defense. But nowhere does hope spring eternal like with a new quarterback.

Look at this season. Caleb Williams at USC, Quinn Ewers at Texas, Spencer Rattler at South Carolina, Dillon Gabriel at Oklahoma – when those quarterbacks announced their transfer destinations in the offseason, hope soared among the respective fan bases.

But there’s another subset of transfer quarterbacks, too – those whose transfers leave the fan base shaking its collective head and saying, “I don’t know about this.” Again, look at this season. You think Tennessee fans read the news of Hendon Hooker’s transfer from Virginia Tech after the 2020 season and said, “Man, he is going to be a Heisman contender here. I see a potential unbeaten season in 2022.” What about Kentucky fans when Will Levis transferred from Penn State after the 2020 season: “This guy – I legit can see him being the top pick in the 2023 NFL Draft.” Did Syracuse fans read about Garrett Shrader’s transfer from Mississippi State in 2020 and think he could have the Orange ranked 16^th heading into the final month of the 2022 season? Did LSU fans find out that Jayden Daniels was transferring from Arizona State in the offseason and think, “I don’t care about his inconsistency at Arizona State; he will do big things in Brian Kelly’s offense.” What about Washington fans: Did they read about Michael Penix Jr.’s transfer from Indiana and say, “Forget the injuries that he had every single season – I think he can lead the nation in passing.”

And that brings us to another transfer quarterback: Oregon’s Bo Nix. It’s doubtful even the most ardent Ducks fan thought Nix would be this good for new coach Dan Lanning.

A mixed bag at Auburn

Nix’s career renaissance is note-worthy. He was a three-year starter at Auburn known more for his inconsistency than anything else. In some respects, his freshman season was his best; he opened the regular season by rallying Auburn past Oregon in his first college game, then closed it by leading Auburn past Alabama. Auburn finished 9-4 that season. But the Tigers were a combined 11-9 with Nix as the starter the next two seasons; he finished 5-10 against ranked foes with the Tigers, including a 1-7 mark in his final eight such games.

Nix holds Auburn’s school record with 8,120 total yards, and accounted for 57 touchdowns (39 TD passes, 18 rushing scores). But 16 of those TD passes came when he was a freshman, and he threw 16 interceptions as a Tiger. And forget being inconsistent from week to week; while at Auburn, he often was inconsistent from one drive to the next. Well, that inconsistency is gone.

In last week’s 45-30 Pac-12 showdown win over UCLA, Nix had 334 yards of total offense and accounted for five TDs. It was his second game this season with five TD passes (he now has 17 on the season) and his fourth game in a row with 300 yards of total offense. He never had more than two games in a row with 300 yards of offense at Auburn. In addition, Nix has completed at least 72 percent of his passes in five of the Ducks’ seven games this season after not doing that in more than three games in any season at Auburn.

He has accounted for 2,191 yards of total offense and 25 TDs. He’s on pace to finish with 3,756 yards and 43 in a 12-game season. His best numbers in those categories at Auburn: 2,855 and 23 in 2019, as a freshman.

Nix: OC Kenny Dillingham deserves credit

Nix credits the freedom given him by Ducks offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham – coincidentally, Auburn’s OC in 2019 – for his production this season. Dillingham was Florida State’s OC the past two years before being hired away by Lanning.

“In the past, I haven’t really been able to check plays. … He’s allowed me to have a little bit of leeway and go in there and be confident,” Nix said in his media availability earlier this week. “He trusts me. We have a good connection, and we’re on the same page.”

Nix also said, “It’s not me running whatever play I want. It’s literally him saying, ‘If we get this look, we want to run this. If we get up to the line and get this look, we run it.’ … When a coach trusts you like that, and he knows and trusts your preparation, then you have more confidence in yourself and your preparation.”

While Oregon’s next two games are on the road, the opponents are California and Colorado, inarguably two of the three worst teams in the Pac-12. The Ducks are in Berkeley on Saturday, and Nix gets to go against a Golden Bears secondary that is surrendering a league-worst 275.1 yards per game and allowing opposing quarterbacks to complete 64.9 percent of their passes. The three opponents that make it a priority to throw (Arizona, Washington and Washington State) averaged 372.6 passing yards per game, with seven TDs. Cal did have four interceptions in those three games.

“He’s playing at a really high level,” Cal coach Justin Wilcox said about Nix on his weekly teleconference. “He’s a very talented passer. And he’s not just a willing runner, he’s a good runner. He can operate the pass game like a traditional quarterback, and then he can operate in the RPO and the run game and be really effective.”

“High level” and “really effective” – phrases that weren’t often associated with Nix before this season. Given the way he’s playing, the hope now among Ducks fans is that Nix carries Oregon to its third Pac-12 title in the past four seasons.