Auburn football: Bo Nix named to another award watchlist

Auburn’s sophomore quarterback is expected to have a great 2020 season.

Bo Nix’s Auburn career has already gotten off to a great start. Although the former five-star recruit certainly had his fair share of growing pains as a true freshman in 2019, Nix was ultimately named the SEC’s Freshman of the Year and has given Auburn fans a ton of hope for the future.

Nix’s development from his freshman to sophomore season will likely determine the Tigers’ ceiling for the 2020 season and despite the SEC recently announcing its plans for a shortened, conference-only schedule, great things are still expected out of the Auburn legacy.

Earlier in the month, Nix was named to the preseason watchlist for the Davey O’Brien Award which is annually given to the best quarterback in the NCAA. Nix was one of five SEC quarterbacks to be named to the list and one of 30 nationally.

However, the nominations haven’t ended quite yet for Nix. The sophomore QB was also named to the watchlist for the Maxwell Award and on Thursday, Nix notched his third watchlist nod as he joined Florida’s Kyle Trask and Texas A&M’s Kellen Mond as one of three SEC quarterbacks named to the Manning Award.

Started in 2004 and named after Archie Manning and his two sons Peyton and Eli, the Manning Award is given to the best quarterback in college football and is the only QB award that takes a player’s bowl performance into consideration when voting.

Last year, the award was won by LSU’s Joe Burrow and in 2010, the award was given to Auburn superstar Cam Newton.

As for Nix, the 6-foot-2, 207-pound signal-caller was the first true freshman QB to start an Auburn season opener since 1946. In 13 games, Nix completed 57.6 percent of his passes for 2,542 yards, 16 touchdowns and six interceptions.

Nix also showed his ability as a dual-threat weapon as he rushed for 313 yards and seven additional TDs on the season.

Going into the 2020 season, Auburn has to replace four of its five starts on the O-line from last season but the Tigers do return their top three receivers from last season which includes star wideout Seth Williams who led the team with 830 yards and eight scores in 2019.

While Nix now has been named to three preseason award watchlists, he’s far from the only Tiger to receive early recognition. K.J. Britt (Bednarik, Nagurski, Butkus, LOTT), Seth Williams (Biletnikoff, Maxwell), Big Kat Bryant (Nagurski), D.J. Williams (Walker) and Chandler Wooten (Weurffel) all were placed on watchlists for various awards this offseason.