Auburn football: Why Bo Nix could be primed to breakout in 2021

Ah, so that’s why Bo Nix has struggled so far for Auburn football after coming in as a 5-star dual-threat quarterback recruit.

Apparently, it was the unimaginative offense of the previous regime that has caused issues for the signal-caller out of Pinson, Alabama.

While many have called out the gameplan of Gus Malzahn’s–and by extension, Rhett Lashlee’s, Chip Lindsey’s, Kenny Dillingham’s, and Chad Morris’s–offensive schemes, New England Patriots’ quarterback coach Jordan Palmer explicitly explained why they don’t work at the pro level.

Per al.com:

"“Gus Malzahn’s offense at Auburn, I think, is even further from the NFL than Art Briles’. In Gus Malzahn’s offense, they don’t even call the receivers – they’re not even letters; they’re numbers. There’s a one-man, a five-man, a seven-man, a three-man. And this isn’t an indictment on his offense. He won a national championship with Cam Newton. I’m just saying what they expect you to know on offense at Auburn is the furthest thing from NFL offenses."

Ignoring the fact that Malzahn never won a championship with Auburn football (Gene Chizik was the Tigers coach in 2010-11), it’s not difficult to imagine that the team’s offensive struggles were weighing on Nix, who had two different offensive coordinators for his freshman and sophomore seasons.

At this point, it has been Malzahn who has been identified as the issue, but Nix’s reputation has already been damaged. Obviously, there is still time for Nix to turn the ship around, but Dematrius Davis is making his way to the Plains this fall and has built considerable hype from his heroic high school performances in the Lone Star State…aka the nation’s unofficial capital for high school football.

Luckily, Nix will now have a staff that has excelled at developing quarterbacks in the past. Bryan Harsin–a quarterback himself for Boise State in the 1990s–helped mold Brett Rypien’s game into one that was employable at the NFL level.

Nix was more highly regarded coming out of high school, and can arguably achieve more at the collegiate level with one of the best running backs in the NCAA, Tank Bigsby, opening up the passing game.

2021 will be a make-or-break year for Nix’s time with the Auburn football program, but Fly War Eagle trusts that Harsin’s support staff will help get more out of Nix than any of Malzahn’s ever did.