Former Auburn star categorized as player-coach by his HC

Former Auburn football star Bo Nix essentially serves as a player-coach for Oregon, so says Ducks coach Dan Lanning — who lauded the Pinson product for seeing the game the same way the coaching staff sees it.

“You have 10 coaches on your staff,” Lanning prefaced before saying, “With Bo, I feel like we have another coach. When he goes out there, he sees the game how we see it. He’s trying to accomplish what we want accomplished offensively. Obviously, he’s a very talented player and has a competitive edge that I’ve never been around before.”

Outside of an interception against Colorado that came when the game had a three-score point differential, Nix has played a near-perfect season at Oregon; sporting an 80% completion percentage and matching or surpassing his touchdown total with the Tigers in half the 2023 season so far.

Dan Lanning suggests Bo Nix benefitted from turnover at OC with Oregon and Auburn football

Lanning believes that Nix playing for four different offensive coordinators in five seasons — including Kenny Dillingham, Chad Morris, Mike Bobo, Dillingham again but in Eugene, and now Will Stein — helped him see the game through different offensive perspectives and with different philosophies.

“Ultimately, I think Bo getting to serve under so many offensive coordinators has been so beneficial for him,” Lanning said. “He’s been able to see the game through so many lenses. He understands what he likes, and what he feels good about and he really understands what his coaches want to accomplish.”

While we know he didn’t enjoy the Bobo/Bryan Harsin lens, and likely hated Morris’s archaic packages, going through that may have allowed him the opportunity to enjoy what offensive minds like Dillingham and Stein have been able to get out of him.

With a Heisman Trophy on the line in 2023, Morris and Bobo being in the rearview is the best thing that could’ve ever happened to the underappreciated Alabamian who’s now thriving in the Pacific Northwest.