To get his point across about Colorado's Shedeur Sanders being bad about getting rid of the ball when the pass rush is coming, ESPN's Pete Thamel dragged ex-Auburn football QB Bo Nix; turning his name into a verb.
"There is some arm talent, there is some great athleticism and he's put a lot of plays on tape that he really, really carried the ball," Thamel said of Shedeur (h/t AthlonSports). "Great feel for the game. You can blame a lot of people for 52 sacks, right? At a certain point, the quarterback has to get rid of the ball. Some of those, he's Bo Nixing around from his Auburn days. Obviously, the line stunk. That is plain. So, he needs to get better."
Thamel is right on about Shedeur being similar to Nix in that he also has to run for his life frequently just like the ex-Tiger did during the 2020 and 2021 seasons. Shedeur may be trying to preserve his stats, though, while Nix oftentimes tried to escape the pocket and create with his feet. Unfortunately, SEC defenses don't allow you to do that like Pac-12 defenses did the past two years while Nix was at Oregon.
Bo Nix's Auburn football tenure will forever live in infamy
That the national media is using Nix's time on the Plains as a negative descriptor for another player (Shedeur) who is only ever criticized is pretty clear evidence that the Denver Broncos QB will always have his time as a Tiger viewed through a negative lens.
It's sad, considering how he always wanted to play for Auburn and dreamed of playing in the Iron Bowl over ever leading a team in the NFL.
In many ways, though, it was a subsect of overly-negative Tiger fans who helped sculpt that narrative to begin with.