AUBURN | Vulnerable is not a word that a coach typically uses to describe a player, but it’s one of the adjectives Mike Bobo used on Bo Nix Monday.
And Bobo, Auburn’s first-year offensive coordinator, certainly considers that vulnerability to be an asset for Nix.
“He wants to win at everything, not just football. Anything that we do that has competition, Bo Nix wants to win,” said Bobo. “So work ethic and competitor, and then the last one: being vulnerable, which I think is a good trait that Bo and I have talked about. About being vulnerable, about taking coaching. I understand I’m his third coach in three years in that quarterback room, but being vulnerable and listening to the way we want to do things. The way Coach Harsin has it structured, and constantly trying to learn.
“So I’ve been impressed with Bo. He’s hungry. He wants to win. He loves Auburn University. And I think all those things are important, and this is a guy who’s started two years here but is still being vulnerable and understanding that he still has a lot he has to work on. And I think that’s a credit to him and how he was raised.”
One of the main areas that Nix has worked on is his accuracy. He completed 59.9 percent of his passes last season, an improvement over his 57.6 percent completions as a true freshman in 2019.
For comparisons sake, last year’s Heisman runner-up, Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence, completed 69.2 percent of his passes. Joe Burrow completed 76.3 percent of his passes in 2019 leading LSU to the national championship and winning the Heisman.
Among last year’s SEC starters, Nix ranked 10th in completion percentage. Of course, protection issues, which forced Nix to scramble on a number of pass plays, contributed to those numbers.
“To me, with Bo, it’s doing the little things over and over and I’m talking about fundamentally,” Bobo explained. “He had a really good day on day three. I thought he was sharp. I thought he was fundamentally sound. He was on-balance in the pocket when he threw and he finished on-balance. That’s a lot of what we’ve been talking about with him of being on-balance and getting his feet in the ground. You’re going to be more consistent throwing the ball.
“He still had a couple of plays where he scrambled. He had an excellent run and we don’t want to take that away from Bo Nix because that’s something that scares the crap out of defensive coordinators, the ability for the quarterback to pull the ball down and run. Just becoming a more consistent passer, to me that’s with his fundamentals that we talk about everyday. That goes back to him being vulnerable and taking coaching and not having all the answers and listening.”
When it comes to any other metrics, Bobo can’t heap enough praise on Nix and what he’s seen from the junior quarterback over the past seven months.
“Just his work ethic. I've been extremely impressed with how hard this young man works -- whether it's in the weight room, whether it's running the decks this summer in the stadium, how he prepares for each meeting,” Bobo said. “Coming in beforehand with the offensive staff, I walk around the corner to my office and he's sitting there constantly watching film, getting ready for the meeting, preparing. The questions that he asks -- he leaves no stone unturned. His work ethic No. 1, and then he's the ultimate competitor.”
After taking off Monday, Auburn will return to the practice fields Tuesday morning. The Tigers are scheduled to go in full pads for the first time Thursday and hold their first scrimmage Saturday at Jordan-Hare Stadium.
