Auburn simplifying things for a still confident Nix
AUBURN | It’s not surprising Gus Malzahn is simplifying things for Bo Nix and Auburn’s offense coming off a disappointing performance at Florida. The Tigers are on the road again this Saturday at Arkansas and will close out a very tough stretch at LSU next weekend.
Malzahn and his staff spent the bye week trying to amplify what the offense was already doing well including Nix’s strengths, and cut out what wasn't consistently working.
“Things that he feels comfortable with. You get on the practice field and the things that he can execute at a high level, that's what you call,” Malzahn said. “Things that maybe we need a little more time, we don't call it. So, you know, it's really as simple as that: what he feels comfortable with. And we worked hard on that last week, and we'll continue that this week.
“Now he feels more comfortable with a lot of things -- more than he did the first game -- but now, we've got halfway through our season. We had an off week, so we're in a different spot. He's not the same true freshman he was that very first game of the year where we're learning. We know a lot about him, he knows a lot about our offense and we have a plan for him moving forward in the season.”
Not surprisingly, Malzahn didn’t go into a lot of detail over the parts of the offense that will be emphasized over the second half of the season. But one area that should continue is an increasing number of throws over the middle despite Nix misfiring on a key slant in the red zone against the Gators.
“He feels comfortable with that. I think you’ll see that trend continue the second half of the season,” Malzahn said.
One area Malzahn and Nix’s teammates aren’t concerned with his the freshman’s confidence taking a hit after the UF game. Nix has displayed a professional approach since he arrived last December and that didn’t change after the Tigers’ first loss of the season.
"He's just got confidence,” senior wide receiver Will Hastings said. “You look at him, and the dude -- he doesn't care. He knows he didn't have a good game, but he's like, 'You know what, forget it. Next game.' He's got confidence that we can run the table and beat everyone on the whole schedule.
“So when you have a dude who's that confident -- it's not even cocky, it's just straight confidence. He comes about it in the nicest way and he just thinks that we can beat anyone and everyone. So when you have a dude like that, you're going to follow him into war. It's pretty cool being able to watch him being so young and be able to have that maturity and that confidence.”
Kickoff at Razorback Stadium is scheduled for 11 a.m. CT on SEC Network.