AUBURN | Welcome. I’ve brought something special just for you.
And there’s a lot of you out there. You might not admit it now, but you can’t change the past.
You reveled in your hurled insults directed at Bo Nix during games at Jordan-Hare Stadium, often within hearing distance of his family.
You were especially cruel and insensitive with your remarks on social media and message boards. I bet you didn’t hold back among friends and family either.
I’ll refrain from the language but most off it included Nix being a bad quarterback, a bad leader or a bad teammate.
And you were completely and unequivocally wrong. Every last one of you.
WRONG
Your argument was completely dismantled Thursday night when Nix was selected No. 12 overall in the first round of the NFL Draft by the Denver Broncos.
But had you possessed even the tiniest amount of critical thinking, you would have understood it well before then.
Nix was a good quarterback at Auburn, he was a good quarterback at Oregon and now he’ll have an opportunity to prove himself against the best-of-the-best in the NFL.
Nix was a victim of his circumstances at Auburn. For three years, Nix played under two head coaches and three offensive coordinators, and was surrounded by average to below average talent.
After those three seasons, Auburn had just four offensive players drafted. Four in three years.
The highest drafted offensive player was wide receiver Anthony Schwartz, who went to the Cleveland Browns in the third round.
A couple of other oft forgotten facts about Nix’s time at Auburn — he’s the only quarterback to lead AU to a win over Alabama since 2017 and he’s the only quarterback to lead AU to a win at LSU since 1999.
Nix went to Oregon with better coaches and better players and completed 75 percent of his passes for 8,101 yards with 74 touchdowns and 10 interceptions in two seasons. He also rushed for 20 touchdowns.
He could have done that at Auburn, but the leadership let him down. The coaching wasn’t good enough and the recruiting was even worse.
So here’s your big plate of crow. You better gobble it up and lick that plate clean.
And perhaps you’ll learn an important lesson that can be applied to this year’s team. That’s right, you can draw similar comparisons to Payton Thorne.
Now, calm down. I’m not making a case for Thorne being a first-round draft pick next year.
But he can certainly be better with better talent around him. Hugh Freeze and his staff are counting on that, and have worked hard in the offseason to surround him with a better offensive line, better wide receivers and a more focused offense.
The same people that spent years haranguing Nix are now convinced that Thorne can’t improve his numbers and can’t lead Auburn to a winning season.
They completely ignore that in 2021, when Thorne was surrounded by talent at Michigan State, he led them to an 11-2 record completing 60 percent of his passes for 3,233 yards with 27 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.
Can AU win 11 games next year? Probably not. Can Throne throw for 3,000 yards and 25 touchdown? Of course he can.
Don’t believe me?
Well, I’ve got some more crow to serve up in December.
*** Monday musings is brought to you by Uncle Keith's Red Sauce. I was a customer before bringing them on as a sponsor and I was hooked after the very first taste. It's available in original and hot and can be found in Publix throughout the state of Alabama along with select Piggly Wiggly's, Renfroe's, the Kroger's in Auburn/Opelika and on-line. Uncle Keith's Red Sauce was born right here in the state of Alabama. ***
In today’s musical journey, we go back four years to the day a centenarian and World War II veteran hit No. 1 on the UK charts with a cover of a famous football anthem that became a key support song for medical professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic. On April 30, 2020, Captain Tom Moore celebrated his 100th birthday by hitting the top spot on the official UK chart with a cover of “You’ll Never Walk Alone.” Captain Tom collaborated with signer and actor Michael Ball and the NHS Voices of Care choir to produce the charity single. It knocked the Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights” out of the No. 1 spot as Moore became the oldest artist to have a No. 1 UK single. Captain Tom began a charity campaign for National Health Services Charities Together on April 6 by walking around his garden with the help of a walker each day with an initial goal of raising $1,000 by his 100th birthday. His campaign went viral, the single was released on April 17 and by his birthday, he had raised $30 million on the way to donating $38 million. Captain Tom received many honors including being knighted by Queen Elizabeth II before he passed away from pneumonia and COVID-19 on Feb. 2, 2021.
The famous duo of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein composed “You’ll Never Walk Alone” in 1945 for the musical, Carousel. The most successful cover of the song was released by the Liverpudlian Merseybeat group Gerry and the Pacemakers in 1963, which peaked at No. 1 on the UK charts. The song quickly became popular with Liverpool Football Club supporters and became the official club anthem in 1964. It was added to the LFC crest in 1992 as part of the 100th-anniversary celebrations. The anthem has also signified the fight for justice for the 96 supporters that died during a crush at the FA Cup seminal at Hillsborough Stadium in 1989. LFC supporters sing “You’ll Never Walk Alone” at Anfield before every home game holding their LFC scarves above their heads, which has become the most iconic pregame anthem in European football. The song has also been adopted by a number of other football clubs including Borussia Dortmund, Celtic and Feyenoord.
