After each Auburn practice session through four weeks of fall camp, new offensive coordinator Chad Morris scans the field for his sophomore quarterback.

Once he locates and tracks down Bo Nix, he asks him the same question: "What did you see today?"

Morris' hope is that Nix will respond the way Morris thinks the best quarterbacks should and say that Auburn's offense moved in slow motion — that every throw was purposeful, confident and calculated, and nothing seemed surprising or hectic to Nix.

"I've challenged him this offseason to see if we can't make the game slow down even more than what it did toward the end of last year," Morris said of his goals for Nix during a Zoom call with reporters last week. "All the great quarterbacks I've coached, that's one of the big characteristic traits that they had — the game slowed down. They anticipated the throws, they anticipated the windows coming open."

So far, as of 14 Auburn practices through four weeks, Morris said he'd seen tangible improvement in that regard from his starting quarterback — even while he absorbs a new playbook and offensive system from Morris on a daily basis.

"Now all we've got to do — we put so much install on him over the 12, 13 practices that we've had — we'll eventually start narrowing things down," Morris said of Nix. "But I've been very pleased with him."

When Auburn knew it was bringing on Morris, formerly Arkansas' head coach for the past two seasons, as its new offensive coordinator following Kenny Dillingham's departure to Florida State, Nix spoke often about how much he was anticipating getting to work with one of the more renowned quarterback developers in today's college football landscape.

During his high-school coaching days in Texas, Morris helped the late Jevan Snead become an Elite 11 prospect, and Garrett Gilbert become the first Texas native to be named Gatorade National Player of the Year.

In his lone season as Tulsa's OC, Morris helped Golden Hurricane quarterback G.J. Kinne, throw for more than 3,500 yards with 31 touchdowns.

At Clemson, two of the greatest offensive players in ACC history worked under Morris. Tajh Boyd threw for 11,904 yards and 107 touchdowns in his three seasons, and though Morris only worked with Deshaun Watson his freshman year, he laid the groundwork for Watson's unprecedented success with the Tigers — and his later success in the NFL, where he just signed an $156-million extension with the Houston Texans.

"I mean, one of his former quarterbacks just signed a huge deal — I think today or yesterday, Deshaun Watson," Gus Malzahn said. "He's just a great teacher. He's great with relationships. He's just super smart with preparing his quarterbacks. That's what always stood out to me about Chad. He's just a great teacher. But the preparation he does for games with his quarterbacks is just as good as it gets. I think that's really his strength."

Nix, who broke Auburn freshman passing records for yards, touchdowns and completions last year en route to SEC Freshman of the Year honors, told Morris months ago that he wants to be better than any big-name QB the coach has helped produce in the past, let alone any quarterback that's ever come through Auburn.

Morris knows those astronomical goals start at practice. He hopes Nix remembers that, too.

"I asked him when I first got here: 'Do you want to be good, or do you want to be great?' Obviously, he says he wants to be great," Morris said of Nix. "He says he wants to be the best that's ever played. I say OK, it's going to take a lot of work. I'm going to remind you this in many days when I'm chewing on you pretty good."

Nix appears to be humming along in Auburn's fall camp with a new swagger under Morris. Teammates and coaches have said all preseason that the sophomore quarterback appears more poised, more vocal, and most importantly, more confident in his own skills.

After Nix admittedly lost some of that swagger during a strenuous freshman year against an SEC gauntlet, Auburn knows his off-field development and leadership this preseason are just as vital as any on-field improvements he makes with Morris.

"When you’re a quarterback at a place like Auburn or a top SEC school, there’s unbelievable pressure that goes with that," Malzahn said of Nix. "The highs are high, the lows are low. At times, he lost his confidence to a certain point, but he’s a fighter. He kept fighting. He played his best ball in the Iron Bowl, made some great plays to help us win that game.

"He’s different now. It feels different. His approach is different. He’s no longer a true freshman. I expect him to be a leader on this team.”

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