Gus Malzahn wants to win this bowl game bad. He wants to send a star-studded group of seniors — all of whom are expected to play on New Year's Day — the right way, and get to his third 10-win season at Auburn in the process.

But desire for a victory isn't going to make him put too much on his new offensive coordinator's plate.

Newly hired OC Chad Morris will spend the bowl period evaluating, learning and understanding what a 2019 Malzahn offense looks like, while also getting to know his new players.

"He’s just trying to get acclimated, getting used to our players and how we operate and all that," Malzahn said Sunday. "He’s just getting to know the players, which is probably the biggest thing."

The role for Morris will be much the same as it was during last year's bowl practices for Kenny Dillingham, who left last week to rejoin his former mentor, Mike Norvell, at Florida State.

"He really helped us, too," Malzahn said of Dillingham. "Really appreciated him, but then we get an opportunity to hire a guy like Chad Morris. That is really big for me and really big for Auburn."

Morris will be up in the box in Tampa, observing primarily, but also assisting Malzahn in recognizing defenses and making switches on the fly.

"I've got a lot of trust in him," Malzahn said of Morris. "He's kind of in evaluation mode of everything and watching our offense, kind of learning how we've done things, but I've got a lot of confidence in him."

Of the four offensive coordinators in the last five seasons for Auburn, Morris may become the one most influential for Malzahn's offense. As has been well documented and spoken of, Morris is Malzahn's best friend in the coaching industry, and if anyone is going to be able to truly get some fingerprints on the Tigers' offensive strategies and be listened to by the head coach, it's Morris.

Morris worked some with Bo Nix and Auburn's quarterback room during Sunday's opening bowl practice, but as Malzahn said, the newest staff member will mostly be taking things in before he and his friend hit the playbook hard and brainstorm on stratagems for success heading into next year.

"We'll get a good plan together as far as going to the next season, going into spring," Malzahn said. "He'll give us a lot of new ideas, and I think he'll really help us in a lot of ways."

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