Nearing the tail end of his sophomore season, quarterback Bo Nix has taken some steps forward that has head coach Gus Malzahn excited for his future,

“I think just the experience. You can tell that he's more experienced,” Malzahn said. “He's more of a team leader, his leadership, his toughness, his competitiveness really is starting to show even more. I think he's in a super spot, and the fact that he'll be able to actually go through spring with coach Morris and receivers and do all the different things in preparation you normally get to do, that's really going to help.”

As for the stat sheet, Nix’s stats don’t pop out and might even look a little worse from his freshman year.

In 2019, Nix had 2,542 yards, 16 touchdowns, completed 57.6% of his passes with just six interceptions.

This year, Nix has 1,998 yards, 10 touchdowns, completing 61.5% of his passes and has seven interceptions.

However, Nix’s 2020 stat sheet comes against just nine opponents, all of which are SEC opponents.

Even with fewer games, Nix has shown visible improvement in his running game. An area that he feels like he has progressed in.

“Yeah, that's a good question. I think continuing to -- really all of it. I'd love to continue to make strides in all aspects of my game,” Nix said. “But especially continue my success running the ball this year, carrying that into next year.”

On six less rushing attempts, Nix has already eclipsed his 2019 total of 313 rushing yards with 332 on the season. Nix had seven rushing touchdowns in 2019 and has six so far this season.

“Absolutely. I think this year, I've kind of found out in different ways how strong and fast I really am,” Nix said. “And sometimes, coming into college, you're told that maybe the game's going to be faster, the guys are going to be bigger and stronger. But this year, running, I feel like I've kind of experienced a few runs to where I keep up with the guys, and I've finished some runs really well.”

“So it's kind of the knowledge of knowing that I can keep up with these guys, and I can run with them, even though, like I said, you come into college and guys are completely different. It's kind of me just figuring out my strengths and what I'm good at and how I can be a capable runner, and I can be successful.”

While there has been some improvement in his game, Nix knows he still has a lot to work on this offseason.

“Continue to build on my pocket awareness and just sit in the pocket, make throws — which I've done really well this year,” Nix said on things he’s looking to improve at. “Then at the same time, knowing when to get out of the pocket — knowing that happy medium and just finding the fine line between those two. And being accurate.”

NOT A MEMBER?

JOIN AUBURNSPORTS.COM TODAY to enjoy around-the-clock content including stories, analysis, videos, podcasts, call-in shows and The Greatest Message Board In The History of The Internet.