Nix's Journey Includes Stop in NYC As Heisman Finalist
12/08/23 | Football, @GoDucksMoseley
Oregon quarterback Bo Nix has crafted a college career replete with memorable moments, the latest of which is taking place this weekend.
Since he was a boy, Bo Nix dreamed of climbing to the highest peaks of the college football landscape. This weekend, he's cresting one of the biggest in all of sports.
Nix grew up in Alabama, dreaming of following in his dad's footsteps and playing quarterback in college. Those dreams would invariably end with Nix hoisting a national championship trophy, presumably with Auburn, the school at which his father played.
Fate had other plans. Nix did begin his college career at Auburn, but after three years he opted to transfer. He will finish his five years without winning a national title, but he led Oregon to the Pac-12 Championship Game last week, and has the Ducks in a New Year's Day bowl. And this weekend, Nix is in New York City as a finalist for the Heisman Trophy.
His journey has taught him so many lessons, some difficult to accept, others easier. In the wake of Oregon's loss last week, Nix made apparent the wisdom gleaned from the highs and lows of his last five years.
"I'm in an interesting position, because I've been flat on my face at times in college football," Nix said in his postgame press conference last Friday. "I've been counted out, just kind of thrown out. The Lord picked me back up, put me right back on the field with a great team.
"I know that doesn't always happen. I think it's a testimony to many people out there who are going through difficult times. No matter what happens, I think the Lord has a plan for each one of us. He has a plan for our lives."
In that postgame press conference, Nix was noncommittal about his plans for Oregon's bowl game. But when the Fiesta Bowl matchup with Liberty was announced two days later, his decision had been made. He would suit up one more time for the Ducks.
In the age of opt-outs — and there may be some among the UO football team, to be sure — many expected Nix to sit out the bowl, and begin preparing for the NFL Draft. There's logic there.
But all along, Nix has been driven by his childhood dreams. Those dreams primarily featured him playing in college. And with a New Year's Day bowl game at hand for the first time in his career, Nix plans to play.
UO coach Dan Lanning announced that news this past Sunday, after the bowl pairing was announced.
"I think it speaks to his character, what he thinks of this team, what he feels like he owes the players on this team," Lanning said. "He certainly doesn't owe anybody anything. (But) for him to go out there and to go play, I don't think it was really ever a question for him. …
"You want guys on your team that love to play for the love of the game. And Bo Nix is one of those guys."
It is the height of irony that Nix's college career began against, of all teams, Oregon. As a true freshman in 2019, he led a fourth-quarter comeback to beat the Ducks at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. When he scrambled for a key fourth-down conversion on the game's final drive, when he threw the game-winning touchdown pass with 9 seconds left, little did Ducks fans — or Nix — know that he'd be recreating that same magic in Eugene three years later.
Auburn won nine games in Nix's first season, and he was named SEC Freshman of the Year. Two six-win seasons followed, the first played amid the COVID pandemic. During the second, Nix was benched at one point, and later suffered a season-ending injury.
Nix opted to leave the only school he'd ever dreamed of playing for, and entered the transfer portal. He chose to reunite with his former offensive coordinator, Kenny Dillingham, with the Ducks in Eugene, during Lanning's first season has head coach.
"A lot of stuff has been going on from conference realignment to NIL to COVID," Nix said, reflecting on his career. "Me and several other guys, we're one of the few guys that got to experience normal and crazy football in college. We really experienced — each year — something different. Each year was something new."
Nix's first year with the Ducks began with a one-sided loss to Georgia. But they regrouped, and won eight straight games to enter the College Football Playoff conversation in 2022.
Again, adversity presented itself. With the Ducks driving to a potential ninth straight win, against rival Washington, Nix was injured. Momentum was lost, and then the game was lost. Again, the Ducks regrouped, beating Utah.
That season ended with a Holiday Bowl win over North Carolina. That fourth-quarter magic Nix had first demonstrated against the Ducks in his first collegiate game? It showed up again as he led a late comeback to beat the Tar Heels.
"I think my college career is a huge testament to (the fact) that even if you fall flat on your face," Nix said, "there's an opportunity to get back up if you really want to keep pushing at it."
Nix led the Ducks through that process this past offseason. He enhanced the connection he'd built with fellow skill players like Troy Franklin, Bucky Irving and Terrance Ferguson. He jelled with a new-look offensive line, centered by Jackson Powers-Johnson. He battled with a defense making great strides in its second year under Lanning, iron sharpening iron on the UO practice fields.
Oregon won five times to open this season, before suffering a loss at UW. Six more wins followed, the Ducks regrouping after a setback yet again.
"Coming off of last year, we had similar goals, similar aspirations," Nix said. "We fell short there at the end. This year, we were able to make it to the championship."
When the Ducks suffered their three-point loss in that championship game last week, it was the battled-hardened Nix who provided much-needed perspective.
"Sometimes you put it all out there and you come up short," he said. "There at the end it was just one of those things where you want the moment to last longer than what it can. Even though we lost, it was one of those type of games that it was really fun to play in."
Three days later, Nix was back in Las Vegas, to accept the William V. Campbell Trophy as college football's top scholar-athlete. He enters the Fiesta Bowl ranked first in NCAA history in career starts by a quarterback (60), fourth in total yards (16,596), seventh in completions (1,258) and passing yards (14,989) and tied for sixth in total touchdowns (147).
This season, Nix is the NCAA leader with a completion percentage of 77.2. He's second in quarterback rating (186.24) and passing yards per game (318.8), and tied for first with 40 passing touchdowns. That résumé earned him a spot in New York this week as a Heisman finalist, just the fourth in UO football history.
His career may not have played out exactly the way it did in Nix's boyhood dreams. The reality that fate and his faith scripted will leave a legacy Nix can carry in his heart with pride.
And he has one more chance to add to that story in the Fiesta Bowl.
"I think it means a lot to him to get to wear that Oregon uniform one last time," Lanning said. "He's meant the world to this place. And I think this place has meant the world to him."
Nix grew up in Alabama, dreaming of following in his dad's footsteps and playing quarterback in college. Those dreams would invariably end with Nix hoisting a national championship trophy, presumably with Auburn, the school at which his father played.
Fate had other plans. Nix did begin his college career at Auburn, but after three years he opted to transfer. He will finish his five years without winning a national title, but he led Oregon to the Pac-12 Championship Game last week, and has the Ducks in a New Year's Day bowl. And this weekend, Nix is in New York City as a finalist for the Heisman Trophy.
His journey has taught him so many lessons, some difficult to accept, others easier. In the wake of Oregon's loss last week, Nix made apparent the wisdom gleaned from the highs and lows of his last five years.
"I'm in an interesting position, because I've been flat on my face at times in college football," Nix said in his postgame press conference last Friday. "I've been counted out, just kind of thrown out. The Lord picked me back up, put me right back on the field with a great team.
"I know that doesn't always happen. I think it's a testimony to many people out there who are going through difficult times. No matter what happens, I think the Lord has a plan for each one of us. He has a plan for our lives."
In that postgame press conference, Nix was noncommittal about his plans for Oregon's bowl game. But when the Fiesta Bowl matchup with Liberty was announced two days later, his decision had been made. He would suit up one more time for the Ducks.
In the age of opt-outs — and there may be some among the UO football team, to be sure — many expected Nix to sit out the bowl, and begin preparing for the NFL Draft. There's logic there.
But all along, Nix has been driven by his childhood dreams. Those dreams primarily featured him playing in college. And with a New Year's Day bowl game at hand for the first time in his career, Nix plans to play.
UO coach Dan Lanning announced that news this past Sunday, after the bowl pairing was announced.
"I think it speaks to his character, what he thinks of this team, what he feels like he owes the players on this team," Lanning said. "He certainly doesn't owe anybody anything. (But) for him to go out there and to go play, I don't think it was really ever a question for him. …
"You want guys on your team that love to play for the love of the game. And Bo Nix is one of those guys."
It is the height of irony that Nix's college career began against, of all teams, Oregon. As a true freshman in 2019, he led a fourth-quarter comeback to beat the Ducks at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. When he scrambled for a key fourth-down conversion on the game's final drive, when he threw the game-winning touchdown pass with 9 seconds left, little did Ducks fans — or Nix — know that he'd be recreating that same magic in Eugene three years later.
Auburn won nine games in Nix's first season, and he was named SEC Freshman of the Year. Two six-win seasons followed, the first played amid the COVID pandemic. During the second, Nix was benched at one point, and later suffered a season-ending injury.
Nix opted to leave the only school he'd ever dreamed of playing for, and entered the transfer portal. He chose to reunite with his former offensive coordinator, Kenny Dillingham, with the Ducks in Eugene, during Lanning's first season has head coach.
"A lot of stuff has been going on from conference realignment to NIL to COVID," Nix said, reflecting on his career. "Me and several other guys, we're one of the few guys that got to experience normal and crazy football in college. We really experienced — each year — something different. Each year was something new."
Nix's first year with the Ducks began with a one-sided loss to Georgia. But they regrouped, and won eight straight games to enter the College Football Playoff conversation in 2022.
Again, adversity presented itself. With the Ducks driving to a potential ninth straight win, against rival Washington, Nix was injured. Momentum was lost, and then the game was lost. Again, the Ducks regrouped, beating Utah.
That season ended with a Holiday Bowl win over North Carolina. That fourth-quarter magic Nix had first demonstrated against the Ducks in his first collegiate game? It showed up again as he led a late comeback to beat the Tar Heels.
"I think my college career is a huge testament to (the fact) that even if you fall flat on your face," Nix said, "there's an opportunity to get back up if you really want to keep pushing at it."
Nix led the Ducks through that process this past offseason. He enhanced the connection he'd built with fellow skill players like Troy Franklin, Bucky Irving and Terrance Ferguson. He jelled with a new-look offensive line, centered by Jackson Powers-Johnson. He battled with a defense making great strides in its second year under Lanning, iron sharpening iron on the UO practice fields.
Oregon won five times to open this season, before suffering a loss at UW. Six more wins followed, the Ducks regrouping after a setback yet again.
"Coming off of last year, we had similar goals, similar aspirations," Nix said. "We fell short there at the end. This year, we were able to make it to the championship."
When the Ducks suffered their three-point loss in that championship game last week, it was the battled-hardened Nix who provided much-needed perspective.
"Sometimes you put it all out there and you come up short," he said. "There at the end it was just one of those things where you want the moment to last longer than what it can. Even though we lost, it was one of those type of games that it was really fun to play in."
Three days later, Nix was back in Las Vegas, to accept the William V. Campbell Trophy as college football's top scholar-athlete. He enters the Fiesta Bowl ranked first in NCAA history in career starts by a quarterback (60), fourth in total yards (16,596), seventh in completions (1,258) and passing yards (14,989) and tied for sixth in total touchdowns (147).
This season, Nix is the NCAA leader with a completion percentage of 77.2. He's second in quarterback rating (186.24) and passing yards per game (318.8), and tied for first with 40 passing touchdowns. That résumé earned him a spot in New York this week as a Heisman finalist, just the fourth in UO football history.
His career may not have played out exactly the way it did in Nix's boyhood dreams. The reality that fate and his faith scripted will leave a legacy Nix can carry in his heart with pride.
And he has one more chance to add to that story in the Fiesta Bowl.
"I think it means a lot to him to get to wear that Oregon uniform one last time," Lanning said. "He's meant the world to this place. And I think this place has meant the world to him."
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