Between his time at Auburn and Oregon, quarterback Bo Nix played 61 games at the college level. That makes him the most experienced quarterback to ever enter the NFL Draft.
The 2023 Pac-12 offensive player of the year, Nix said on Friday that he does feel like his extensive experience gives him an edge over some of the other quarterbacks in this year’s class.
“I think experience is what you can only get by playing. You can only get experience from doing it. And that’s very valuable,” Nix said. “It’s one of the most valuable traits, I think, you can have, not only because it puts you in a position to see it, but you know, it’s repetition. Repetition is the mother of all skill, so the more you can do something, the better you become at it. And I think that just playing this game, playing this sport has allowed me to become better and better and better each game that I play.
“I was able to prove that as the years went on, getting better and better, learning new things, playing in different systems — five in five years is a lot, but that’s a lot of fun. And I wouldn’t trade it for the world, I think it’s one of the best things that’s made me me. Just provided me with this platform, provided me with this opportunity to go to the next level and play wherever I need to, do whatever I need to do to help the team win. I’ve been able to do that on a lot of different levels with a lot of different teams and I’ve learned a lot during the process.”
Nix played three seasons at Auburn before transferring to Oregon in 2022. He could have entered last year’s draft, but said Friday that he wanted to stay to have a chance at a national championship.
“I knew we had a great team coming back,” Nix said. “I knew coach [Dan] Lanning would put the pieces together and all we had to do was go out there and execute. And we were, honestly, a drive or a stop away from being able to do that, but we faced a team like Washington who was really good in their own right. So that was all I wanted, was a chance to compete for a championship.”
Still, Nix set a record by completing 77.4 percent of his passes for 4,508 yards with 45 touchdowns and just three interceptions in 2023. We won’t know where Nix will end up until late April, but he’s looking forward to the challenge of adjusting to the NFL game.
“I think the physical game is going to be the same, maybe a step or two faster,” Nix said. “The players are going to be better overall and consistently. But I do think maybe the most difficult thing will be to process it at the speed that it’s happening — not make it too fast, not over-prepare, not think too much, not overthink things. But just play what you see and study hard, prepare hard, and go out there and perform at a level that competes against all the teams out there.”