Auburn Hires Derrick Nix as OC

[W.E.D 11,070]

Lane is a bitch 

 

[Bro Johnny Mac 1,394]

Sweet....

Hey Lane.. We’ve got two words for ya...

Edited January 17 by Bro Johnny Mac

[W.E.D 11,070]

There is no program that needs a sense of humility more than Ole Miss. Bama is a close second. 

 

Pretty messed up that Lane would blow up Auburns announcement. It's childish and the extended explanation is childish

[Tigger1985 807]

1 minute ago, W.E.D said:

There is no program that needs a sense of humility more than Ole Miss. Bama is a close second. 

 

Pretty messed up that Lane would blow up Auburns announcement. It's childish and the extended explanation is childish

So much for his picture the other day that Nix was still there at Ole Miss. Glad we didn’t get Lane. 

[toddc 13,194]

 

[toddc 13,194]

Derrick Nix will be the next offensive coordinator at Auburn

Justin Hokanson

AUBURN — Derrick Nix is expected to leave the Ole Miss coaching staff and accept the offensive coordinator position under Hugh Freeze at Auburn.

Sources have told Auburn Live that Nix has been the top target for the position all along. Ole Miss football released a statement on Tuesday acknowledging Nix’s plans to depart the football program and join Auburn’s staff.

Nix will also coach the running backs while at Auburn. He coached under Freeze from 2012-2016 while Freeze was leading the Rebels’ program.

Nix has never called plays, but his background on the offensive side combined with an impressive reputation as a recruiter made him a prime target. Sources tell Auburn Live that Nix was a target when Freeze first arrived at Auburn last winter, but a deal wasn’t reached.

Nix is currently the assistant head coach and wide receivers coach with the Rebels, a place he’s been for 16 years. That’s a nearly unheard of run of longevity in the current age of college football that spaned four different head coaches. Nix’s only other stop in college was a GA at his alma mater Southern Miss in 2003, then transitioning into the running backs coach in 2004-06. 

Nix was a quality control assistant with the Atlanta Falcons in 2007 before joining the Ole Miss staff in 2008. He coached running backs from 2008-2019 before moving to coaching wide receivers in 2020 and becoming assistant head coach.

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Understanding Nix’s importance to the program, Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffinpromoted Nix to assistant head coach in 2022. Kiffin even let Nix take over the program for a 24-hour period and during prior to Ole Miss’ first fall scrimmage before the season. Nix led the program and was the temporary head coach leading up to and during the scrimmage.

“We’ve been fortunate to keep him here, he’s had a lot of opportunities to leave,” Kiffin said in August. “I’ve enjoyed working with him, he’s done a great job. But then today, you saw a whole other level out of him of his intensity in meetings last night, the pregame meal with the players, handling depth charts, doing everything. I was inspired listening to him this morning talk to the team. It was really cool to step back and be able to see that.”

Nix said of the temporary, but invaluable experience, “the biggest thing is to be a clear communicator. That is what I felt out there in the scrimmage, making sure you go back through the plan with a fine-tooth comb, making sure that all the coaches are on the same page. I learned not to just be a wide receiver coach, to look at the other side of the ball, the other positions. You’ve got to be there for everybody.”

It’s the second assistant coach Freeze has poached from Ole Miss, hiring offensive line coach Jake Thornton away from the Rebels last winter.

More on Nix’s background

In 2022, Nix mentored a talented crew of Rebel receivers that paired with the SEC’s top rushing offense. Senior transfer Malik Heath led the way with 971 yards on 60 catches and five touchdowns, the eighth-best season in Ole Miss history in terms of yards. Jonathan Mingo returned for his senior campaign and did not disappoint with 861 yards and five scores on 51 catches, including the FBS’ top receiving game of the season: an Ole Miss record 247 yard outing at Vanderbilt that ranked as the 13th-best in SEC history. Mingo went on to be drafted in the second round of the 2023 NFL Draft by the Carolina Panthers.

In 2021, Dontario Drummond became just the sixth Rebel to ever eclipse 1,000 yards receiving in a single season, notching 1,028 yards and eight touchdowns on 76 total catches. Drummond was a key target for quarterback Matt Corral, who was on the top quarterbacks nationally in 2021 and led an explosive Rebel offense to the Sugar Bowl.

Nix’s first season as wide receivers coach was a memorable one as he guided Elijah Moore to an All-America campaign. Being coached by Nix for the first time, Moore led the nation in receiving yards per game (149.1) and receptions per game (10.8) on his way to being named a finalist for the Biletnikoff Award as one of the best wide receivers in college football. Following his spectacular season, Moore was drafted in the second round of the 2021 NFL Draft by the New York Jets.

Nix has tutored some of the most productive backs in Ole Miss history in Dexter McCluster, Brandon Bolden, Jaylen Walton, Jordan Wilkins and Scottie Phillips, while the Rebels have ranked top-three in the SEC in rushing three times.

[PigskinPat 2,579]

15 minutes ago, W.E.D said:

Lane is a bitch 

 

He just couldn’t stay away from that second paragraph, could he? 😂

[W.E.D 11,070]

3 minutes ago, PigskinPat said:

He just couldn’t stay away from that second paragraph, could he? 😂

It really makes him sound like a loser.

A contract is a contract. But this is going beyond that. Why would you want to work this person??

[autiger88 3,777]

Nice glad to have Nix... So does this mean he will actually call plays or is Freeze gonna do it?

[TigerPAC 966]

1 minute ago, autiger88 said:

Nice glad to have Nix... So does this mean he will actually call plays or is Freeze gonna do it?

tiptoe the semantics.  let lane be lane and move forward AU...just freaking win

[autiger88 3,777]

1 minute ago, TigerPAC said:

tiptoe the semantics.  let lane be lane and move forward AU...just freaking win

I'm not asking because of what Lane said. 

[W.E.D 11,070]

So....gonna be interesting to see how play calling works out

[aucom96 1,619]

15 minutes ago, PigskinPat said:

He just couldn’t stay away from that second paragraph, could he? 😂

I feel like before the OM communications department got a hold of it, it was basically this:

[JDUBB4AU 5,121]

Lane is lane. It’s actually refreshing to an extent and keeps things interesting. Certainly glad to have Nix on the staff. I can’t imagine the talent that will be brought to the plains. 

[autigeremt 6,636]

Burn it down, AU! 

[WillMunny 1,378]

Y'all take it easy on Kane.  Give him a freaking break.

He's trying to deal with knowing he's forever damned to the Egg Bowl, never again to even sniff the Iron Bowl. 🤣

Nobody wants him any more except Ole Miss.  That's like no woman wanting you except Nancy Pelosi.

[JDUBB4AU 5,121]

20 minutes ago, W.E.D said:

So....gonna be interesting to see how play calling works out

This. Hugh loves to take credit for good game plains, but as we have seen will dump all over the oc for a bad ones

[CameronCrazy 1,062]

Nix will call the plays that Hugh tells him to call - that’s how this will work. And I hope we beat the brains out of Ole Miss in Oxford next year. It’s time to be relentless and petty right back. 

[Mikey 16,612]

31 minutes ago, autiger88 said:

Nice glad to have Nix... So does this mean he will actually call plays or is Freeze gonna do it?

The only one I've seen that claims Nix will be calling plays is Kiffin. Freeze has plainly stated that he'll call plays himself next season.

[Hank2020 3,204]

56 minutes ago, W.E.D said:

There is no program that needs a sense of humility more than Ole Miss. Bama is a close second. 

 

Pretty messed up that Lane would blow up Auburns announcement. It's childish and the extended explanation is childish

The announcement maybe part of future lawyer action about his buyout.

[Auburn02 130]

6 minutes ago, CameronCrazy said:

Nix will call the plays that Hugh tells him to call - that’s how this will work. And I hope we beat the brains out of Ole Miss in Oxford next year. It’s time to be relentless and petty right back. 

It would help if they were on the schedule. 😜

 

I am pretty bummed at not having a chance to give Lane the stomping he deserves though.

[CameronCrazy 1,062]

😂😂 wow I completely forgot that we don’t play them on rotation next year. Maybe that’s why Kiffin thinks he can tweet and get away with it. 

[W.E.D 11,070]

25 minutes ago, JDUBB4AU said:

This. Hugh loves to take credit for good game plains, but as we have seen will dump all over the oc for a bad ones

Ha, so he can't do that now. So he has free reign to blame Nix

[W.E.D 11,070]

19 minutes ago, Mikey said:

The only one I've seen that claims Nix will be calling plays is Kiffin. Freeze has plainly stated that he'll call plays himself next season.

That would be a violation of Nix’s buyout with Ole Miss.

Please keep up

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,673]

Not going to lie, I find the Lane post funny 

On a related note, have any of the beat writers or podcasters explained why he keeps on bringing up the play calling thing? I’ve read the explanation here, but I would imagine most people are unaware