Ole Miss Players heap Praise on New Auburn OC Derrick Nix

The Auburn Tigers hired Derrick Nix from Ole Miss in January, and he comes highly recommended from his former players.

Auburn Tigers offensive coordinator Derrick Nix was hired from Ole Miss in January. / Jake Crandall / USA TODAY NETWORK

One of the most intriguing questions to answer for the Auburn Tigers in 2024 will undoubtedly be how much new offensive coordinator Derrick Nix can get out of the Payton Thorne led offense.

Of course, Nix famously spent 16 years coaching at Ole Miss, four of which he spent honing the programs receiving unit into one of the very best in the entire country. 

Hopes are high that Nix can repeat the feat in Auburn under the tutelage of head coach Hugh Freeze, and an extremely positive outlier of what to expect came from his most productive receiver at Ole Miss, Tre Harris.

"He's an incredible coach who's looking to not only make you a better player on the field, but to make you a man," Harris told Peter Rauterkus of AL.com. "One thing he always harped on was that football does end at some point. You have to be a family man and you have to be a man of god."

Fundamental to Nix landing the offensive coordinator gig with Auburn, was his ability to work equally well when constructing productive running and passing games. 

Indeed, last year at Ole Miss, Nix put his WRs in positions to really excel - heck - three of them totaled over 700 yards receiving including Harris's 985.

Still, question marks will remain until Nix proves he can forge positive dynamics with Thorne as his new starting signal caller at Auburn. Some might even suggest the missing link in the Nix coaching is successfully getting another quarterback to the next level, but his former quarterback at Ole Miss, Jaxson Dart is also a true believer in what the Auburn OC can do moving forward.

"I loved Coach Nix," Dart said. "Great man and somebody that our team and guys really looked up to, so Auburn made a really good hire."

Most certainly, Coach Freeze has given his new coordinator a big opportunity to prove his coaching chops, and at a program that's just dying to get back on track as an offensive juggernaut.

For some valuable context, it's worth rewinding all the way back to when Nix decided to take the promotion at Auburn in the first place. That's where we find that working with a group of old faces he feels really comfortable with was a totally unique selling point for him - mostly because it will help him grow enormously as a coach.

"I'm in a position where I'm learning on the go," Nix told John Macon Gillespie on the Grove Report. "So to be with a guy like coach Freeze and a (quarterbacks coach) Kent Austin, who I have worked with before, I look at this situation as a place where I can develop and be the best version of myself."

Strong indications are coming from his former charges that Nix is a particularly effective man manager, and that will bolster the ranks of the Auburn faithful.

That being said, it only carries you so far in the uber competitive and notoriously cutthroat collegiate ranks.

Consequently, just how the coaching whiteboard and game planning happens to shakedown will provide the only real key to sustained success for Nix during his tenure on The Plains.