When you’ve started more college football games than any other quarterback in the history of the sport, it’s no surprise patience and poise are among your strengths.
That’s the case for former Oregon Ducks QB Bo Nix, who started to turn heads at rookie minicamp this past week for the Denver Broncos. Nix was drafted by the Broncos with the No. 12 pick last month, and he finds himself in a quarterback competition with former New York Jets QB Zach Wilson, who was the No. 2 pick in 2021.
After watching Nix in action, Broncos head coach Sean Payton says that the quarterback’s patience stands out the most, and he likened No. 10 to a master of a different sport.
“It’s almost like watching a good golfer,” Payton said, courtesy of the Denver Post. “When you watch his game over two years, there’s a patience to how he plays. The ball comes out. I don’t want to use the term boring, that’s not the right term, but pretty good decisions with each play. The efficiency with which he’s operating. All of that.”
Boring and patient wouldn’t be words used to describe Nix’s game during his time at Auburn, where he was often known as a boom-or-bust player who could dazzle with his backyard-style hero ball, but often got himself into trouble by trying to do too much. That changed once Nix landed in Eugene with Kenny Dillingham and Dan Lanning, where he learned to play within the offense and let the playmakers around him do the heavy lifting.
That patience is now well-ingrained in Nix, who learned over the last couple of years how to slow down and operate the offense at every level.
“It’s all a part of operation, preparation and literally kind of dumbing it down and making it as simple as possible,” Nix said. “Knowing where your eyes are supposed to go, knowing where your reads are, getting your eyes on them and then going through it quickly.”
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