Auburn’s spring practice culminated with A-Day, and oh the Bo Nix discourse is palpable.

While any discussion about whether this is or isn’t the season for the third-year Auburn quarterback is like catnip for fans on The Plains, much of the spring and its ensuing questions all have to deal with the shroud of mystery surrounding the changing of the coaching guards as Auburn ushers in the Bryan Harsin era in 2021.

With Auburn’s offense of old, you knew what to expect from Gus Malzahn, but maybe that was the problem. A-Day and the limited practices open to the public were the first real chance to see what may lie ahead in a new period for Auburn as the program looks to win an SEC title for the first time since 2013, coincidentally the first year for a new head coach.

The to-do list isn’t short for Harsin to repair the Auburn brand, but having one of the best running backs in the country certainly helps assuage the loss of three leading receivers as a patchwork offensive line and promising quarterback look to put the muck of 2020 in the rearview mirror.

As the page turns on Harsin first spring with the Tigers, these are the 5 questions and would-be answers that will define the offense in 2021:

1. Bo Nix: dark horse for Heisman?

This is the year. Bo Nix has improved so much under this new offense. He’s focused. He’s having fun. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s a dark horse for the Heisman.

Memes aside, this season’s success really does hinge on whether Nix makes the leap that he was supposed to in 2020. A third coordinator in as many seasons is never ideal for even the best of quarterbacks in perfect surroundings, let alone the current circumstances Nix faces this season. Nix has a Heisman-caliber running back with him but an average-at-best returning offensive line and all most no experience in the receiving corps.

The Plains waited with anticipation at A-Day to see a peek behind Harsin’s offensive curtain, and boy was a message sent from the get-go.

The first play said it all. It has to be at least a decade since an Auburn QB made a similar play. Nix finished the spring game 12-of-20 for 112 yards and a touchdown, and added an additional 29 yards on 5 carries.

The defensive pressure is what it is during A-Day, but Nix looked to have a bit more poise in the pocket, and his decision making looked improved, progressing through his reads, rather than bailing after his first option disappeared. No game commandeered by the junior quarterback is complete without a pass thrown on the run into the end zone with no feet planted, but hey, you can’t expect every bad habit to be erased in a matter of 3 months.

The stats alone from the scrimmage aren’t going to move the odds on his Heisman candidacy, but Nix legitimately looked like progress had been made. Two of his 8 incompletions were drops, he looked more confident, and perhaps most important, he didn’t do anything to shoot his offense in the foot.

“He made good decisions,” Harsin said after the scrimmage. “That was one of the things. We’ve seen Bo’s got escapability, and we know he can throw it, but I thought he made good decisions. He checked the ball down. We had some deeper throws that were called, but they weren’t open, so he checked it down and found the underneath throw. He made good decisions in the red zone.”

Whether Nix continues to make those decisions with All-SEC defenders rushing him in October is a wait-to-see, but there is definite reason for a little more optimism about the quarterback position as the calendar shifts towards summer.

2. How much more Fromm the tight ends?

Again back to the first play from the first-team offense in which tight end Tyler Fromm reeled in the Nix pass off play-action, a definitive message was sent from Harsin and Mike Bobo in terms of the personnel they elected to use.

Every snap the first-team offense took featured at least one tight end. Every time the team went 4-wide, there was always a tight end split out. Auburn quarterbacks targeted a tight end on 7 occasions.

Message received.

Auburn’s plan to feature the tight end more this season may be more out of necessity, thanks to the lack of receiving depth, than actual schematic preference, but the Tigers have the personnel to do so should they choose, even with the move of blue-chip tight end prospect J.J. Pegues to the defensive line.

John Samuel Shenker, who led all Auburn tight ends last season with 9 receptions, missed A-Day while he finished out the season with Auburn’s baseball team, but it provided plenty of opportunity for Fromm and Luke Deal to work in along with 6-7 Brandon Frazier and Landen King.

Fromm has the potential to give Shenker a run for the leader of the group, while Deal will likely be featured more as a blocker. Early-enrollee King also got some field time at A-Day with the first-team offense, and alongside Frazier presents a real size mismatch for defenders. While there’s a lot of work to do among the wide receivers, the good news is that the tight end position should be strong enough to shoulder more of the receiving load than in a long while.

3. What is the ceiling of Ja’Varrius Johnson, and just how far will the receiving drop-off be?

If there was a winner from the spring based off player interviews and what limited portions of practice that media was privy to, Ja’Varrius Johnson would be the clear leading candidate to take home the trophy.

The redshirt sophomore wideout hasn’t made much of an impact to this point thanks to injuries and the fact that Seth Williams, Anthony Schwartz and Eli Stove existed, but the former 4-star prospect emerged as a consistent option in the slot all spring, while what’s left of Auburn’s receivers dealt with a bevy of injuries.

Both Shedrick Jackson and Ze’Vian Capers, Auburn’s leading returning receivers, missed time this spring recovering from injuries and did not participate in the final scrimmage. Redshirt freshman J.J. Evans also missed time with a leg injury, leaving Johnson and Elijah Canion as the two leaders of the group. Kobe Hudson joined the duo as the third option for the majority of first-team snaps.

Canion followed up on his strong Citrus Bowl outing by catching all 6 of his targets at A-Day for 51 yards and a touchdown with the first-team offense. Johnson and Hudson each made 2 receptions.

The question isn’t if there will be a drop-off in the wake of loosing 3 NFL Draft-eligible receivers, it’s just to what degree will Auburn be able to minimize the gap. Tank Bigsby was the 3rd-leading receiver at A-Day, as he is a threat is just about every facet of the game, but if Nix is expected to migrate north of 60% completion rate and move into the upper echelon of SEC passers, he’ll need multiple dependable targets to emerge, be it from the wide receivers or the tight ends.

4. Is all of the offensive line continuity good, or just a promise of more of the same?

If the Auburn offense has had one Achilles’ heel (and there are no shortage of candidates), a competent offensive line would have to be the primary culprit. This season the Tigers return all 8 of their linemen who made starts in 2020, a far cry from last season when Nick Brahms was the only returning starter.

But is bringing back on of the worst lines in the SEC a good thing? A large piece of Nix failing to develop as anticipated is that he’s never been afforded the chance to get comfortable in the pocket. It’s hard to blame the guy for rolling out of the pocket on 75% of his plays when he’s facing relentless pressure.

Due to injuries and COVID-related issues last season, Auburn rotated in the 8 different starters, creating 6 lineups throughout the season. Chemistry is so crucial on the line, and the key ingredient could never mature.

This season, however, promises to be different with new offensive line coach Will Friend, so long as health doesn’t become a limiting factor, as it already did this spring. Left tackle Alec Jackson missed A-Day with an undisclosed injury, and Brandon Council, a candidate to start a guard, was also absent from spring ball as he recovers from a shoulder injury.

Regardless of who starts, players on the line like Brahms have spoken very highly about Friend and his approach to building chemistry and increasing the football I.Q. of his players.

5. What kind of encore will there be from Tank Bigsby?

When you have the type of debut that Bigsby had in his freshman season, following it up with something better is a tall task, but that’s what has to be done for Auburn to improve its SEC standing, especially early on while Nix, the receivers and the line work into the new offense.

Bigsby certainly didn’t disappoint at A-Day, making plays on special teams, catching 2 passes for 22 yards and rushing for 66 yards and a touchdown on 6 carries. He did lose a fumble, but for the most part, Tank looked like Tank; only the way the Tigers used their running backs changed a bit.

Malzahn loved to use motion, jet sweeps and gadget plays to move the ball, with a huge focus on misdirection and moving East to West. At A-Day it was the complete opposite, as Auburn almost exclusively became a downhill running team, moving with purpose North and South.

Kudos definitely are due for the line opening holes, as much as they are also due for Bigsby for finding them. What I was most pleasantly surprised with, however, was how good Shaun Shivers looked rushing the ball for 55 yards on 12 carries. No doubt Shivers demonstrated flashes last season, but the offense didn’t skip a beat at A-Day with the veteran running back carrying the load.

Harsin’s offenses at Boise State worked best with a fairly balanced approach, but until Nix demonstrates the progression that he needs to make as a passer, the 2021 Auburn team may need to model their play after the 2017 Auburn team that ran the ball nearly 46 times a game, spear-headed by Kerryon Johnson.

There’s no question Bigsby has the talent to be Auburn’s primary weapon, it’s just a matter of how comfortable the coaching staff will be running him into the ground. Nix is of course a dangerous runner, and Shivers looked like he has the potential to be a real Robin to Bigsby’s Batman.

As much as the ceiling of the offense will be determined by the play of Nix, Bigsby is the ultimate straw that stirs the drink.