Auburn’s defense was a championship-worthy unit last fall. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for Gus Malzahn’s offense.

Had the Tigers been a bit more balanced, there’s no telling how far last season’s Auburn team could have gone but now with the defense losing several key contributors, the offense will have to step up and become a much more consistent unit if Malzahn’s team is going to make some noise in 2020.

The fate of the unit now rests in the hands of new offensive coordinator Chad Morris, who Malzahn says has been given the ability to call the plays for Auburn’s offense, and the second-year progression of starting quarterback, Bo Nix.

While Morris has been busy on the recruiting trail since his arrival on The Plains, Nix recently shared his excitement to learn some new wrinkles on offense.

“Right now he’s off recruiting but once he gets back, I expect to meet a lot with him and to get to know him more,” Nix said during a recent appearance at the Birmingham Monday Morning QB Club Annual Banquet, which was posted to YouTube by CBS 42. “Looking forward to spring ball, to see what our offense will look like, and just as a whole, just being around him and him being around the guys, just doing something new.”

During his public appearance, Nix was also asked to share his thoughts on winning the SEC Freshman of the Year award after accounting for 23 touchdowns, throwing for 2,542 yards and rushing for another 313 yards.

“It’s an honor, it really is. There are so many great freshmen this year. It’s an honor and a privilege to be named with that awesome award,” Nix commented. “Obviously, that’s something I’ve worked for as a freshman and just continue to grow and improve and do things for next year that we weren’t necessarily capable of doing this year.”

After being a complementary player for much of his debut season, the reigning SEC Freshman of the Year will now be asked to lead Auburn’s offense despite working behind a reworked offensive line working with first-year Auburn assistant Jack Bicknell Jr.

While Morris may have been a failure as a head coach at Arkansas, some still regard the coach as an elite offensive mind capable of taking the Tiger offense to new heights next season. Can the Auburn offense live up to that hype?

“Like you said, we do have a lot of skill players coming back,” Nix continued. “We lose pretty much all of our O-line, so we are going to have to rebuild, but we have some guys that are completely capable of doing it, so we are looking forward to just getting them out on the field. Obviously, they’ve been behind a lot of seniors, so it’s kinda their chance to take over. Obviously, on offense, with a new OC, we’ve got a lot of hype to live up to but I think we’ll be able to do it and I think we’ll have some really good players.”