Smart Reveals the Challenges Posed by Bo Nix

Kirby Smart spoke with the media on Tuesday and discussed the challenges posed by Auburn quarterback Bo Nix.

Auburn's Bo Nix was under fire coming into the 2021 season after former LSU quarterback TJ Finley announced his transfer to Auburn. Finley, a sophomore, saw action in five games in 2020 as the Tigers' starting quarterback following the injury to Myles Brennan. 

Finley showed promise as a true freshman quarterback completing 80 of his 140 passes for 941 yards, five touchdowns, and five interceptions. However, Finley would be benched against Alabama in favor of Max Johnson and not see action in the season's final two games before transferring LSU's SEC West counterpart. 

After not living up to the high expectations put upon him as a sophomore, many expected new coach Bryan Harsin to give TJ Finley every opportunity to win the job. Despite that, Nix would win the job and start in every game for Auburn so far, before Auburn benched Nix to rely on Finley to lead the Tigers to a comeback versus Georgia State. 

A week later, Nix would lead the Tigers back on the road against LSU and ultimately win Auburn the game, laying it on an already disappointing 2021 season for Ed Orgeron and LSU. 

Nix made several plays on the way to an Auburn 24-19 victory in Death Valley, including multiple eye-popping plays where Nix would escape the grasp of LSU defenders and avoid costly sacks. One of those plays resulted in a 30-yard touchdown strike to Tyler Fromm, the brother of Jake Fromm. 

That play certainly caught the eye of Kirby Smart, made evident by his press conference Tuesday discussing what makes facing a quarterback like Bo Nix challenging. 

"The defensive challenge of facing a mobile quarterback is how long you have to cover and how creative you have to be. There's plays that are eight seconds long. You know our guys on average play up, I don't know, three, four second plays a long time. I mean, eight-second plays a long time, and he can extend plays, he can win with his feet."

Smart also added that GPS tracking recorded Nix at a high speed of 22 miles per hour, rare speed for not only a quarterback but for any player, as Georgia has "maybe two receivers" that hit over 20 miles per hour. 

Through five games, Georgia's highly vaunted defense is letting up an FBS-best 4.6 points per game with just 70.6 yards coming on the ground and 110 yards through the air. 

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