Bo Nix Named To Maxwell Award Watch List For Nation’s Top Collegiate Player

By 750 The Game Staff

Back for his fifth season of college football and second in Eugene, Ducks senior quarterback Bo Nix was named among 87 total players on the initial watch list for the 2023 Maxwell Award.

The Maxwell Award is given annually to the top collegiate player in the country regardless of position.

Nix was an honorable mention on last year’s All Pac-12 team, with USC’s Caleb Williams and Washington’s Michael Penix Jr. named to the first and second team, respectively.

Williams, the reigning Heisman winner, also won the Maxwell Award in 2022.

After three seasons at Auburn, Nix flourished in his first year at Oregon under offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham to the tune of 29 touchdowns against seven picks, a career-high 71.9 % completion rate, and a career-high 3,593 passing yards.

A lower leg injury late in Oregon’s 37-34 home loss to Washington hobbled Nix down the stretch and limited Oregon’s passing attack that had caught fire from weeks two through ten. The Ducks won eight straight games in that span, scoring 40 or more points in each.

They lost two of their last three regular season games, including difficult losses to rivals Washington and Oregon State. But a 28-27 victory in the Holiday Bowl over North Carolina helped Oregon reach the 10-win plateau in head coach Dan Lanning’s first season.

Will Stein replaces Dillingham as Oregon’s offensive coordinator in 2023, with the latter the new head coach at Arizona State. Stein comes over from UTSA where he helped guide the Road Runners to a Conference USA championship in 2022 and a C-USA season MVP for quarterback Frank Harris.

Nix hopes to get the Ducks off to a hot start this fall after they lost 49-3 in last year’s season-opener against reigning and future back-to-back national champion Georgia.

Oregon hosts Portland State in their opener this year, Sept. 2nd at Autzen Stadium before a crucial early-season tilt at Texas Tech comes calling on Sept. 9th.

The Ducks were picked to finish fourth in the conference per the Pac-12 Preseason media poll. USC was picked first, followed by Washington and Utah.

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