Bo Nix on his college journey & the transfer portal
Yahoo Sports’ Jason Fitz caught up with the former Auburn and Oregon quarterback to discuss the importance of gaining so much experience in college, why the transfer portal is a subjective experience, and much more. Bo Nix joined Yahoo Sports on behalf of USAA.
Video Transcript
JASON FITZ: Jason Fitz with Yahoo Sports hanging out with Bo Nix, superstar quarterback, ahead of the NFL draft, joining us on behalf of USAA. We'll get to that in a minute. But Bo, I'm actually really anxious for this conversation. I was on the sidelines for your first ever game in college. I was standing there watching you with Auburn. And I think we all walked out of that stadium that day saying, oh my god, this kid is going to just light it up. It happened for you, but didn't happen until you got to Oregon. What was the big change in your life from Auburn to Oregon?
BO NIX: Yeah. That was a special first game. Obviously, a memorable one. There was a lot of great games throughout my time at Auburn. I think a lot of people forget that. But sometimes got beat up a little bit too. But I felt like the transition was very smooth. Oregon was a great place for me, not only for my playing career, but just off the field with me and my wife having such a great time with the community at Oregon. And it was a special place. And my college career was definitely worth the adventure.
JASON FITZ: Your college career gave you the opportunity to see a lot, obviously, play a lot of football. How do you think that sort of helps you as you get ready for the transition that's coming next week?
BO NIX: I think it's huge. I think that's the name of the game. Experience is the best thing to have in your arsenal. I think once you do it once or twice, you begin to be comfortable with it and know how it works. And that's the same way in football. Every time I've seen safety rotation, every time I've seen a blitz, every time I've seen a route pattern, whatever it may be, it's just banked reps that I've been able to accumulate over time.
JASON FITZ: I always think it's interesting because I keep talking to people as we all get ready to cover the draft and they talk about processing information. They want to know if quarterbacks can process information. It feels like that's the catch phrase this year. Are you getting like a pop quiz everywhere you go? How are teams judging that from you?
BO NIX: Yeah, just a lot of recall, a lot of asking certain questions, not only on your season and your plays, but they may ask you a few of theirs and ask you to recall it and just explain it back to them. And processing, quite frankly, can only happen on the field. That's the hard part is when you don't know necessarily what's going to happen and you got to react and you got to process what just happened at a very quick rate. And fortunately, for me, I've been able to process a lot in college. And I think it's going to help me.
JASON FITZ: What would you say right now to naysayers that say the transfer portal, essentially, is bad for the game.
BO NIX: One thing I tell many people is, yes, it worked out for me. It works out for a lot of guys. And there was great success rate for guys that were in my position this year that were transfers. But sometimes the grass isn't always greener. So if you do transfer and if you do make that decision, just trust that maybe it'll work. Maybe it won't work. But regardless, it's a fit for each individual. It's a situation-based decision. It's definitely up to that person. And there's a lot of thought that goes into it.
JASON FITZ: All right. So tell everybody the great work you're doing with USAA, Bo.
BO NIX: I was able to go with Joe Ault to the Selfridge Air National Guard Base. And we were able to go up in a Blackhawk. We were able to do a lot of cool things at that base. And we were able to meet a lot of individuals who sacrificed on a daily basis. It takes you out of your football perspective, puts it a little bit more back to life. And you see how important other people are. And the ability for me to go out there and play, I wouldn't be able to do what I do without those individuals who serve. And I know they mean a lot for our country.