That leaves the running backs position, Williams’ old job.
Derrick Nix, the current wide receivers coach and assistant head coach at Ole Miss, has been widely linked to Auburn.
Nix attended Ole Miss for the previous sixteen seasons. During that period, he has coached the running backs for more than ten years.
From 2012 to 2016, he served as the running backs coach for the Rebels under Freeze’s leadership. The two are already acquainted.
After graduating from Southern Miss in 2003, Nix worked as a graduate assistant there before taking over as running backs coach in 2004–2006. He joined the Atlanta Falcons in 2007 as a quality control coach, then in 2008 he was appointed running backs coach at Ole Miss. Since then, he has stayed there.
Starting with the 2020 campaign, Nix moved from coaching running backs to coaching wide receivers.
Although Williams had stronger emotional ties to Auburn, Nix is thought to be a superior recruiter and has more SEC coaching experience. With three commits rated five stars or above, Nix is identified as the main recruiter. On the ball’s defensive side are two of those.
There may be some wiggle room in Auburn’s offensive coordinator hierarchy. Freeze has choices. Freeze might as well be the offensive coordinator himself with his anticipated significantly bigger involvement in the offense. If he hires both, he might designate Austin and Nix as co-offensive coordinators.
Should the position of offensive coordinator be held by only one person? If Nix is hired, he seems like the most probable candidate to be offered a reason to quit Oxford.
