Oregon QB Bo Nix announces he'll be back in 2023

Oregon QB Bo Nix is returning for another season of college football.

The Auburn transfer announced Sunday that he would be back for a second season with the Ducks. Nix was one of the better quarterbacks in college football in his first season in Eugene.

Nix was 271-of-379 passing for 3,388 yards with 27 TDs and just six interceptions in 2022. He also rushed for a career-high 504 yards and 14 touchdowns as Oregon briefly put itself in the national title picture with eight consecutive wins after a season-opening loss to Georgia. But Oregon lost two of its last three games after Nix suffered a right leg injury in the team’s loss to Washington. Nix played the final two games of the regular season but didn’t appear to be 100%.

Nix’s announcement means that he’ll play in the Holiday Bowl against North Carolina on Dec. 28. That game is one of the best matchups of quarterbacks all bowl season, with UNC’s Drake Maye playing for the Tar Heels.

Nix started for three seasons at Auburn but transferred after an injury in the 10th game of 2021 ended his season prematurely. He never completed more than 61% of his passes or threw for more than 2,542 yards in any of his three seasons at Auburn. He completed over 70% of his passes in 2022.

The fifth-year QB will have another new offensive coordinator in 2023, however. Oregon offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham is now the head coach at Arizona State. Oregon hired UTSA offensive coordinator Will Stein to replace him. The Roadrunners averaged over 30 points per game in 2022.

Nix’s return also means the Pac-12 will have three of its top quarterbacks back for 2023. Heisman winner Caleb Williams is entering his third season at USC and Washington’s Michael Penix previously announced he was coming back after a stellar season in his first year with the Huskies.