Bo Nix said this week playing at Oregon has allowed him to be himself. By doing so, he escaped what he described as Auburn legacy pressure.

The 2023 Heisman Trophy contender was explaining what being a Duck meant to him, and the former Auburn quarterback revealed the pressure of playing on The Plains.

“This school has changed my life,” Nix said of Oregon. “This school just gave me an opportunity to be myself again and get out of the spotlight of, ‘You’re playing because your dad played here,’ or ‘You are only doing it because you are an Auburn fan’ or this and that. But now I can just go do it because I love playing quarterback.

“I love being around a group of guys, and love leading a group out there with a common mission to win. We were fortunate enough to do a lot of that last season but we came up short in some other times, so now, another reason you came back to have another try at it, and learn from what you did right, learn from what you did wrong and go out and fix it.”

Nix threw for 287 yards and three touchdowns before heading for the bench early in the third quarter and No. 15 Oregon built a 43-point halftime lead en route to an 81-7 victory over Portland State on Saturday.

Nix left Auburn after an up-and-down three seasons. Still, the Auburn legacy and former five-star prospect finished his career on the Plains as the No. 3 passer in program history, finishing with 7,251 career passing yards. That’s just 48 yards shy of Jason Campbell’s record at No. 2 on the list.

Nix completed 59.4 percent of his passes over the last three seasons, threw for 39 touchdowns and accounted for 57 total scores during his time with the Tigers. He’s also second in program history in career pass attempts with 1,057 and second in career pass completions with 628. Both of those records would have been in reach had Nix either returned for his senior season or finished his junior campaign healthy.

Mark Heim is a reporter for The Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Mark_Heim. He can be heard on “The Opening Kickoff” on WNSP-FM 105.5 FM in Mobile or on the free Sound of Mobile App from 6 to 9 a.m. daily.