Derrick Nix’s contract at Ole Miss leaves a very specific provision when looking toward whatever his next job might have been.

His buyout clause states that Nix would owe 100% of his annual salary — which is $625,000 — as a payment to Ole Miss in order to breach his contract and leave for another job, with one exception. Should Nix leave for a “full-time head football coach position or primary offensive/defensive coordinator position with primary play-calling duties” at another school? Then he is exempt from paying the fee.

That makes the wording of an Ole Miss letter posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Wednesday morning to be quite notable.

“Acknowledging the opportunity to become a first-time playcaller with full-time playcalling duties as Offensive Coordinator at Auburn University,” the letter signed by Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin states.

Auburn is yet to announce the hire of Nix on its end, but should the letter’s mention of playcalling duties in fact be Auburn’s plan, then Nix will not owe his buyout.

But how exactly will the play-calling job to shake out?

Multiple reports during the offseason have stated Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze plans to take much more involvement in the offense for the 2024 season and that would include calling plays, something he did not do primarily in 2023.

Freeze had been the play-caller as the head coach at Arkansas State, Ole Miss and Liberty. But in his first year at Auburn, Freeze passed off those duties to offensive coordinator Philip Montgomery, a former head coach at Tulsa, so he could put his effort into recruiting.

Auburn proceeded to have a bottom 10 passing offense in the country and Montgomery was fired after the 2024 season.

Reports Freeze would return to playcalling duties from there made sense. Throughout the 2023 season, Freeze discussed how difficult it was for him to give up the play-calling role, and in turn, it was clear Freeze progressively took on more responsibility in the offense as the year went on.

The reports suggesting Freeze would return to play-calling duties in 2024 would signify that bigger role in the offense going forward and less time spent recruiting. That seemed to line up with hiring someone like Nix, who has never called plays before.

Of course, that conflicts with the message from Ole Miss’ statement.

The play-calling plan is not quite clear. It could be Freeze. It could be Nix. More likely, it will be both.

While Montgomery officially was the play-caller in 2023, Freeze frequently mentioned himself and offensive line coach Jake Thornton as having a role in calling plays. Thornton is still at Auburn and Freeze regardless will have a larger role in the offense next season.

It seems unlikely, too, that Freeze would entirely hand over play-calling duties to someone who has never called plays before.

In the short term, Auburn and Nix may have at least saved themselves quite a chunk of change based on the wording of the letter Kiffin signed. How that actually will be resolved on the field in 2024? That will be answered in time.

Matt Cohen covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @Matt_Cohen_ or email him at [email protected]