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t the peak of his professional career, former National Football League running back Lamar Miller turned to Jeff Nixon’s advice.
Miller was selected in the fourth round of the 2012 NFL Draft by the Miami Dolphins and blossomed into a 1000-yard rusher in year three under the tutelage of Nixon, his running backs coach. Miller remembers Nixon preaching decisiveness, going with his gut and quickly shooting a gap.
When his four-year rookie contract expired, Miller signed with Houston. As he became a Pro Bowl running back with the Texans, Nixon’s guidance never left his mind.
“I used to sometimes be too patient on certain plays,” Miller said. “When I went back and watched the film, I remember Nixon being in the back of my head saying, ‘Be decisive. When you make your decision, just go with it.’”
Miller’s not alone in his experience. Over Nixon’s 27-year career, he’s helped star running backs like Brian Westbrook, LeSean McCoy, Reggie Bush, Christian McCaffrey and Saquon Barkley flourish at the highest level.
Mixed with his NFL experience came a three-year stint at Baylor, calling plays for a Bears team that won 11 games in 2019. After spending 2023 with the New York Giants, Nixon is back in the NCAA, serving as Syracuse’s offensive coordinator in its first year under head coach Fran Brown.
“You gotta be able to spread the ball around. And he’s been in the NFL, he understands what it’s like to be able to give the ball to everyone and go in and out of different formations,” Brown said of Nixon.
So far, Nixon has constructed one of the top offenses in the nation, led by quarterback Kyle McCord. Nixon set out his vision for the offense in the spring, hoping to make the unit as balanced as possible.
Through SU’s first two games, Nixon’s done just that. Though, the passing game has stood out the most. The Orange have totaled 735 yards through the air in their first two contests, along with eight touchdowns.
It’s a more complicated offense than Syracuse has run in the past. Wide receiver Zeed Haynes said there are more motions and shifts than he’s ever seen before. McCord described the installation process as learning “a million different plays and formations.” But the new look brings concept twists that constantly keep teams off balance. All with an added flare and malleability of personnel, as quarterbacks coach Nunzio Campanile sees it.
For star veteran tight end Oronde Gadsden II, Nixon’s advancements bring a breath of fresh air to a team that struggled to stretch the field under its past coaching regime.
“You see Nixon out there, he was dicing them up,” Gadsden said after SU’s win over then-No. 23 Georgia Tech.
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Long before crafting Syracuse’s offense, Nixon was a running backs coach at Division II Shippensburg in Pennsylvania from 1999 to 2002. He moved into D-I coaching, working at Chattanooga for three years before a season at Temple in 2006.
Then, Nixon broke into the NFL, helping the Philadelphia Eagles to three playoff appearances in four years as an offensive and special teams assistant. Following the 2010 season, the running backs coach role opened with the Dolphins.
Nixon was surrounded by future coaching stars in Miami, featuring current Giants head coach Brian Daboll as the offensive coordinator. When Joe Philbin took over as the Dolphins’ head coach a year later, Nixon stayed in the same role. Philbin built an offensive staff full of masterminds, including Dan Campbell (Lions head coach), Zac Taylor (Bengals head coach) and Ben Johnson (Lions offensive coordinator).
Nixon’s impact in Miami was immediate. In his five years prior with New Orleans, Bush totaled over 1000 yards from scrimmage just once. Working with Nixon, he eclipsed the total in both years with the Dolphins.
Bush turned in his best rushing season of his NFL career in 2011, recording 1,086 yards on the ground. In 2012, he put up 986. While Bush was a seasoned veteran coming into his own, Nixon emphasized the simple things, often doing individual blocking drills with Bush before and after practice.
“Our best player on offense in 2012 was Bush. It really created a culture in the running backs room,” said Phil McGeoghan, who worked with Dolphins wide receivers from 2012-15. “Work first, protection first, the toughness and intellectual side of past protection. That was very, very important to (Nixon).”
Nixon’s expertise wasn’t created overnight. And it certainly wasn’t limited to running backs.
McGeoghan recalled a late night toward the end of the 2012 season. Nixon’s office was right next to his, and they often visited each other to discuss strategy. That night, McGeoghan stepped into Nixon’s office and saw him downloading data into multiple Terabyte drives.
Nixon said he was pulling from the offense’s hot folders throughout the season, and making an offseason study plan.
“He has the ability to soak in so much information,” McGeoghan said. “So when you had all these people come in with different systems and philosophies and techniques and fundamentals, he’s like a hard drive. He’ll just download your stuff, and then it’s in his brain.”
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As Nixon helped push Bush to his heights, he was also helping develop a young running back from the University of Miami.
Miller, self admittedly, didn’t know much as a rookie about the speed of the NFL and getting accustomed to the play style. He said since the day he met Nixon, however, he received a new education on terminology, the playbook and blocking.
“He was always the same guy every day,” Miller said of Nixon. “He always was critical with certain points. It just made me personally a better pro.”
Nixon’s time in Miami ended when Philbin was fired following the 2015 season. He moved to the San Francisco 49ers for a brief stint as the tight ends coach before returning to the NCAA in 2017. Nixon took over as the co-offensive coordinator and running backs coach at Baylor under then-head coach Matt Rhule. With Brown and Elijah Robinson on the defensive coaching staff, the Bears flipped a 1-11 team into the No. 13 team in the nation two years later.
Success as a play caller gave Nixon another professional opportunity. Rhule left Baylor for the Carolina Panthers, and Nixon followed.
The Panthers struggled to find their offensive identity with McCaffrey injured in 2020, but Nixon helped journeyman Mike Davis have a career-best season. The next year, McCaffrey was limited again but this time, rookie Chuba Hubbard stepped up.
In 2022, the Panthers started 1-4 and Rhule was fired. Ten days later, McCaffrey was dealt to San Francisco. Carolina needed a mid-season rebrand offensively, and Nixon was at the forefront.
“I think people relied on him a little bit more. He just had more of a leadership role,” said Jody Owens, a Panthers offensive assistant at the time. “Coach (Ben) McAdoo, the offensive coordinator at the time, really relied on Coach Nixon and he wanted him in every game plan meeting.”
Despite losing their star player, Nixon made sure the production from the running backs didn’t wane. Following McCaffrey’s trade, four-year veteran D’Onta Foreman was pushed into a starting role while Hubbard became the third-down back.
The Panthers became a prolific rushing attack in what former Panthers wide receiver coach Joe Dailey describes as a “heavy run-oriented offense.” Foreman found his groove, finishing with a career-high 914 rushing yards and five touchdowns.
Through the dysfunction, Nixon stood on his principles. Owens recalls Nixon on one occasion pulling out DVDs to show the running backs film. Foreman and Hubbard were both in new roles, and Nixon helped point them in the right direction. Carolina won six-of-11 games to close out the season and finished second in the NFC South.
“Offensive scientist comes to mind,” Dailey said of Nixon. “He can provide you with both tactical knowledge and schematic design on how offenses and defenses are built and attacked. As well as the technical aspects of specific positions. So he has a mastery of the game of football, knowledge-wise. And you can only do that if you’re well studied.”
Syracuse offensive coordinator Jeff Nixon coaches the SU running backs during a spring practice blocking drill. With Nixon calling the offense, the Orange have averaged 34.5 goals through their first two games. Joe Zhao | Video Editor
Nixon departed Carolina for New York, coaching under Daboll for one season before reuniting with Brown and Robinson at Syracuse. With the Orange, he’s installed a pro-style offense.
McCord compared the cut-ups of the scheme entirely to what NFL teams are running. As he looks to get drafted, it’s a comparison that McCord thinks will prepare him and the rest of the offense.
With Nixon’s NFL experience comes an overwhelming expertise in the running back room. SU’s corps includes Nixon’s son, Will, starter LeQuint Allen Jr. and freshman Yasin Willis.
For Allen Jr., 2024 is a pivotal year to shoot up draft boards. He was a 1000-yard rusher a year ago and an All-ACC selection. The addition of Nixon in Allen Jr.’s third season with the Orange has given him an extra push toward his NFL dreams.
Allen Jr. says Nixon compared details of his game to when he coached McCaffrey. The two have similar abilities to catch out of the backfield and block when needed. Though, the biggest similarity between the superstar back and the one aspiring to be one, is having Nixon in their corner.
“Knowing how many legends he coached, and wanting to become a legend, I just listen to everything (Nixon) says and let it follow,” Allen Jr. said.
Photograph by Joe Zhao | Video Editor
Published on September 19, 2024 at 12:24 am
Contact Aiden at: amstepan@syr.edu | @AidenStepansky
