OXFORD — After 16 seasons at Ole Miss football, Derrick Nix is moving on to become the next offensive coordinator at Auburn, the Rebels announced on Wednesday morning.

Nix started his career with the Rebels as the running backs coach, mentoring the likes of Dexter McCluster and Brandon Bolden. Moving to receivers coach in 2020 under Lane Kiffin, Nix helped propel Elijah Moore to an All-American season and also saw Jonathan Mingo, Dontario Drummond and Malik Heath shine under his purview.

He now moves on to coach an Auburn offense that was the third-worst in the SEC last season at 26.6 points per game.

Nix has previously worked under Auburn coach Hugh Freeze, who spent five seasons leading the Ole Miss program from 2012-16.

Kiffin had been efforting to prepare Nix for a head coaching gig, asking him to act as Ole Miss' head coach for one of the Rebels' fall scrimmages and citing the lack of head coaching opportunities for Black coaches.

"That was done, not as a PR thing, that was really done to give him an opportunity to see what it's like," Kiffin said in August.

"We've been fortunate to keep him here," Kiffin said. "He's had a lot of opportunities to leave. I've enjoyed working with him. He's done a great job. Today, we saw a whole other level out of him. His intensity in meetings last night, pregame meal with the players, handling depth charts. I was inspired by listening to him."

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Though previous reporting had indicated that Freeze would be taking over the play-calling duties for Auburn this season, Ole Miss' statement announcing Nix's departure said that he will be calling plays for the Tigers.

That's important because, if Nix had not been calling plays, Auburn would have been required to pay his buyout.

Nix is the third assistant to depart Kiffin's staff this offseason. He has replaced Keynodo Hudson with secondary coach Bryan Brown. Tight ends coach John David Baker has yet to be officially replaced.

David Eckert covers Ole Miss for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at deckert@gannett.com or reach him on Twitter @davideckert98.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Ole Miss football, Lane Kiffin lose assistant Derrick Nix to Auburn