One of the biggest flips of the 2025 recruiting class is in.
Deuce Knight, the No. 31 overall player in the Rivals250 for this cycle, has flipped away from Notre Dame to Auburn.
Knight was committed to the Irish for a year and made upwards of 10 trips up to South Bend before realizing that playing closer to home for an offensive-minded coach was the right move for his future.
Coach Hugh Freeze made that exceedingly clear when Knight was on campus for Big Cat Weekend and again for the Tigers’ season opener vs. Alabama A&M.
“It’s Coach Freeze,” Knight told Rivals.
“He’s a straight-up, honest guy. He’s from Mississippi. He was honest with me from the jump. I was his top target from the jump,” he said. “When I committed to Notre Dame, things fell off ... We talked it out. He came back around and he’s always been a great guy.”
Multiple SEC schools have tried to move Knight off of his verbal pact to Notre Dame since last September, including Alabama and Ole Miss, which continued to swing away at one of the state’s best until the end.
Knight loves the opportunity available to him in The Plains.
“I like the idea of coming in and competing for a job,” Knight explained. “That’s a big thing for me. The guys like Cam Coleman, Perry Thompson, Bryce Cain, Malcolm Simmons ... those guys want me to come there. They hit me up ... Cam Coleman is gonna be a first-round pick. Throwing to those guys will be cool.”
“Coach Freeze helped me see that,” he added.
Freeze took the lead in courting Knight to Auburn and emphasized the relationship between play-caller and quarterback.
Naturally, the rest of the staff followed suit with Knight.
“The communication with Coach Freeze -- that’s the biggest thing for a play-caller and a quarterback -- to be on the same page. Coach Freeze always reaches out. Same with everybody, Coach (Derrick) Nix, all those guys,” he noted. “Coach Freeze sends me clips or Coach Nix will hop on a Zoom call with me, show me how I fit in this offense with the young receivers.”
Freeze’s resume with quarterbacks was a pivotal item of interest for Knight, the No. 2-ranked QB in the Rivals250.
So was the wealth of talent already on the Auburn roster.
“Any quarterback he’s had has put up crazy numbers,” Knight said. “That’s what he’s preached to me. The guys they brought in the 2024 class -- he wants me to come in and throw to those guys.”
Now, he’s got his wish -- and a major piece for his offensive blueprint of the future.
Editor’s Note: This article first appeared on Rivals.com, the leader in college football and basketball recruiting coverage. Be the first to know and follow your teams by signing up here.