Alabama Crimson Tide defensive coordinator Kane Wommack recently shared a story about watching tape from the Mercer Bears and Auburn Tigers from last November before he settled on finding and eventually recruiting six-foot-four MU DB Carmelo O'Neal in the transfer portal.
But wait, ahead of the 2025 Iron Bowl, why was he watching tape from the Tigers' 62-17 route of an FCS squad? After all, Ashton Daniels, the presumed Week 14, wasn't active in Auburn's penultimate regular-season game.
Perhaps Wommack was expecting Deuce Knight, the record-breaker who put up over 400 yards and six touchdowns the week before, to see the field in a game that could've saved DJ Durkin's head coaching job, and potentially Derrick Nix's offensive coordinator job.
Unfortunately, Nix and Co. didn't throw Knight out there for a single snap, and the Tigers infamously lost an Iron Bowl that could've eliminated the Tide from the College Football Playoff before the Indiana Hoosiers had to show Alabama didn't belong in a 38-3 Rose Bowl rout.
Not deploying Deuce Knight in the Iron Bowl may be DJ Durkin's biggest regret
Durkin doesn't have all that much to regret. He gets to focus on the defense in 2026, something he proved adept at during the 2024 and 2025 seasons, while Alex Golesh takes on the burden of being that guy who needs to pick up the slack after the Bryan Harsin and Hugh Freeze years. Durkin also does it at a high price point.
Still, if there is one regret from his brief run as the head coach, it's not giving Knight a single snap during the 2025 Iron Bowl. Daniels did a great job and nearly won that game. Who knows how many more drives could've gone AU's way had Nix and Co. thrown the Tide off the scent and thrown in Deuce?
Knight had only two games under his belt, so he could've kept his redshirt had he played against Alabama. Who knows if his mind was already on the transfer portal at that point, though, and he just wanted to maximize his value against an FCS defense the week before, which also served to preserve Daniels' redshirt. Knight had only played two games, the other against the Ball State Cardinals, the eventual 10th-place team in the MAC.
You never want to be too cynical about college-aged kids making decisions like this, but with sports agents being involved in the process of modern collegiate sports, you can't write off money moves being made by anyone.
And yet, the fact that Knight never got a snap in the Iron Bowl a week after showing flashes of greatness will always be a "what if?" regarding the end of the 2025 season.