The Auburn football team is headed into the 2025 season with a completely new-look quarterback room after the departures of Payton Thorne (NFL), Holden Geriner (Texas Tech), Hank Brown (Iowa) and Walker White (Baylor).
Since he arrived on campus in January, it was pretty certain that former Oklahoma quarterback Jackson Arnold would be taking on the QB1 role for the Tigers, but throughout the offseason the hierarchy of his backups has been less certain. True freshman Deuce Knight also arrived on campus in January, and the pair shared the reps between them until former Stanford QB Ashton Daniels joined them in the summer.
The extra attention in the spring undoubtedly helped Knight as he works on transitioning from high school ball to the grueling schedule of the SEC at the college level, and according to quarterbacks coach Kent Austin, Knight's development is coming along well.
"Deuce is remarkably poised for his age," Austin said, per Auburn Undercover. "I coached a guy like him that had a real similar personality in the CFL, Damon Allen. He was very flustered, always smiling. Deuce is really competitive, don't let that demeanor fool you. He's a really competitive young man. Super talented. God has blessed him with a ton of ability.
"He's going well too. It's going to be better for all of them when we have a refined game plan where they don't have about 40 different things defensively that they're looking at every day. Deuce has done remarkably well. He's ahead of the curve in his development."
It's unlikely we'll see Knight hit the field for any meaningful playtime this fall as a true freshman, but it seems the young quarterback will be more than ready when his name is called.
The Tigers return to action on August 29 against the Baylor Bears in Waco, Texas.