It was seemingly an "any day now" situation with Deuce Knight deciding on the Auburn football program, but he never committed the first week of August. According to A to Z Sports' Ryan Roberts, there was a "massive break" in AU's pursuit of Knight and there's no guarantee the Tigers will wait on his decision before pursuing other options.
"According to a source, Auburn was pushing to get it done now," Roberts prefaced before saying. "This week was the target, and they didn't want it to play out much longer. They had made their pitch, and Knight seemed receptive to it for the most part.
"The latest circling around this situation is that Knight was not ready to make a decision this week. There was still high interest on his side, but he didn’t want to make a final decision now. Knight wanted to push that timeline back, and continue to evaluate his options with an August 30th date thrown out there. From the sounds of it, Auburn wasn’t happy. There is a question out there about whether Auburn will be patient, and whether they will consider other options. Does that mean that things could pick back up in the future if they are unable to gain traction with other options? It’s possible, but for now, there could be a massive break in the recruitment."
Auburn football still maintaining serious recruiting momentum
Despite potentially not landing Knight as was previously expected in Notre Dame circles, Auburn is still doing well on the recruiting trail. To say the least.
Hugh Freeze has 13 blue-chip recruits in his 2025 class and three in his 2026 class. Of course, the latter is hard to get too excited about in this age of constant flips and transfers, but that 2025 class is deep. Given the number of 2024 blue-chips who signed on despite a 6-7 record in 2023, it's safe to say that most of that 2025 class will be Plains-bound.
The proof of concept will keep the skill position players. Luckily, Freeze having his offensive coordinator of choice, Derrick Nix, will help proving. Charles Kelly's relationship building helped land eight of the top 10 in-state recruits, all on the defensive side. They won't de-commit unless Kelly goes elsewhere. But he feels like a keeper.
Things look good on the Plains right now. Knight would make it look better, no doubt.