Deuce Knight's commitment may cause several Auburn football QB transfers this offseason

Auburn football's repeated losses during the 2024 season's first month don't appear to be slowing Hugh Freeze down on the recruiting trail in the slightest. Deuce Knight, a former 4-star Notre Dame commit, flipped to the Tigers on October 2 and now AU has its QB of the future.

Knight isn't a shoo-in to start right away, but he's a good bet to take the reins by 2026. That's not a good sign for the current QB room.

At minimum, at least one QB is likely to hit the portal in the offseason with Knight now in tow. Payton Thorne is out of eligibility, so there will be the same number of arms in the room, but there isn't currently a starting-caliber QB who will have experience by the start of the 2025 season.

That could force Freeze to finally spend on a portal QB; avoiding the same mistake he made ahead of the 2024 season that essentially caused it to be a lost year.

If he does that, the QBs who will have waited two to three years for a chance likely won't want to stick around knowing Knight is waiting in the wings.

Which QBs may consider transferring from Auburn football after Deuce Knight's commitment?

It's possible Hank Brown, Holden Geriner, and Walker White all redshirt the 2024 season with Thorne back in the QB1 role. While they all might be able to preserve a season of eligibility, not all of them will want to stick around knowing snaps aren't coming.

Brown's bad taste from the Arkansas game may have soured the fanbase on the Lipscomb product getting future opportunities in big games. One bad game shouldn't define his career, but with so few games, college football tends to chew up players and spit them out. Brown has the talent to be a starter somewhere, but AU may never offer him that chance.

Geriner, originally a Bryan Harsin recruit, is now on the pine under a second straight head coach. There's a slim chance the Benedictine Military School product ever gets the time of day from Freeze and Co. He may be okay with being a career backup, though. He has been for three seasons.

Then there's White, who could be Knight's top competition in 2026. White has not developed as quickly as Freeze's staff was hoping, but he still has a sky-high ceiling. It's unlikely he leaves given his strong spiritual connection similar to Freeze, but you can never say never in the NIL era.