A lot of eyes are set on Auburn’s intriguing QB situation. Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze’s decision not to chase a transfer quarterback following the 2023 season has opened a pandora’s box for him. This offseason, he is not going to take any risk by overhauling the Tigers’ entire quarterback room ahead of the 2025 season. Fun fact? It led to another chaos, as a lot of prized names have been awaiting their chances. Freshman Deuce Knight, walk-on Tanner Bailey, five-star signee Deuce Knight, Oklahoma transfer Jackson Arnold, Ashton Daniels: yes, you heard it right. All these guys are stacked up to run threads at the Tigers’ offense.

Now, the question is, who should be at the starting gig heading to the spring? Well, while the most ideal name would be Arnold, Deuce Knight is also making some serious noise, especially after his smashing start. To rule out the bedlam, Insider gives a bottom line of the picture.

Deuce Knight’s Auburn future lands in serious jeopardy 

Deuce Knight is already rolling the dice at East Alabama. From a very logical standpoint, nobody has bet a dime on him to win the starting QB job at first. The math was pretty clear. Being the starting quarterback for a team that has visibly been dealing with one of the five hardest schedules in the country is astronomically tough for any true freshman. Yes, you can drag the Bo Nix exception, but just focus on the word exception. Exactly so. Bo was an exception and not the trend, anyway. That doesn’t ever mean that Knight cannot walk in his shoes and be the second exception in the history of the franchise, but Jackson Arnold rightfully gets in the way.

“I just can’t see a world where Jackson Arnold, barring injury, doesn’t start against Baylor. Now, the leash could be shorter if Deuce Knight is incredibly nice, but I just don’t think that’s a world where Deuce Knight can fight and win QB1, and I don’t even know if that’s about Deuce. I just think it’s about the commitment that they made to Jackson Arnold,” insider Jack Blackerby wrote down a clear verdict for the most debated Deuce Knight vs Jackson Arnold at Auburn. For now, yes, it’s Arnold. You can imagine Deuce Knight getting ansty, but if Arnold does his job the best, people won’t really care. But in the contradicting reality, Hugh Freeze revealed that his newest Notre Dame transfer isn’t going to wait around to be the best. He will go out and spend time in the playbook and keep himself up ahead for the quickest QB1 promotion.

He is just behaving like an ideal five-star that the program has long been missing. “I’m excited because I just feel like we haven’t had that dynamic freshman quarterback who came in and just looked like he belonged even maybe necessarily in practice,” Lindsey Crosby made a debate that looks really promising on Knight’s future. But again, for the time being, it’s on Jackson Arnold whether you want it or not. After all, the head coach is a believer.

Hugh Freeze ‘believes’ in Jackson Arnold 

Arnold has made his mark through seven marquee games during the 2023 season. He was expected to take over full-time in Oklahoma after Dillon Gabriel left for Oregon. Arnold played in 10 games last season, being benched at one point for freshman Michael Hawkins before taking back over starting duties in October. He couldn’t live up to the expectation last year. But come on, look at the Oklahoma receiver room, and you will understand whom to put the blame on.

Oklahoma fired their offensive coordinator, Seth Littrell, in late October, but Arnold still managed to hold decent ground. Arnold threw only three interceptions to 12 touchdowns. In his last five games of the 2024 season, Arnold threw five touchdowns and zero interceptions. He was without top receivers such as Deion Burks, Nic Anderson, and others that significantly marred his run as well, but Hugh Freeze is confident that he will get back to prominence real soon.

“The unknown is, why he didn’t have the confidence? And I just am a firm believer that — I don’t know, I believe in him. I believe in our system and think he’s a really good fit for it, that we can restore whatever confidence he may have lost, for whatever reason,” Freeze said.

The receivers are also keeping their faith in the standout Oklahoma guy.“It’s not for me to say, but I know that our receivers are like, ‘This is different. This ball’s a little, it’s spinning the right way.” Freeze noted.

Well, don’t get dejected, all the Deuce Knight ‘believers’! Once Arnold is done, it’s solely and exclusively Knight’s era at Auburn. Brace up for the packed-up QB shows for the next couple of years.