When Mike Gittens of the War Rapport questioned Auburn Tigers football coach Hugh Freeze about his plans for the position, Freeze said without hesitation, “Yeah, he is,” announcing Jackson Arnold as th
But what Freeze said immediately after spoke to Freeze, Derrick Nix, and Kent Austin’s plans beyond the starting spot.
“Deuce Knight is going to be phenomenal. He had a great spring and it was a joy working with him. He is one of the more accountable freshmen. No excuse making, wants to learn, wants you to coach him and has a big time arm and talent.”
Freeze went on to speak at length about what he sees in Arnold at QB1 coming from a less-than-ideal situation in Seth Littrell and Joe Jon Finley’s offense at Oklahoma last year. But his comments also shut the door on another transfer’s chances to see snaps this coming season.
Jackson Arnold’s main backup quarterback for Auburn will be Deuce Knight rather than Ashton Daniels.
This coming autumn, Ashton Daniels, a transfer from Stanford, will stay on the bench until Arnold and/or Knight are hurt or both of them are unprepared.
Given how prepared Arnold and Knight have been over the last several months—at least prior to the former’s leg injury during spring practice—the latter doesn’t seem very plausible. Due to the injury, Arnold was unable to attend A-Day. The former is feasible, but it would be strange if both Knight and Arnold went down.
Daniels has one more season of eligibility left and a redshirt. At this point, it’s difficult not to predict him using that redshirt and playing his final season elsewhere in 2026. The transfer portal window closed on April 25. Daniels wouldn’t be able to transfer in-conference to another SEC school per portal rules.
