The latest on QB Deuce Knight (Monday 8/5 update)
We just spent some time talking about Notre Dame quarterback commit Deuce Knight on Football Never Sleeps, and I had a source reach out to me during the show. So I've been able to gather some more information after the show.
As I said Friday, this recruitment is turning in the wrong direction for Notre Dame. Now, more than ever, I feel like Knight won't stick with his commitment. Now will that flip happen soon? I'm not certain. There's been rumblings about something happening tomorrow (Tuesday), but I don't know that from anyone particularly reliable.
If Knight flips sooner rather than later, I'd expect the pick to be Auburn. If it drags on for a bit, Ole Miss could become more realistic. And heck, if he doesn't flip soon, maybe Notre Dame's season starts and the Irish can regain control. But that seems unlikely right now.
Notre Dame's going to try to hang on to Knight as long as it can, according to my sources. Even if that ends in Knight ditching the Irish, that would give ND more time to evaluate other options and show the success of Mike Denbrock's offense at ND. But it's not a good sign when the best case scenario appears to be Knight waiting to make another decision rather than just reaffirming his commitment to ND.
The timing isn't great for Notre Dame right now as its trying to get more wide receivers in the class. I expect ND to lean on the bright future of CJ Carr at quarterback while recruiting receivers during this period of uncertainty with Knight. And there's no reason that recruiting pitch shouldn't work, because Carr has as good of a shot to be ND's starting quarterback next season as anyone, including Knight — and a better shot than almost anyone outside of Steve Angeli.
That doesn't mean losing Knight wouldn't be a big deal. But that's the pivot Notre Dame will have to make while searching for another option that might not be as talented as Knight. We'll cover those options if/when the time comes.
