If one just followed social media posts, then the flip of Lucedale (Miss.) George County’s Deuce Knight from Notre Dame to Auburn would seem obvious. But in talking to sources daily behind the scenes, it was anything but a clear cut flip.

In full transparency, I wrote a draft of an article yesterday on Knight scheduling a visit to Notre Dame for the Stanford game next weekend. It’s something that Blue & Gold and On3 had been noting for a couple weeks in articles in board posts. The Fighting Irish staff was in close contact with Knight about the trip. A source told Blue & Gold Tuesday that Knight discussed the trip with ND as recent as yesterday.

Knight told Auburn a while ago that he would be flipping his pledge. He told Notre Dame that he wouldn’t and that he would be sticking with his pledge. And it’s our understanding that Knight didn’t inform the ND staff of his flip until right before things went public.

It was a bizarre recruitment to cover — truly one of a kid. As Knight continued to take visits to The Plains, there were reports from On3’s Auburn Live that said the elite signal-caller was likely not going to make this flip. In fact, Auburn Live wrote Sept. 24 that some of their sources believed that Ole Miss had a better chance to flip Knight than the Tigers did.

And one the Notre Dame side of things, confidence was there. They were under the impression that they could hold on to Knight based on info they received. It was confirmed that Auburn was reaching out to a few other quarterbacks, too. That proves that Knight was never a lock. Again, he had told Auburn staff that he would flip, but he went so long without making the move publicly that they had their reservations on if it would actually happen.

What’s next for Notre Dame quarterback recruiting?

Blue & Gold’s Kyle Kelly published a great article moments after Knight’s decommitment, outlining six quarterbacks the Irish should go after moving forward. But are those players who the Notre Dame staff will actually consider going after? That remains to be seen.

If you’re looking for names to know moving forward, I am told that there’s nothing concrete right now. Part of the issue that I believe Notre Dame ran into was that they started lining up some replacement options, but when Knight continued to draw things out, it hurt the Irish’s chances with those players.

Notre Dame isn’t at square one or anything like that, but right now, I don’t believe they’re in prime position to flip anyone. But with Knight’s flip done and the Irish staff able to hit the road with the bye week, they will be able to evaluate prospects.

Look for the Irish to take an athletic quarterback. Notre Dame freshman signal-caller CJ Carr and current 2026 quarterback commit Noah Grubbs are both more pocket passers who can move but aren’t true dual-threats. The Irish won’t just take a dual-threat guy for the sake of taking one; they will look for the best available talent for them. But an athletic quarterback is the preference, and it makes sense to sandwich a high-ceiling dual-threat guy between Carr and Grubbs.

And it should be noted that Notre Dame feels great about the future of the quarterback room. There’s great belief in the building about Carr. And it should be noted that the Irish are fully planning on taking a quarterback in the class.

But again, who that is just yet is too early to tell. To this point, Notre Dame has had very little contact — if any at all — directly with other 2025 quarterbacks. Irish fans would love to see Notre Dame go after Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele, a Cal commit, but he told On3 that he has not talked with ND yet.

Expect Notre Dame to work in silence on who they’ll flip; that’s their MO. When they’re ready for the public to know who they’re targeting, you’ll know about it.

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