How Notre Dame Plans to Replace 2026 QB Deuce Knight After Decommitment

Replacing a talent like Deuce Knight is not easy work, but Notre Dame should be fine.

Lipscomb's Deuce Knight (2) sets to pass again IMG at Lipscomb's Reese Smith Football Field in Nashville, Tenn., Friday night, Aug. 18, 2023. IMG went on to win the game 35-10. / Denny Simmons / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK

To say the least, replacing Deuce Knight will not be easy work.

It's not every day that a 6-4 quarterback that runs a 4.4 40-yard dash is committed to Notre Dame, much less really interested at all.

Usually these are the quarterbacks that you see end up at Alabama, Georgia, Florida, etc. The SEC powerhouses, naturally, tend to own the south when it comes to recruiting but Knight seemed to be different. He committed to Notre Dame early and was a key in building the 2025 Irish class.

BREAKING: Elite 2025 QB Deuce Knight has Flipped his Commitment from Notre Dame to Auburn, he tells me for @on3recruits

The 6’4 210 QB from Lucedale, MS had been Committed to the Fighting Irish since September 2023

“AU it’s up❄️ #LLMYGUYS”https://t.co/EQRBDq0ppQ pic.twitter.com/E97zddZqpo

— Hayes Fawcett (@Hayesfawcett3) October 2, 2024

In a way, it is hard to blame the staff for sticking with Knight this long. He is a unicorn. Even through all of the visits and other stuff that was a bad look for Notre Dame as a whole, there was a reason he did not decommit from the Irish for so long.

There was and still is genuine interest from Knight in what Notre Dame is building in South Bend, but in the end, the 'power' of the SEC won him over and ended up with him flipping to Auburn late Wednesday night.

Moving forward - how does the Irish staff replace Knight in this 2025 cycle?

It won't be easy, but the staff was not naive to what Knight has been doing for the last couple of months. If Deuce was going to look around and visit other schools every weekend, the staff knew eventually the rubber would meet the road.

The Notre Dame staff has been in contact with a handful of committed quarterbacks, looking to do what Auburn just did to it. At this point, "committing" is just naming a leader. These kids are being recruited every single day, especially when they are top notch talents.

Stay locked to Notre Dame on Sports Illustrated for our coverage of the quarterbacks that the Irish elect to go after in this 2025 cycle to replace Deuce.