Hugh Freeze opens up on potential role for Deuce Knight vs. Arkansas

As Auburn has struggled and lost four straight games to ranked opponents, all eyes are on the quarterback position. Backup Deuce Knight hasn’t gotten many chances, despite starter Jackson Arnold struggling at times.

Could that change this weekend against Arkansas? Coach Hugh Freeze was asked specifically about Knight on an SEC teleconference all on Wednesday and whether he might be involved in the gameplan given Arnold’s struggles.

“Deuce is, man, he’s handled everything extremely well to be so talented and young,” Freeze said. “Think knows his time is coming, it’s just a matter of when. But yeah, we will have all three (quarterbacks) ready to play, including Deuce and Ashton (Daniels) and Jackson.”

Arnold hasn’t thrown a touchdown pass in the last three games, throwing one interception in that span. He hasn’t had a game with multiple touchdown passes since Week 2 against Ball State.

If Auburn could simply coax a little more out of the position, it might have a significantly different record. To that end, the Tigers have been giving both Deuce Knight and Daniels more reps in practice.

“Both have looked really good, preparing well, like they always do,” Freeze said. “Jackson’s looked like a million bucks at the start of the last two games, and you’re just hopeful that we can get a game that is consistent with that. Ashton is ready to go, as is Deuce, and we’ll just have to see how the game goes. Hopefully Jackson can get us off to a fast start like he’s done the last two games and maybe continue that.”

Could Deuce Knight be an answer of sorts? It’s possible. But if Freeze was looking to play him more going forward, he wasn’t necessarily tipping his hand.

“I know that we can fix the things that are, there’s times we look incredibly understanding of what we’re trying to accomplish,” Freeze said. “On both sides, really. Defensively has played more consistently than offensively, and then there’s times, man, we choose to play with the wrong leverage. Then there’s times, like last week, we have some uncharacteristic drops.”

All of those mistakes are making it tougher on the quarterbacks, whether that’s been Jackson Arnold or potentially Deuce Knight going forward. Freeze explained the issues are multiple.

“Then there’s times in the second half where we may not protect quite long enough or we miss the hot throw or the open throw, and it’s just a mixture,” he said. “Obviously some of it is I made a really bad call on third-and-goal last week with a freshman center in there that I’ve got to make sure I know that everybody can do what we’re asking them to do. Then we’ve got to be able to execute it.

“So I’m seeing that in practice, obviously, or we wouldn’t feel comfortable calling it in a game. We’ve just got to get the carry-over to be more consistent.”