Sports

Lane Kiffin Hints At Overpriced Bidding War For Five-Star Quarterback Who Committed To Auburn

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Lane Kiffin Ole Miss Deuce Knight NIL Recruiting Quarterback
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Ole Miss did not sign a quarterback during the 2025 college football recruiting cycle (yet) and Lane Kiffin is totally okay with that. The Rebels are not going to overspend for an unproven signal-caller.

He hinted at an overpriced bidding war for an in-state prospect who committed to Auburn.

Deuce Knight hails from Lucedale, Mississippi. Most major recruiting sites rate him as a four-star prospect, some consider him to be a five-star. Either way, they all agree that he is one of the top-10 (if not top-five) quarterbacks in this year’s class.

Knight originally committed to play for Notre Dame way back in September of 2023. He stuck with his decision for more than a year but flipped to Auburn on Oct. 2.

Even though Knight was locked in on the Irish and then the Tigers, Kiffin and his staff continued to keep their proverbial foot on the gas. They tried, and ultimately failed, to keep one of the best players in the Magnolia State in the Magnolia State. Knight even visited Oxford as recently as last weekend.

In the end, Knight affirmed his commitment to play for Auburn on Wednesday, the first day of the Early Signing Period. Kiffin and Ole Miss are not worried.

First and foremost, Austin Simmons and Walker Howard are still on the roster. Secondly, the transfer portal will open in five days and there are going to be a lot of proven FBS (and FCS!) quarterbacks available who already have experience with the grind of college football. That approach certainly worked out with Jaxson Dart.

There is also the financial element to recruiting. The Grove Collective is one of the best-run NIL entities in the country. Money is not an object if there is a player for whom the staff cannot miss.

However, it sounds like the Tigers made Knight an offer the Rebels are not willing to match. They have been battling back and forth over the last few weeks. Ole Miss tried to convince the in-state signal-caller to take a slight discount for a much better situation. But Auburn paid up.

Lane Kiffin did not address the recruitment of Deuce Knight specifically during his press conference on Wednesday. However, you can read between the lines if you know what was going on behind the scenes.

You have to be really careful with high school quarterbacks, sometimes the price gets too high, and you have salary caps.

— Lane Kiffin

Need more be said?

Kiffin and the Rebels would’ve been thrilled to land Deuce Knight. Although the exact numbers are unknown, they chose to allocate those funds elsewhere. Only time will tell whether the Tigers’ investment pays off.