Is it the fault in Jackson Arnold’s stars? Well, the quarterback has seemed to be trapped under a defensive-minded head coach like Brent Venables. As he felt stunted, he took a leap of faith and boarded the Auburn wagon. But at least back at Oklahoma, he was the declared starter. Joining Hugh Freeze‘s camp, he got to fight for his spot. 

To capture the real scene of the QB battle in Freeze’s amp, analyst Lindsay Crosby came up with his take. He shared, “If I say there legitimately could be like a legit quarterback competition in spring and in fall, like obviously Jackson Arnold’s the favorite, but there is a world where Deuce Knight just looks fantastic and gets into the conversation.” Now, Freeze further stirred the pot by not saying that Arnold is going to be their THE ONE.    

On August 18, Justin Hokanson tweeted, “Freeze said tonight on Tiger Talk all three QBs could play at Baylor.” What did the Auburn head coach say? Hokanson shared, “Freeze on the QBs, specifically the progress of Deuce Knight and Ashton Daniels and their possible role: ‘Without giving away too much, there’s a place for both those guys to play to their strengths. We won’t be afraid to do that.’” The moral of the story?

If coaches are already carving out specific situational roles for Knight and Daniels, it signals that Arnold is still the frontrunner for QB1. Arnold is likely to be the main guy. But Freeze is still not ready to take the cat out of the bag. However, that did not stop Hokanson from sharing his thoughts, “I fully believe and expect it to be Jackson Arnold’s show. Freeze thinks Ashton Daniels and Deuce Knight have some elements of their game that could help at times, but it’s Arnold’s show. That’s my take.” But why is Auburn still in a dilemma?

Arnold’s 2024 season has been a mixed bag. He came up with 154-of-246 passes, 1,421 yards, and 12 touchdowns. At the same time, he fell prey to 34 sacks. Arnold was benched for Michael Hawkins Jr. in the fourth game of the season after surrendering three turnovers during the first half against Tennessee. The former Oklahoma quarterback was pressured 132 times, according to Pro Football Focus. But it hasn’t been Arnold’s fault alone. 

The Athletic has put the quarterback in tier four, which belongs to “young, unproven starters with high potential” and “veterans who have flashed great talent but hit performance or injury speed bumps somewhere along the way.” But what makes Freeze not take Arnold’s name and instead rev about Knight?  

Deuce Knight might be haunting Jackson Arnold in his dreams 

On August 15, Hokanson came with an update from the Tigers’ practice. He wrote, “Auburn scrimmaged again today. Here are notes from sources in attendance. Let’s just say the defense thoroughly dominated. The D-line was really good. The O-line? Not so much.” Now, this has become a common scenario in Freeze’s camp. In another scrimmage, Arnold’s group struggled with gaining rushing yards on their first two downs. They were even forced into a lot of third-and-long situations.

And there was no more hiding that Arnold showed hesitancy in some drop-back situations. That’s when Freeze lost his cool over his quarterback. A clip from the camp that showed the head coach having a heated moment with Arnold went viral. Clear signs of frustration were seen as Freeze slammed his visor after shouting at Arnold, saying, “God almighty, man… it ain’t that dang hard.” More tension started to mount for Arnold after the big Knight update from the training camp.

On the Dukesthescoop podcast, host Phillip Dukes could not stop talking about Deuce Knight. To him, Knight ticked off all the boxes to claim the spotlight away from Jackson Arnold. The analyst shared, “Deuce Knight had a good camp. It’s just that it’s gonna be finding his fit in the offense. You got a guy who can make the throws that he can. He can hit all the spots on the field that he can.” Arm strength? Check. Throwing skills? Knight can throw a deep ball off his back foot, which is pretty rare. Dukes calls Knight a “specimen” who has put in enough effort to build himself in the bigger force, who is already fitting in the 208-210lb club. So, Arnold’s nights may stay restless until he finally hears his name called as QB1.