With Power Four teams racing to replace departing starters, one former five-star has quietly emerged as a name everyone’s circling. After deciding to move on from Auburn, the Lucedale, Mississippi, native enters the portal with four full seasons of eligibility. And now two rivals with deep Mississippi ties, including LSU and Ole Miss, find themselves at the center of the chase for Deuce Knight.

Knight, a former five-star jewel, hardly had time to settle in before being buried beneath transfer veterans on the depth chart. In limited action, Knight completed 17 of 25 passes for 259 yards and two touchdowns, while adding 178 rushing yards and four more scores on the ground.

Auburn would have hoped for things to settle under Alex Golesh, but the portal has been brutal for the program. WR Cam Coleman also entered the portal. But with Deuce, the issue would have been the playing time.

He didn’t play much in his freshman season, but when he did get his chance, especially in that Mercer game, he displayed all the qualities that first made him so sought-after: a big arm, bruised legs, and confidence on the field. He finished the season with 259 passing yards and two touchdowns in two appearances. With four years remaining and an estimated $776K NIL valuation, he is now back on the open market, and all of a sudden, the SEC’s old recruitment wounds are resurfacing.

At the center of it all is Lane Kiffin, a coach who knows talent when he sees it and knows Knight very well. Before Auburn’s ultimate recruitment win, Ole Miss was considered the favorite, and Kiffin played a significant role in Knight’s recruitment after high school. Right now, Kiffin is at LSU, looking at an offense designed for a 6-foot-4 dual-threat player and an open quarterback room. The fit feels obvious.

But Ole Miss isn’t backing off quietly. The Rebels helped make Knight a national name during his recruitment, and the idea of coming home to Mississippi carries real emotional pull. Knight may enter Oxford with an easy path to the starting position and the opportunity to build on the greatest run in program history, given the uncertainty surrounding their quarterback situation. That belief in momentum didn’t disappear when Lane Kiffin left; rather, it may have been reinforced.

Ole Miss survived the Kiffin exit

When Lane Kiffin walked out the door, the expectation around college football was simple: Ole Miss would wobble. Programs typically do this when an established coach unexpectedly departs. However, calmness, rather than fear, followed in Oxford, and Pete Golding was the source of that calm. Golding quickly shifted attention from the person who had left the room to the person who was still there. The message was consistent, almost unyielding. “One week at a time.” Before the Georgia game, Golding repeated the same phrase that helped the Rebels get through the chaos.

That mindset showed up fast. Golding remained unmoved even after losing half of the offensive staff to LSU, including coordinator Charlie Weis Jr., tight ends coach Joe Cox, and receivers coach George McDonald. In the locker room, he encouraged familiar faces and strengthened confidence by leaning toward consistency.

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Golding maintained nearly every aspect of the defense, as seen by the hiring of defensive line coach Randall Joyner to a new contract. The result? In its first playoff game, Tulane was easily defeated by a composed and confident Ole Miss team that never faltered.

The belief inside the building is real and loud. Golding “controls the room” and “controls the narrative,” according to defensive coordinator Bryan Brown, and this belief resonates with the entire team. Even Jaxson Dart, a player under Kiffin, expressed his faith in Golding’s leadership, describing him as a coach who creates genuine connections and accomplishes “unexpected” things.