Notre Dame Commit Deuce Knight Is An Incredibly Gifted Quarterback
While Notre Dame has been up and down a bit in the 2023 season, it’s hard not to still be very excited about the future of the program. The quarterback position is one that deservedly get a lot of attention. The Irish staff must get that position figured out, and developed properly.
When it comes to talent to work with, that will not be a problem moving forward. On Monday, 2025 Notre Dame commit Deuce Knight dropped his junior highlight tape and proceeded to drop everyone’s jaw.
Quite simply, it’s hard not to get super excited with Knight as a part of the program in the future. When watching the film, a question began to arise: When’s the last time Notre Dame had a quarterback with this much raw talent?
BIG TIME ATHLETE
The God given ability that Knight possesses is pretty outrageous. He has a longer frame, and tremendous straight line speed. Not only is he fast, Knight can also eat up grass in a hurry with his long strides.
Whether as a scrambler or in the quarterback designed run game, Knight has the talent to create so many headaches for opposing defensive coordinators. On this particular play, Knight drops back to pass. When he steps up into the pocket, he quickly sees a running lane. When he takes off, it’s over with.
That straight line speed for a 6-5 quarterback is pretty rare. The craziest part of this clip was that Knight was actually working through an ankle injury, which is even crazier to think about.
George County also does use Knight in the quarterback run game, with both zone read and power read reps on film. Here is a power read that was especially effective, allowing Knight to explode vertically to create a big play.
You can see that explosiveness as an athlete. Once Knight puts his foot in the ground, he is able to find an easy rushing lane. Knight is so fast that he barely looks like he’s even running hard but still making everyone around him look like they’re running in mud. He bends it outside and finishes in the end zone. It’s just way, way too easy.
ABSURD PASSING SKILLS
There are two levels to evaluating a player's ability as a thrower. One is the rawest former, arm strength. The other is arm talent, a quarterback's ability to throw with accuracy to multiple areas of the field from different arm slots and platforms. They are somewhat interrelated but not at all the same.
From an arm strength perspective, Knight has one of the stronger arms you will find on the high school level. He has a clean and easy stroke, generating some absurd velocity with very little effort.
This is an inside post route, which Knight throws at about 25 yards past the line of scrimmage. It’s a throw that Knight puts a lot of heat on, throwing with a good amount of anticipation but a whole lot of velocity. That throw is simply not ordinary. Knight ripped that throw for the touchdown, beating a defender who wasn’t in an awful decision. It was just a much better throw.
When you talk about taller quarterbacks at times, you could potentially worry about them having a longer release potentially. That isn’t an issue for Knight. He has a snappy delivery that is plenty quick enough.
You can see that release quickness off the play action pass. He quickly locates inside wide receiver running the sluggo (slant and go). With a safety coming over the top, Knight can’t lead him too far or throw with too much touch. He must put the ball on him, and he does just that.
Arm strength can usually be best deciphered when working toward the sideline. Usually in those situations, especially into the boundary, the wide receiver is in man coverage and there is usually limited space. On this play, the margin for error is very small throwing the comeback route.
Knight rips the football into a very small window with perfect ball placement. The ball can die on some quarterbacks on this type of throw. As you can see, Knight does not lack in any area of arm strength. The kid can rip it.
Knight is also one of the better deep ball throwers in the 2025 recruiting class. There is a great understanding for when to take something off the football, and throw with more arc. Even off of a compromised platform (off balance, fading off of his back foot), Knight is still able to showcase just how special of a passer he is.
He throws this ball about 40 yards off his back foot with no effort. That just isn’t normal. The ball would die for most quarterbacks. For Knight, it is just a simple slick of the wrist.
In the scramble drill, Knight once again showcases his high level arm talent. He doesn’t see either of his reads on the front side of the play, which he then works backside. Once he can’t find anyone, he scrambles to his left to extend the play.
Knight eventually finds a wide receiver streaking downfield. His feet are barely planted when he pulls up to throw. Not only does the ball get out with pace, Knight almost turns into a javelin thrower. I was waiting for the ball to die but it just kept going. There really isn’t an area of the field that Knight can’t threaten.
An underrated part of throwing the ball down the field with touch, is anticipation and ball placement. It’s rarely ever as easy as throwing the ball as far as you can and letting your wide receiver run under it. In this play, you can see that anticipation for Knight.
You can see Knight find some sort of inside vertical route, which takes him across the field. The defensive back is again in a pretty good position. Knight has to put that ball over the shoulder as he leads him toward the end zone. This is a perfect example of a “bucket throw” you will hear about at times. Knight drops it in a perfect spot.
FINAL THOUGHTS
It’s easy to live in the world of hyperbole. The “next thing” can always be viewed as the best, with nothing but potential on the table and your imagination to wander. From a level headed view, Knight still has a long way to go, which is true of every high school junior.
When you let your imagination go a little, however, it’s tough to find an area of Knight’s game that can't be elite. The reason for that? Athletic gifts.
Now thinking back to the original question, has there ever been a Notre Dame quarterback recruit with this level of raw talent? Guys like Tony Rice, Brady Quinn, Jimmy Clausen, Deshone Kizer, Malik Zaire, Everett Golson and Phil Jurkovec certainly had certain aspects of the overall skill set.
But for my money, the answer is no.
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