The Auburn football program moved on from Hugh Freeze, and several candidates are rumored as potential options. For now, DJ Durkin is the interim head coach, and Auburn has lost two in a row since a 33-24 win over Arkansas, which also has an interim head coach after Sam Pittman was fired.
After a 45-38 loss to Vanderbilt, the Auburn football program decided to rest quarterback Ashton Daniels in order to preserve his redshirt. That means Jackson Arnold and Deuce Knight would be in line to play against Mercer, but now a new update has come out.
On Thursday, it was revealed that Deuce Knight will get the start, via Tom Loy of 247Sports.
“Auburn quarterback Deuce Knight is expected to make his first career start for the Tigers in Saturday's Week 13 game against Mercer, sources told 247Sports and Auburn Undercover.”
Arnold, who transferred from Oklahoma, saw the majority of the work this season before Daniels saw action in the last three games.
Daniels went 31-of-44 for 353 yards with two scores against Vanderbilt, but they decided to preserve his redshirt after he transferred from Stanford.
That means Knight will start against Mercer, and he has gone just 2-of-5 for 20 yards with the lone action coming against Ball State.
Earlier in the week, Durkin spoke about the Auburn QBs.
“I feel like Deuce has a lot of great football ahead of him,” Durkin said Monday, via Tom Loy. “He hasn't had that opportunity, but he's going to get that opportunity. We practiced last night, and you can tell the difference. The same with Jackson. Jackson is a tremendously talented guy.
“We're going to put together a great plan for both of these guys to have success. I told their teammates that it's their job to rally around them, too. I know those guys will. They feel strongly about that. I'm looking forward to how the entire team responds,” he added.
Auburn's final regular season game will be in the Iron Bowl against Alabama, so it will be interesting if Durkin using Daniels for his fourth game of the season, which is the maximum in order to preserve his redshirt.
