2025 QB Deuce Knight: 'Notre Dame exceeded my expectations'
2025 George County HS (Miss.) quarterback Deuce Knight had high expectations heading into his first trip to Notre Dame over the weekend.
And Notre Dame delivered.
“I had a good first impression from practice, campus, meetings with Coach (Marcus) Freeman and Coach (Chad) Bowden,” Knight told ISD. “I just had a good time. Everything about Notre Dame impressed me.
“Notre Dame exceeded my expectations. After the visit, I felt I could really see myself playing there.”
The 6-foot-4, 185-pounder attended practice on Saturday morning, which allowed him to get a great feel for Irish quarterbacks coach Gino Guidugli.
Knight was blown away by how involved Guidugli is during practice with his position group as he saw the QB coach doing drills and running sprints after practice.
“Getting to be around Coach Gino, he’s a very active coach,” Knight stated. “He’s into every drill. In warmups, Coach Gino was warming up with his quarterbacks. He’s not a quarterback coach who stands there and watches his guys warm up. He’ll do a drill with the quarterbacks, so I liked the way he coaches because he’s there being active with his quarterbacks.
“After practice, the quarterbacks one ran over and back and Coach Gino was running with them. He’s just very active. If one of the quarterbacks messes up, Coach Gino doesn’t get in their butt yelling at them. He’ll come over and tell you what you did. Nine times out of 10, the quarterback knows what he did wrong, so he comes over and lets them know.”
The Mississippi native wanted to learn about Notre Dame's offense on this trip and Knight got the full experience. Knight was curious to see how the Irish offense operated in every facet to see if some narratives he had heard were true.
“I’m from Mississippi, so Notre Dame isn’t a lot of people's favorite team,” explained Knight. “You hear, ‘Deuce has an offer from Notre Dame, but why would he go there? They run the ball and huddle up.’
“Getting up there and watching them practice, it shot down all those rumors that they run the ball all the time, get in the huddle and play slow. I saw they weren’t in a huddle and play high-tempo a lot of the time. They stretch the field and that impressed me. It just shot down those rumors you see online and around you.”
Freeman also made sure to give Knight plenty of time, including a quick meeting on the practice field during warmups.
Knight enjoyed Freeman’s message about life, but also how the head coach didn’t act like he knew everything about offense given his background.
“My visit with Coach Freeman was good,” Knight said. “When I was meeting with him, he really didn’t talk about ball the first 20 minutes. He talked about what it means to go to Notre Dame and how you can become a better person, a better son, a better student and all that. Coach Freeman is all about getting better.
“He’ll tell you straight he’s not a quarterback coach and he’s a defensive guy, but he’ll be there pushing me to get better. That’s what it’s all about with Coach Freeman. He wants you to get better in every aspect of life.”
The George County star was joined by his father on the trip and the elder Knight was equally impressed with the trip to Notre Dame.
“My dad loved the place,” stated Knight. “As a parent, the biggest part for him is getting the degree because if football doesn’t work out, then what do I do? Listening to Coach Freeman and Coach Chad, he knows if I did go to Notre Dame and didn’t even play one play or if something happened God forbid, I would be alright.”
It’s clear Notre Dame impressed Knight, but will he be back? Well, it seems likely a trip could happen sooner than later.
“Notre Dame helped themselves a lot,” said Knight. “When left the place, I was like, ‘Man, I could really see myself playing here.’ They impressed me that much. Right now, I’m still young, so I’m not going to say this is my top school or anything. I’ll definitely be back in the summer and try to catch a game in the fall.”
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