Notre Dame hosted its top target in the Class of 2025 for an unofficial visit on Thursday and it was a huge success, according to Deuce Knight.
“Everything went great,” the Mississippi signal-caller toward Irish Sports Daily afterward.
After visiting in April, Knight had a chance to dive in deeper to the program and University today.
He was able to check out the Irish’s practice.
“It was a red zone practice today, so I got to see those guys score the ball and what they do when they get into the red zone,” he said.
The 6-foot-4, 192-pounder felt the Irish’s red zone system would fit him well, especially the RPO game. There was also one play that even the current Irish quarterbacks felt would fit him best.
“When they did a Quarterback Draw, they said, ‘That’s a Deuce Play right there,’” Knight laughed.
The George County High School star also had the opportunity to talk with starting quarterback Sam Hartman, who arrived in South Bend as a transfer from Wake Forest earlier this year.
“It was good talking to Sam because he entered the transfer portal, so it was kind of like he restarted his recruitment,” Knight said. “I got to speak with him about how he felt about Notre Dame and all of the advice he could give me.”
All of Hartman’s advice was positive, “Yessir. Definitely.”
Knight also met with the coaches, specifically quarterbacks coach Gino Guidugli, offensive coordinator Gerad Parker and head coach Marcus Freeman.
“Me and Coach Guidugli, we were just talking a little bit,” he said. “He showed me how he game plans and breaks down film and everything.
“Coach Parker and I didn’t really get to sit down and talk, we just met for a little bit. We were talking about how he would use me, how I’m different from the guys in the quarterback room and stuff like that.
“Coach Freeman, we were talking about how he’ll coach you to be a better man, not just a better player, what going to Notre Dame can do for you and the networking.”
Knight made the visit with his mother, who left impressed.
“She loved it, especially the conversation with Coach Freeman,” Knight said. “That really hit it there for her because she doesn’t really care too much about football, just life. Coach Freeman was saying that God forbid, if I did get hurt I could still be successful just by going to Notre Dame and the people I could network with.”
Knight was grateful for the chance to return to South Bend.
“I’m trying to get down to crunch time, decision time, so I’m really trying to narrow in on a couple schools,” he said. “I needed to get back up there and get around all of the guys.”
The Irish are “definitely” one of those schools.
He said he’s also seriously considering schools like Tennessee, Auburn, Alabama and Ole Miss, where he’ll be visiting on Friday. He expects to take in games at the other schools this fall, including Notre Dame.
“I want to try to get back for the USC game,” he said.
Knight seems to have a good idea of when he expects to make a final decision.
“I think it’ll be this season, kind of toward the end of the season. I know I want to watch a couple games of the schools that I’m looking at very hard. I want to watch them play a couple games this year.”
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