Auburn A-Day without Arnold gives Deuce Knight the spotlight

A large crowd filled Jordan-Hare Stadium Saturday for Auburn’s annual A-Day, despite A-Day being a practice rather than the traditional spring game.

Likely starter Jackson Arnold sat out with what was described as a minor hamstring injury sustained during a previous practice, shifting attention to freshman quarterback Deuce Knight.

The Tigers began with drills before transitioning to more game-like situations.

Knight showed both potential and rookie mistakes, throwing several interceptions including one to freshman safety Anquon Fegans. However, head coach Hugh Freeze emphasized these errors weren’t representative of Knight’s overall spring performance.

“He’s done well all spring of taking care of the ball well. That was out of character for him with the 15 days we’ve had in practice.”

Freeze said Knight immediately recognized what he did wrong and gave Freeze feedback.

The freshman quarterback rebounded later, connecting with Horatio Fields for a touchdown.

“I thought he made some really nice throws,” Freeze said. “We talk about all the time” trust our receivers and put the ball in the position for them to make a play. There were three or four in that skelly period that were just really, really nice throws that gave our guys chances to make plays, in the 50-50, contested catches. Then in the team stuff, I thought he managed it pretty well. He was making some of the calls that we need down in the red zone, getting himself protected if he knows he going to throw it. That was good to see him picking that up.”

As the Tigers concluded their third spring camp under Freeze’s leadership, Freeze expressed satisfaction with the team’s progress. He called it one of the better springs he’s been a part of. The roster composition is the best it’s been.