Analyst: Notre Dame football panic mode not warranted even if Deuce Knight flips

It seems as though it’s a foregone conclusion that Notre Dame football is going to lose one of its prized recruits in the 2025 class. In fact, in Deuce Knight, the Irish are expected to lose the prized commit of the 2025 cycle.

The talk around recruiting circles has been going on for a few weeks now. Most Fighting Irish fans are in two camps. Either they don’t want to believe it, or have started panicking and taking it out on the Mississippi quarterback.

Those that are panicking, says one recruiting analyst, need not to. He believes that Notre Dame football fans don’t need to worry about the program’s standing even when Knight finally pulls the trigger on his flip to Auburn.

Notre Dame football fans don’t need to panic over Deuce Knight exit

247Sports analyst Bud Elliott believes that the Irish are going to be perfectly fine when they lose Knight, even if, in the short term it doesn’t look good.

“I personally expect them to lose Deuce Knight to Auburn maybe by the end of the month,” Elliott said recently. “That's just what my Auburn people think will happen. And yet, if it was almost any other program in the country, I think that would be a full-on panic situation because Deuce Knight truly is a special upside talent.”

“But yet, Notre Dame has recruited so well at the quarterback position that I do not think a full-on panic is justified. In fact, I think C.J. Carr is very likely to be the starter for the Irish next year. They've done a really good job at this position. Marcus Freeman is a good recruiter. I love both coordinators they have.”

“Now, if you're a Notre Dame fan, you're like, man, are we going to make the jump and get to that national title? Then I get it. But this is a program on quite stable footing. And I think a lot of that is because they recruit offensive line quite well and they recruit quarterback extremely well, even with the potential loss of Deuce Knight.”

There is one other factor that Elliott left out. If Notre Dame football doesn’t land Deuce Knight, the blow will be tamped down not only by Carr waiting in the wings, but 2026 quarterback commit Noah Grubbs once again stating he’s solid for the boys in South Bend.