Chambliss was in for about one series in that scrimmage and then watched. Everything after belonged to Deuce Knight, and Harry Harrison of the Ole Miss Radio Network called him the star of the day. By itself that is worth nothing, backups shred backups every August. What makes it real is that Harrison watched him in the spring and was not kind. Tentative. Take the snap, take the first step, throw it to the first receiver whether he was open or not. He called him a one-hit wonder. Sunday they blitzed him and he found the hot receiver, went through progressions, threw it down the field. Same observer, four months apart. John David Baker said on the tenth that Knight is a sponge who rarely puts the ball in the wrong spot. To be fair, Echoles and Perkins sat. But the distance between April and August is coaching.
CHAPTERS
0:00 — Deuce Knight stopped being a one-read quarterback
2:49 — Bryan Brown won't claim this defense beats 2024
4:44 — Closing
DESCRIPTION
Two takes out of Ole Miss fall camp, and both of them come from people who were actually in the building.
First: Deuce Knight. Trinidad Chambliss was in for about one series in Sunday’s scrimmage, and Harry Harrison of the Ole Miss Radio Network called Knight the star of the day. What makes it matter is the before-and-after. Harrison watched Knight in the spring and called him tentative, a one-hit wonder who threw to the first receiver whether he was open or not. Sunday, Knight found the hot receiver against pressure, worked progressions and threw down the field.
John David Baker said on Aug. 10 that Knight is a sponge who rarely puts the ball in the wrong spot. 247Sports had him No. 56 overall in the 2025 class, the No. 6 quarterback, before he redshirted at Auburn. The counterweight: Will Echoles and Suntarine Perkins were held out, and this was a second and third-team defense. The second scrimmage this weekend is the real test.
Second: Bryan Brown was asked whether this defense can be more elite than the 2024 unit and refused the easy yes. That 2024 group allowed 14.4 points and 80.5 rushing yards per game, both second nationally, led the country in tackles for loss and sacks per game, and set school records with 52 sacks and 120 tackles for loss, per HottyToddy.
Brown: "I wouldn’t say right now that this group is going to be better than that group. We have a chance to be if we do things right." What he claimed was depth. On the secondary he called it a work in progress, with a couple of players dinged up and consistency still missing.
A coach selling you an elite defense in August has nothing left to sell in November. Is the back end the thing that decides this season? Tell us in the comments.
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