By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

MOBILE — One of the most highly touted prep football products ever come out of the “Southern Six” will wrap up his high school career here in this Port City over the weekend.

George County senior standout southpaw signal-caller and five-star recruit Deuce Knight will play his first-ever game in the state he will call home on the next level when he leads his home state team up against their neighboring rivals in the prestigious Alabama/Mississippi All-Star Football Classic. Kickoff for the 38th annual affair is set for noon on the campus of the University of South Alabama in Hancock/Whitney Stadium.

Knight, a 6-foot-4, 206-pound lefthander, recently signed a scholarship with Auburn and head coach Hugh Freeze. He was rated the No. 4 quarterback and No. 29 overall player in the 2025 signing class, according to 247 Sports Composite.

In nine games at George County this season, Knight passed for 2,082 yards and 24 touchdowns with five interceptions while also rushing for 450 yards and nine scores. He missed four regular season games with a hamstring injury, but returned in time to lead the Rebels to the second round of the Class 6A South State playoffs.

Knight is considered the centerpiece of an Auburn recruiting class that is rated as high as No. 5 nationally. He is among three consensus five-star prospects in the class, along with Opelika defensive lineman Malik Autry and Thompson edge rusher Jared Smith.

Knight is set to graduate in December and enroll at Auburn in January, so he could conceivably compete for the starting quarterback job in the spring along with redshirt freshman Walker White and sophomore Hank Brown.

“This guy lives, breathes, sleeps football,” former George County head coach James Ray, who coached Knight all four years of his prep career, said. “He understands everything. The biggest growth that I saw out of him this year was identifying coverages and being able to dissect that before the ball was snapped. Even though (opponents) were trying to disguise a lot of times, he could see the tendencies, and that just goes to show you how much work he did in the film room. We watch film all the time.

“Obviously the gifts, the talents, he can do anything. He can run it, throw it, throw any ball you want him to throw, throw it as deep as you want him to throw it. If he needs to pull it down, he’ll run it too. He  ain’t scared to do that. But his leadership, he’s a winner.”

(al.com sports writer Creg Stephenson contributed to this story)