Slovis believed all along he would win the starting job

Kedon Slovis announced he was transferring to Pitt back on December 21, 2021. Ever since that moment, he has approached the 2022 season like he was going to be the starting quarterback for the Pitt football team.

On Wednesday, that was made official as Pat Narduzzi concluded the team’s quarterback competition by naming Slovis the starter for Pitt’s season opener against West Virginia next Thursday.

Slovis was engaged in a battle with Nick Patti all offseason. Patti has been a longtime reserve quarterback for Kenny Pickett and has been with the program since 2018. Slovis did not try to make winning this job a head-to-head race with Patti, but rather go out and do what he needed to do each day.

“I think from my perspective, at least, and my idea was like, "Go out and do your job and execute the offense as well as you can and things will kind of take care of itself,'” Slovis told reporters on Wednesday.

The message was received by the coaching staff. But it was more than just playing well in spring ball and extending that into in fall camp, Slovis wanted to go the extra mile from a preparation standpoint. He said he tried to talk and meet with all 110 guys on the team to build a rapport, and noted he has been especially close with his offensive linemen.

In addition to that, he tried to throw over 10,000 passes to his receivers this offseason, the same number Joe Burrow reportedly threw to his LSU teammates before his historic 2019 campaign.

“I was like that’s awesome,” he said of Burrow’s offseason a few years back. “Why not strive to be like them? That’s probably the greatest offense in college football history.”

Slovis said he had the belief all along he was going to be the starter and felt that was the correct mentality in order to win the job. When Pat Narduzzi pulled him aside earlier this week, he didn’t think of the decision as anything out of the ordinary.

“When coach announced it, it wasn’t a huge shock and surprise, because again when you’re in that position you kind of want to have that confidence and feel that way beforehand,” he explained.

Slovis had a highly productive three-year run as USC’s quarterback. He was the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year in 2019, and first-team all-conference in 2020. With over 7,500 career passing yards and 58 touchdowns, he comes to Pitt with plenty of pedigree and also looking to prove he can regain that form after an injury-plagued 2021 season.

Even as a veteran with 26 career starts, Slovis still feels he has added a lot to his game this offseason working directly with offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti Jr.

“I feel like I’ve just learned a lot,“ Slovis said of his time in Pittsburgh. “Coach Cignetti has so much experience and has coached NFL offenses, has been coaching forever. He’s awesome, has a ton of experience, and I feel like I’ve learned a lot from just understanding defenses to understanding how this offense is supposed to work and the history of it and what it’s designed to do.”

Obviously in a quarterback battle, there is going to be a guy that wins the job, and one that will come up short. Despite that, Slovis said the entire competition with Patti has taken a professional mindset from both parties.

“Nick has been awesome this whole time to me, even in announcing me in January,” Slovis explained of the dynamic between the two quarterbacks. “That’s not the easiest thing when you bring in a transfer guy. I think it’s been a very professional relationship. We have a lot of fun, really all those guys in the room we have a ton of fun and we’re a very close group.”

Slovis said he could sense that he was getting the job in recent days. He received more practice reps and said the team probably could see it too. There was not a formal announcement in front of the team or anything, but believes the group trusts the staff to put the team in the best position to win.

Now that Slovis has won the starting job officially, the next thing standing in front of him is West Virginia in next week’s season opener.

“It’s a big game,” Slovis said of the Backyard Brawl. “It’s a different environment, but I love playing in big games. I think every player loves playing in big games from your high school rival to college. I think everyone’s favorite game is a rivalry game, obviously feel prepared, but more so you feel excited.”