PITTSBURGH — After a quarterback competition that went on for several months, head coach Pat Narduzzi took the podium at Pitt’s training facility at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex on Wednesday and officially named Kedon Slovis Pitt’s as starting quarterback. The announcement comes just eight days before the Panthers open their season at Acrisure Stadium against West Virginia on Sept. 1.
“After long conversations with the staff, Kedon Slovis has been named our starting quarterback for the home opener next week and moving forward,” Narduzzi said. “It really comes down to [Slovis being] a little more consistent and very accurate with the football and that he’s a really good passer. We think he can lead us.”
Slovis joined Pitt through the transfer portal back in January, just weeks after Nick Patti started for the Panthers in the Peach Bowl. Patti ran for a touchdown in his second drive of the game but broke his collarbone as he dived into the end zone. He recovered in time to begin working with Pitt’s receivers like Slovis did in the winter, and both made it a tough decision for Narduzzi and offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti Jr.
“It’s been a long, competitive [battle],” Narduzzi said. “We measured third downs, red zone and team [reps], and we mapped out the competition all the way back to spring ball. We couldn’t make the call after spring practices. It was not an easy decision. Both guys have high IQs at the position and both could lead our football team into an ACC schedule. But unfortunately at the quarterback position, it’s about one guy.”
Narduzzi said the decision came around Monday after long deliberations with the offensive staff.
“The separator was accuracy,” Narduzzi said. “Kedon is very good in the pocket. Nick is, too, but it’s about putting the ball wherever our receivers are going to catch it and get the most yards after the catch.”
Slovis completed 69% of his passes over the past three years at USC, totaling 6,979 passing yards, 54 touchdown passes and 21 interceptions while averaging 8.0 yards per attempt. His reputation was built on his ability to launch accurate deep passes.
“We hope so,” Narduzzi said about Slovis’ ability to stretch the field. “If you can only throw a short ball and don’t have a deep ball, that’s a problem. That’s one of the areas where accuracy [played a factor] from short balls, to intermediate balls and deep balls. Also important is protecting the football. We want possession of the ball and consistency protecting the football.”
Slovis set a goal heading into training camp that he wanted to throw 10,000 passes to Pitt’s wide receivers and tight ends before the season began. He felt he met that goal with the plan the players mapped out for themselves.
“Someone brought it up to me that Joe Burrow at LSU in 2019 [threw 10,000 passes to his receivers],” Slovis said. “I strive to be like them because they’re maybe the greatest offense in college football history. We mapped it out that if we threw 200 balls five times a week, we would have one week off, but there were no other days we took off. Even if we did, we would make up for it by throwing on a day we were supposed to have off.”
“They were out there all summer,” Narduzzi said of the extra work the quarterbacks put in during the competition. “It wasn’t just Kedon because they were all working. Both worked their tails off and were in the office for a long time. You can’t just have a talented arm and a talented body, you have to work at it and study the game of football. I trust both of those guys will prepare like starters.”
For Slovis, the announcement didn’t come as much of a surprise. Narduzzi told each quarterback individually in his office about the staff’s decision.
“The mentality and the idea when you go into [a competition] that you want to be the guy,” Slovis said of what Narduzzi told him. “When coach announced it, it wasn’t a huge shock or surprise. But that’s just because when you’re in that position, you want to have that confidence and feel that way beforehand.”
Patti has been Pitt’s top quarterback for the past three seasons behind Kenny Pickett. Narduzzi said when he informed Patti that Slovis would be the starter, the redshirt senior took it like a professional and understood the decision.
The competition concluded with Pitt’s final scrimmage Saturday, but Slovis says it was his focus on just doing his job each day during a long process that helped him win the job.
“Day in and day out, you’re thinking about what you can do to win the job,” Slovis said. “From my perspective, I think, ‘Go out and do your job.’ If I execute the offense as best as I can each day, things will take care of itself. Camp is a long grind. You just have to tell yourself to do what coach tells you to do.”
Slovis not only has to adjust to his new program and teammates, but also to a new offensive coordinator to the program in Cignetti. But Cignetti’s experience of coaching 33 season between college football and the NFL was a true asset to Slovis’ development.
“I’ve just learned a lot,” Slovis said about what’s different about him from his USC days. “Coach Cignetti has so much experience in NFL offenses. He’ll bring up times and says, ‘Well, in 1992 we ran this play to win the game, so pull up that YouTube video.’ He’s been awesome. He has a ton of experience and I’ve learned a lot from understanding defenses to how the offense is designed to work. I feel like I know so much more about the game.”
Patti has proven time and again that he’s a capable backup for Pitt and set a good bar for Slovis to surpass. But Slovis’ strong arm, experience and accuracy won him the job to be the leader of the Panthers headed into their campaign to repeat as ACC champions. Narduzzi wouldn’t be specific about how the offense would look around Slovis’ style of play but said the world will find out when the Panthers kick off against West Virginia next Thursday.
