Kedon Slovis is officially Pitt's QB1.
Pat Narduzzi made his starting quarterback official on Wednesday, just eight days before Pitt kicks off its season in the revival of the Backyard Brawl against West Virginia. Slovis will be under center to open the game after winning the open competition over Nick Patti during the offseason and in fall training camp.
The competition was a go from the moment Slovis transferred from Southern California in January. At the end of the day, Narduzzi noted Slovis' consistency as a separating factor in earning the job.
"After long conversations with the staff, Kedon Slovis will be our starting quarterback here, for that home opener next week, and moving forward," Narduzzi said. "Just have a lot of confidence in what he’s done. I guess it really comes down to probably a little more consistent. Very accurate with the football. He’s a really, really good passer. We think he can lead us. That’s the conclusion we came to after a long, long, long time."
The battle between transfer and team veteran was a true one, and Narduzzi noted the battle had been close throughout. Even after months of weighing and analyzing, he noted it was "not an easy decision right now either, to make that call."
Slovis transferred to Pitt after starting 26 games over three seasons at USC. He completed 68% of his passes for 7,576 yards, with 58 touchdowns to 24 interceptions in his career. Last season, he completed 65% of his passes for 2,153 yards, 11 TDs, and eight INTs, as the Trojans turned in a 4-8 overall record and a 3-6 record within the Pac-12.
He is tasked with taking over Frank Cignetti Jr's offense, which will bring a new look from recent seasons under Mark Whipple and quarterback Kenny Pickett. It took eight months for Narduzzi and Cignetti to decide the starter, and it came down to the final days of training camp. Narduzzi hinted that Slovis and Patti took equal reps in the team's scrimmage at Acrisure Stadium this past Saturday, and the decision to roll with Slovis came earlier this week.
"When you’re in that position -- I’m sure Nick felt the same way -- you want to have the confidence you’re going to be ‘the guy,’" Slovis said. "Of course you want to have that thought and that belief, but Nick probably felt the same way. ... My idea was to go out and do your job, execute the offense as well as you can, and things will take care of itself.”
Narduzzi and Cignetti had a good problem on their hands, with Slovis having prior starting experience and Patti being ingrained within the program for four seasons. Slovis has been the more consistent passer within camp, and that has been a direct byproduct of work put in throughout the spring and summer.
When the Panthers tee the ball up on Sept. 1, Patti will reprise his role as the backup, just as he did for four seasons behind Pickett. Slovis said the respect for each other has been mutual, and the quarterbacks have maintained a professional relationship throughout the process.
Though, the decision did not come as a surprise to Slovis. He transferred to Pitt with the expectation of winning the job.
"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," Slovis said.
Narduzzi also said a driving factor that separated Slovis from Patti was his ability to give the Panthers offense a better chance to push the ball down the field in Cignetti's pro style.
"The accuracy, the deep balls, the intermediate throws, making good decisions," Narduzzi said. "I guess when you talk about accuracy being one of the big reasons, it’s also (about) protecting the football. We want possession of the ball, and if we don’t have possession then we want to punt it away, and I think the consistency there of protecting the football and making sure it’s in our possession, we’re not going to give it away, is also probably one of the reasons.”
Pitt's offense has big-play potential, with receivers like Konata Mumpfield and Bub Means to stretch the field and a myriad of running backs with skills across the board to offer different looks to opposing defenses.
Slovis has been learning the playbook along with Patti, and in the process said he's become a smarter player. Cignetti has a long track record of working with star quarterbacks, and his system could be more of a benefit to Slovis than it could be to Patti.
"Coach Cignetti’s had so much experience," Slovis said. "He’s coached NFL offenses. He’s been coaching forever. … He’s awesome. He’s got a ton of experience, and I feel like I’ve learned a lot from understanding defenses to understanding how this offense is supposed to work and what it’s designed to do. So, more so I feel like I know more about the game now than I did when I first came."
Narduzzi said he called in each quarterback for one-on-one sit-downs to give them the decision, and he said Patti was "the classiest guy in the world" with handling the news.
Narduzzi wouldn't hint at whether special packages will be put in place for Patti in order to utilize his mobility, but he did note the luxury Pitt has with Patti backing up Slovis.
"We’re fortunate. We’ve got two really good quarterbacks that we feel confident with, and we really do," Narduzzi said. "There’s not a lot of people in the country that has what we have as far as having two really good quarterbacks. You don’t want to have any problems, but if you do, you’ve got to be ready for it. So at least we feel ready for that.”
Slovis is noticeably more accurate of a passer than Patti is, and that became more evident by the day in fall camp. Slovis said he caught wind of Joe Burrow's method of throwing 200 balls, five times a week to his receivers at LSU, and he adopted a similar method over the summer to develop a quicker rapport with his receivers.
Each quarterback took this competition seriously, with Narduzzi noting that each player would be under the lights throwing as late as 10 p.m., or keeping the indoor practice facility open late in order to get work in.
Narduzzi is aware of what he has to replace. Pickett was special, and became more special with each pass he threw over his career as a Panther. But, Narduzzi doesn't want Slovis to have to worry about being another Pickett.
"Kenny is Kenny. Kedon is Kedon. Kedon’s got to be Kedon," Narduzzi said. "He’s not going to sit there and measure himself off of who Kenny Pickett was in a different offense. We just want him to play within himself and do his job, and I think it comes down to that. … I think once you start to change and try to be somebody else, maybe things go off the rail.”
All along, it felt like the job was Slovis' to lose and Patti's to win.
Slovis had to put in some extra work to get there, which included rapidly building trust within his locker room. Narduzzi made it clear that Slovis' prior experience as a starter didn't come into play, which tells more about each quarterback having a clean slate entering the spring.
"It’s really important," Slovis said of building trust. "Those guys have got to believe in the guy that’s getting the job done, and the guys getting the ball or calling the protections or checking the protections. I think the job of the quarterback is executing the offense, and job number two is getting those guys to believe that you’re the guy and that you can do all of those things and get them in a position to win.”
