All season long, and especially throughout his myriad of struggles this season, Kedon Slovis always had the backing of Pat Narduzzi.
After all, Narduzzi was the one who ultimately signed off on the Southern California transfer, brought him in to "compete" with Nick Patti for the starting job, and gave him the keys to drive Pitt's offense in the 2022 season.
Slovis was even voted as a captain by his peers. He was given -- read: "earned" -- the backing from a roster laden with veterans and from one which had aspirations to go repeat its 2021 ACC championship and strive to achieve higher goals in 2022.
Fewer than one calendar year beyond his transferring to Pitt, though, Slovis is no longer a Panther. A new era will begin in the short-term, with Phil Jurkovec set to run the Panthers offense in 2023, and with newcomers Christian Veilleux and Ty Dieffenbach and a returning Nate Yarnell waiting in the wings to vie for the longterm of the position.
As Narduzzi welcomed the 22 new Panthers in the recruiting class of 2023, though, he expressed a shade of buyer's remorse in describing the state of his quarterback room.
"Phil -- big, athletic, tough, leadership-type guy. Something that we desperately need in that room, and I think Christian's the same way," Narduzzi said on Wednesday, "but I think he brings the leadership that maybe we lacked a year ago."
(In the above video, that quote can be found at the 14:24 mark. Narduzzi begins talking about the 2023 quarterbacks at the 11:13 mark.)
A lack of leadership from the quarterback who was voted as a captain by his peers is a no-go in any locker room. Perhaps the tone of that quote would have been different -- or perhaps need not be a thought to cross Narduzzi's mind -- if things panned out differently, but that still cannot fly for a quarterback of a Power Five program.
Any good football program regardless of level wants to have its quarterback be a good leader. It's a predominant trait which has to be inherent with the position. Slovis was voted a captain and had a good game to open the season in the Backyard Brawl, but the concussion he sustained against Tennessee in Week 2 undoubtedly shifted course for not only the Panthers in the midseason, but also for Slovis as a passer.
This start to the season came just weeks after Slovis was reaffirmed that he was "the guy" for Pitt and Narduzzi.
A lot changed, apparently.
There was also the shaky operating of the offense in of itself, which leaned heavily on Israel Abanikanda (rightfully so) and became less quarterback- and passer-friendly.
Shortly after he declared he was transferring, Slovis said in an interview with Pittsburgh Sports Now that while Frank Cignetti Jr's West Coast offense and system is "great," there were still circumstances which did not allow for it to suit him.
"I think, for the most part, not even the system, the stuff that happened this year kind of led to the system that I wasn’t really anticipating it being," Slovis said. "Obviously being a run-dominant team, we ran the ball super effectively. As a quarterback, you want to be given the chance to lead your team to win. That’s obviously something that most quarterbacks want to be a part of. I know we moved towards that and became more balanced towards the end of the year. But again, in terms of the offense and offense scheme, it’s a solid offense, I learned a lot and I’m glad I had the experience to play here.”
So, this was not what Slovis envisioned. No big deal. But in the moments he actually had to try and produce, he was hardly effective aside from a few bright spots.
I'm not saying his confidence nose-dived along with it, but Slovis clearly was not even close the quarterback we all thought he could have been this season.
Narduzzi's words from Wednesday might have indicated the same.
On Monday, Narduzzi met with media members for the first time since the Panthers' win at Miami on the weekend to follow Thanksgiving. He was asked about what transpired regarding Slovis' exit, and while he did not get specific about it, Narduzzi still reaffirmed in moment that Slovis was his choice to lead the team, even through all of his struggles.
"It's life, and again, I'm going to support all our guys," he said. "I'm going to support all of them, I'm going to be positive ... I love Kedon. Kedon's a great kid and did a nice job for us. Helped us win eight football games. I believed (during the season) he was the best quarterback to lead our 2022 season, and we'll leave it at that. He did a nice job."
So, which one is it? Was he lacking leadership qualities, or was he the best quarterback to lead Pitt in 2022?
Or, was he the best quarterback to lead Pitt from a pure talent perspective, while his leadership status diminished?
I remember this Marquis Williams tweet from the day we found out Slovis was entering the transfer portal:
As a team captain, you suppose to talk to your boys first before anything , wasn’t no love at all!
— Marquis Williams (@wiliamsisland14) December 5, 2022
Doesn't that just paint a picture for you?
