The 'special skills' of Kedon Slovis

Kedon Slovis came out of relatively nowhere to become USC's quarterback. After a dazzling debut start, he has everyone wondering what they'll see next.
Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

If you didn’t see Kedon Slovis coming, you’re not alone.

His meteoric rise wasn’t an obvious one when he came out of high school. It’s not a coincidence that only two Power Five schools other than USC offered him a scholarship. In fact, USC itself continued recruiting other quarterbacks after Slovis committed last summer.

Pac-12 Networks analyst Yogi Roth is accustomed to seeing Trojans QBs before they get to campus because of his involvement with Elite 11. Slovis, of course, was not part of that circuit. Roth said when he watched his high school tape he came away thinking Slovis could make a lot of throws and was really accurate, but it wasn’t clear how much zip he had. His level of competition also made it hard to gauge his talent. 

Through a chat with Kurt Warner in the winter -- the NFL Hall of Famer was Slovis’ offensive coordinator at Desert Mountain High in Scottsdale, Arizona -- Roth learned that Warner himself didn’t initially see future stardom from Slovis.

“But he put in so much time to understand football, understand defenses,” Roth said. “He challenged Kurt to teach and teach and teach, which is what he told me at the Super Bowl.”

Soon after, Slovis began spring practice at USC and made an even bigger impression on Graham Harrell. Publicly, the 17-year-old was an afterthought in a QB competition involving two veterans and an incumbent starter. Harrell, who technically arrived after Slovis since he was hired at the end of January, said he tried to approach his new pupils with a blank slate. 

That Slovis was malleable, especially when compared to his primary competition, allowed him to pick up Harrell’s Air Raid quickly.

“I think the biggest thing is within this system, he’s shown that he can master it,” Roth said. “I’ll never forget the story Graham was telling me about it. If you can come in on the same level as guys who have been there at quarterback, when the offense isn’t based on what the defense does and isn’t 50, 100 plays, you have a great chance to not create bad habits. ...

“The story is JT Daniels was at the line of scrimmage trying to decipher what’s going on, safeties are rotating, he’s seeing what’s happening and trying to anticipate, and [Harrell] goes, JT, I don’t want you necessarily to do that. And then he said Kedon, why did you throw it? And he said, well, it was off coverage and he was open.”

Things can be that simple in a pure progression system, which calls for the QB to quickly cycle through reads if they’re not open but also throw to the first one if it is, no matter the distance. If you see it, sling it.

“You have to be accurate, you have to anticipate, and you have to just see the field clearly. You don’t have to see the defense clearly,” Roth said. “You don’t even care about the defense. Is 1 open? If he’s not, it doesn’t matter why he’s not. He’s not. Get to 2. Is 2 there? It doesn’t matter, get to 3. And I thought that’s what we saw from him (versus Stanford).”

Harrell said we also saw Slovis’ innate ability to keep his eyes downfield when operating in and out the pocket, even when under pressure.

“I think most quarterbacks that’s either natural or unnatural to you,” Harrell said. “That’s something that you can talk with them a lot on, you can try to work with them through drill work, and that’s something we emphasize in our drill work. But when the bullets are flying you either kind of got it or you don’t, and he did a nice job of keeping his eyes downfield always.”

It’s a trait we saw from a young Sam Darnold, whose playmaking was predicated on mobility and anticipation. The 6-foot-2 Slovis leans on his arm talent -- he can get it outside the numbers quicker and has a better deep ball than Darnold. Trailing by two touchdowns to Stanford, the true freshman demonstrated a similar resiliency to USC’s last great QB.

“There’s a world where you think this is over, and he doesn’t flinch,” Roth said. “The moment wasn’t too big, and I loved how they let guys plays. I think any competitor, you just want a chance. And he gave them a chance with the ball. Timing-wise, he wasn’t late very often. I thought he had dramatic command. He has moments where he flashes like Sam. Sam had a year to redshirt. I don’t think he’s got the special stuff in the pocket like Sam, or the release like Sam, but he’s got his own set of special skills.”

The question moving forward is how often can Slovis replicate his first-start success. He’s not going to complete 85 percent of his passes for nearly 400 yards and three touchdowns without an interception each week. (It’s a line neither Darnold nor Carson Palmer nor Matt Leinart pulled off once in their respective USC careers.) 

Slovis will have tougher days. But he’s proven quickly that he puts USC in a position to win.

“There’s a couple defenses that have slowed down the Air Raid and they’re on ‘SC’s schedule,” Roth reminded. “One of them is Cal and one of them is (Washington). There are teams that can cover. Where ‘SC is special is their fourth receiver is better than the fourth DB. And I don’t know if that’s the case at Utah. Those are the times that’ll be fun to watch. But he just has to let the game come to him. Nobody plays perfect.

“That’s why I love that they ran the ball. In the Air Raid, a lot of philosophies say, the quarterback will throw himself out of a slump. I just don’t think that’s the case. Nobody in the history of the world has had 12 perfect games in college football. He’ll have a poor game, throw some bad picks. Maybe it’ll be at BYU on the road, in a hostile environment. Look at what [Josh] Rosen did in that game as a true freshman. So he’ll have his moments. But the kid can deal. The players believe in him. If I’m a receiver now, if I’m on the team, I’m saying, let’s go. We’ve got life. Versus a week ago, the coaches, they didn’t know. Nobody could have known what he‘d do.”

Not even those who liked him most.


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Adam Maya
ADAM MAYA