Kedon Slovis, Pittsburgh Panthers quarterback

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Low prices and excellent customer service from the professional parts people at O'Reilly Auto Parts. Earlier today, the QB battle is over at Pitt. They'll open up their season welcoming in West Virginia. And their QB one is going to be Keaton Slovis, formerly of the USC program.

And now we're going to see what he could do at the Pitt squad this year who are the reigning ACC champs. Keaton, first off, congratulations. Thanks for the time. Welcome back to the show. Thank you. Thanks for having me again. I appreciate it.

Yeah, no problem. So take me through today or yesterday when you found out that you won the job and how coach told you. Yeah, you know, obviously been a communication coach for a while about what they want to see from me, how we're doing. You know, I always felt good about it, but just found out, you know, really a few days ago. And again, I was excited.

But again, you know, the mentality as a quarterback, as a competitor is always that you think you're going to be the guy. So, you know, it's kind of business as usual. Everyone's going to ask me, you know, what's changed? You know, we're preparing for next Thursday and you're a great team.

We're all really excited. When you entered the transfer portal, leaving behind a really good school in USC, what led you to Pitt? Why did you want to be a Pitt Panther?

Really, I just just kind of let the phone pick up any phone call I got. And frankly, the opportunity at Pittsburgh was the most most exciting. They returned a bunch of guys. I love coach Narduzzi and talking to him and talking about what he was building and their mentality and their culture to me really just seemed like a perfect fit.

All things considered. And, you know, ever since I've been here, it's been not everything and more. The guys are really impressed me. They've been super welcoming and a great group of guys here.

And again, really excited to play with them this year. Were there other schools that were under serious consideration? Is this like really just a no brainer once you got that phone call from Pitt that they were interested in you? I think for the most part, I just narrowed it down to the few schools I think we're ready to compete now.

You know, we got two years eligibility left. So I've been thinking about, you know, a school that's kind of rebuilding with a brand new head coach and a roster. But again, to me, kind of when I narrowed it down, it really, really did kind of set itself apart.

I think at the time, sitting down with my dad, kind of going through the pros and cons. The only con I had was, you know, I didn't know who Pitt's OC was going to be. And, you know, we wouldn't know until I got there. And again, that question's been answered pretty quickly.

So again, that was really on a question mark. And, you know, I really no doubt once coach said I'd be involved in that process with him. And, you know, we obviously hired Coach Cignetti who's been awesome. So I've been really excited about everything so far. How about the weather?

Because, hey, I know you're a football player. You'll show up, you'll play anywhere. But you go from Southern California to Pittsburgh. I know you haven't experienced that bad weather yet. But if you guys are as good as what you think you can be, you'll eventually get that bad weather.

Definitely. It really hasn't been too bad. You know, I grew up in Arizona. So being able to see the snow and experience it, it's been kind of exciting for me. Everyone's kind of annoyed with the dreary skies and, you know, the occasional snow, all the rain. And, you know, for me it's kind of nice.

I need a break from that sun every once in a while. Keaton Slovis here with us. When I look back at your USC career, it was so unexpected with how you got on the field with all the injuries. You had a lot of success early with the 30 touchdowns. You had a good year, but it was a shortened season because of COVID then the following season. And last year you had to deal with an injury and there was a lot of changes at USC. How do you reflect with your journey and your time at USC? Yeah, you know, there's a lot of positives and, you know, some things you look back on and wish were a bit different. As a whole, you know, I learned a lot.

It was a great experience. But again, I think, you know, for the most part coming in, I was really just looking for stability once I entered the portal. Again, I think when I had the five and seven year before I got there and that kind of led to every year, every loss, kind of the question mark. You know, what they're going to do with the head coach and his coaching get fired. And obviously last year I kind of came to fruition with their decision to fire him. So again, you know, a lot of a lot of great memories and a lot of, you know, lessons of adversity and how to handle it. So, you know, I look back at that as a great learning opportunity. I know your focus with the task that is at hand at Pitt and there's been a lot of changes at USC like you were talking about. But still, there's a lot of guys in that locker room that, you know, I know you're all in on Pitt, do you still talk to some of those former teammates of the Trojans? Oh, yeah. You know, I was actually out there, I think I was training or something and, you know, one of our guys had a grad party. So I stopped by and saw like five, ten of them. You know, they're, you know, my closest guys on the team and, you know, we still stay in contact. They call me every so often.

So, you know, you might not be teammates, but those relationships last hopefully forever. Keaton Slovis here with us, the new starting quarterback at Pitt. What have been your early impressions of Coach Narduzzi? He's awesome. He's a tough guy. You know, he coaches a tough football team. Obviously a defensive guy, which is a bit of a change of pace for me. I've never really had to defend that coach, but it's fun. It's fun going out there every day and competing with the defense and we practice really hard. And that's really been the environment for me. I come out and see the way they practice and, you know, I'm kind of used to it now. I was like, man, this is awesome.

This is kind of what builds, you know, great programs. It builds itself on really the preparation and how that all goes into your game preparation. But, you know, it all starts there and, you know, it started spring ball.

I was like, man, this is different. And it's really been exciting to be part of. So you don't sense any complacency after this program won the ACC Championship a year ago?

No, definitely not. This is, you know, man, I'm just a quarterback. I don't get hit during camp, but, man, it's been a long camp. It's been awesome to kind of see the guys go out and compete. We're hitting a lot and, yeah, I'm really excited for this year.

And, you know, definitely none of that around the building. We know Pitts put some legendary players in the NFL. Dan Marino, Aaron Donald, Larry Fitz, Darrelle Reavis, we go on and on and on. Going into this year, though, and you guys return a lot of players from a year ago. Naturally, there's going to be some changes, too, just with the landscape of the sport. It feels like Pitts not getting that respect and people just assume that it's going to be Clemson getting their throne back in the ACC. Do you feel like this Pitt program is flying under the radar a little bit and not getting a lot of love and respect that they deserve?

Oh, maybe. You know, I think the biggest thing about this team, what we talk about is, you know, we're really concerned with what outside people think about us or what they're saying about us. You know, we're only worried about the guys in the building and what's said in between the walls of our team room.

So, again, those people can say that stuff. We can be doubted, but, you know, come game time, come the season, we're going to do everything we can to, you know, if they're saying that, prove them wrong. Talking to Keaton Slovis, I know he's no longer at Pitt, but he's staying in the area, pretty much the same, you know, the exact same stadium, too. Kenny Pickett now trying to win out a starting job with the Steelers. Have you had any relationship with Kenny Pickett? Yeah, I actually met Kenny last year at the Manning camp. So, when I was at USC, CF, I've had a good amount of time to spend with Kenny.

He's awesome. But then, obviously, this year when he came back for Pro Day, I got to see him again. I got to see him throw a bit and it's awesome to have him around the corner.

It's cool, you know, when the Steelers practice, we can always pop our heads out and see how they're doing. So, it's cool to have him around there and, you know, obviously, all the quarterbacks, a lot of guys on the team, you know, they all know him, too. So, it's awesome to have him here.

What did he tell you about the university? You know, just really about the, when I called him, the last time I really fully talked to him about it was probably, shoot, at spring practice and he was just talking about how, you know, really underrated the receiving corps is. There's a lot of guys who don't get talked on how great they are and he was kind of like, you see what I'm talking about now?

And I was like, yeah, man. We got some ballers in that room. So, I talked about Jared Wayne, Kenate Mumfield, you know, there's a few guys I'm missing. I'm talking about Bub Means, you know, there's a lot of guys that I think are really, really underrated in that room.

And, you know, Kenny was kind of alluding to that when he's talking to me. Keaton Slovis here with us. Last year when we talked to you, right before the start of the season, your name was being mentioned in the Heisman watch and the Heisman conversation. We know it didn't go the way that you wanted to last year with the coaching change.

You getting hurt as well. What do you want to prove to people this year, Keaton Slovis? My goal is just to have the best year for the Pitt Panthers as I can. Kind of all of our goals as we talk about leading up to the season is to have a great year as a team.

And, again, all those individual accolades and all those individual goals will kind of come with that. So, you know, I'm really proud of the team, the way they've come together. How we're going to come together through the season. And, again, we all kind of said, man, you know, we all have a good year as a team.

You know, everyone's going to kind of get rewarded because of that. If there's some Pitt fans who aren't familiar with you, what type of QB are you? How do you sell yourself to the Pitt fans?

Shoot, I don't know. You got to watch my highlights. No, I really just pride myself on running the offense really well and being extremely efficient. You know, you got to be accurate. You got to make good decisions. You got to make quick decisions. You got to give us the right play call, the right protection. So, really, you know, I can always buy some time if I can.

I'm not looking to run. I'm really a passer at the end of the day. And, you know, again, the two things for me a quarterback's got to do is, one, lead and, two, you know, execute the offense.

And I think I do that. Do you feel like you have everything that you need at Pitt to maybe get back-to-back first-round quarterbacks in the NFL Draft? Yeah, I'm really excited. I've really been happy with everything at Pitt. You know, everything to me is in place to have a great year. We've got a lot of returning players. We've got a great system, great staff, support staff. It's been awesome. Really, really have nothing but great things to say.

So, I think the employees have a great year and I'm really glad to be part of it. Do you at all focus? I know you're going to give me the quarterback answer. I'm focused one game at a time and what I could control. But do you at all start to think about the NFL and that being a possibility?

No, honestly, not really. You know, obviously, that's a goal. That's the dream. That's something you think about your whole life. But you really do have to look at what's in front of you because you can get carried away. You know, I look at last year, you know, those thoughts are definitely in my head at some point. And, you know, you have something happen, you know, during that season that, you know, in your head, you know, and what's going on kind of prevents you from, you know, even taking that next step because you never even address the stuff in front of you. So, you know, it's kind of reinforced that thought even more so coming this year and having that experience. Yeah, what did you learn the most from last year?

Was it that? That, you know, I wouldn't say I was carried away in that. You know, I still had the same thought of, you know, addressing what's in front of you.

But, again, you got to have two feet where you're standing. And, again, it really just comes back to battling adversity. You know, some things you can't control and some things you can't. You got to control everything you can. In a situation like that, you got to do your best to handle that. Well, good luck this upcoming year.

Once again, we weren't surprised when the announcement was made today, but now it's official. So congratulations on being QB1 at Pitt. And hope the experience is everything that you want. I'm sure we'll check in with you at some time down the road. Sounds good.

Thank you again. Appreciate it. Get to all things baseball all the time. You can even get live notifications sent to your phone, watch, and car.

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Home to your favorite players from the cities you love. MLB.tv is the home of streaming baseball. Get your ticket to out-of-market games live or on demand across all your favorite supported devices. Homer away, you'll be able to catch all the MLB action this season and gain access to exclusive content. MLB Big Ending brings fans a special live look into the game and delivers the best highlights from games every single day. Tune in for select pre- and post-game coverage or check out new MLB Originals for a deeper dive into your favorite teams and ballparks.

You can even check out inning milestones, in-game details, and personalize your app for your favorite team. MLB.tv has extended their content library for more originals like vendors and out-of-the-park films. You can find returning shows like MLB Carded, Baseball Zen, and so much more. There's no better place to never miss a moment of the action than with MLB.tv. Stream every game from every team all season long with MLB.tv.

Blackout and other restrictions apply. Major League Baseball trademarks used with permission. Get into all the Major League Baseball action with Season 2 of Play Loud, exclusively on the MLB YouTube channel. Forget front row seats, we're taking you into the game on the field and in the dugout during some of the hottest matchups of the season. Follow along and be part of the fun alongside some of the league's biggest stars as we mic them up and get the cameras rolling during some of the hottest matchups of the season.

That is out of the ball pond. Catch real-time reactions from Juan Soto in the field or listen in on the hilarious conversation between Eduardo Escobar and Francisco Lindor in the dugout. Tune in for live reactions from players across the league with unprecedented access. Play Loud is your exclusive look into the fun of the game.

You never know what you're going to see or hear. Play Loud. It's baseball like you've never watched before. Tune in for new episodes of Play Loud only on the MLB YouTube channel. Major League Baseball trademarks used with permission.