The Wrap: Don’t take Kedon Slovis for granted

Sophomore quarterback Kedon Slovis’ performance against Washington State, particularly in the first half, was important for a multitude of reasons: It set USC on the path to a blowout 38-13 victory, it kept USC in the driver’s seat to represent the South division in the Pac-12 Championship Game and it helped the Trojans find the offensive rhythm it had often lacked earlier this season.

But Slovis’ dominant showing resonated for another reason as well: It reminded USC fans not to take him for granted. 

I think many in the USC football sphere have been guilty of that this year, and I’m not totally immune from my own criticism. After the weekly dominance we saw from Slovis in his freshman year, we came to expect that 2020 would look like 2019 on steroids. We anticipated that the Slovis we’d see this season would be possibly the best quarterback in college football. We thought he’d singlehandedly carry USC to the promised land (whatever that might be) and pick up a Heisman Trophy along the way, just for good measure.

And to be honest, that wasn’t totally out of the realm of possibility. 

The problem, however, is that the sky-high expectations levied on Slovis became standards of astronomical altitudes. They became demands, requirements. They became unfair. 

So when USC’s offense came out of the gate this year slow and inconsistent, the fingers that weren’t trained on the nonexistent running game were pointed right at Slovis, as if it was his fault. Speculation swirled like a cyclone: Is his hand OK? Are his mechanics off? Can he handle the pressure? Is he a one-year wonder? 

Slovis’ stats across those first two games were as follows: 70-of-98 for a 71.4% completion percentage, three touchdowns and one interception.

If that qualifies as “bad quarterback play,” inject some more bad quarterback play into my veins, please, then repeat. If Slovis was the problem, USC had a great problem on its hands. 

Yes, the stats were slightly deceiving, but only to an extent. The Trojans had far greater issues — the run game, the offensive line, the run game, unimaginative play-calling, the run game — but Slovis was made a main culprit because the expectations surrounding him before the season were of perfection.

Slovis was expected to perform all season basically like the greatest quarterback to ever exist, and anything less than that was a disappointment to fans. 

The greatest quarterback to ever exist — that’s damn near what he looked like against Washington State.

Slovis played like an NFL veteran on Sunday. He looked like the long-lost cousin of Aaron Rodgers, the second coming of Dan Marino, the reincarnation of Johnny Unitas. Some have even said that if Jesus were a quarterback, he’d have looked a lot like Kedon Slovis did against Washington State. (The game took place on The Lord’s Day, after all.)

On a more serious and slightly less spiritual note, that was the best version of Kedon Slovis we’ve seen since he took over the starting gig at USC, despite his constant dominance in his freshman year week in and week out. After an incompletion on USC’s first offensive play from scrimmage, Slovis connected with his next 17 targets to close the half, tossing for a cool 209 yards and five touchdowns. 

Nearly every pass Slovis threw was perfect. His second of four first-quarter touchdowns to junior receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown, a beautifully floated ball that sailed about 35 yards before landing right in St. Brown’s hands in the end zone, stands out. As does the fourth touchdown connection between the two, a perfectly placed fade to that same corner of the end zone that St. Brown hauled in as he fell backward to the ground. As does the touchdown to redshirt senior receiver Tyler Vaughns, a bomb that sailed more than 40 yards and dropped right into the bucket of Vaughns’ hands.

I could go on and on. Put simply, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes was also playing on Sunday night, and Slovis wasn’t content in letting the 2018 NFL MVP steal his thunder.

So while perfection should never be the expectation for Slovis or any mere mortal, he was nearly that on Sunday night. And if he had been anything less?

Well, that would’ve been just fine. 

USC doesn’t need Slovis to be perfect from here on out. We saw against Arizona State and Arizona what Slovis’ floor looks like, and, news flash: It’s pretty damn high. Sunday was most likely his ceiling, and that’s no knock on the sophomore — it’s just hard for anybody to play better than he did in the first half. Take anything between that ceiling and that floor, and you’ve got a version of Slovis that Trojan fans should take in a heartbeat any day of the week, including Fridays and Sundays.

If the version we get is closer to the floor, let’s not act like the world is on fire. Let’s not pretend Slovis was a one-year wonder who can’t handle pressure. Let’s not immediately reminisce on the good ole’ days of JT Daniels as if the hype of Slovismania has dissipated, all due respect to the ex-Trojan signal-caller making a name for himself in Georgia.

And if that version is closer to the ceiling, let’s take the time to appreciate that. He won’t be here forever.

USC football’s history has a long list of elite collegiate quarterbacks. Slovis is inching his way up that list every week. And if the real Kedon Slovis is anything close to what we saw on Sunday night against WSU — and his track record suggests it is — he’s not inching up that list, he’s flying. 

I don’t know which version it’ll be, and I’m not worried about it in the slightest. I do know that either way, no one should take it, or him, for granted.

Nathan Ackerman is a junior writing about USC football. He is also an associate managing editor of the Daily Trojan. His column, “The Wrap,” runs every Monday during football season.