Former Pitt QB Kedon Slovis Regrets Viral Video Before the Backyard Brawl

Slovis wound up throwing for 308 yards and a touchdown in a 38-31 win over West Virginia, one of his better performances as a Panther, but he wishes he hadn’t gotten so caught up in the pregame festivities.

“I tell people now, if I regret one thing from my college career, it’s probably that,” Slovis told Pittsburgh Sports Now at the Shrine Bowl in Frisco, Tx. “Not really my personality, kind of got peer pressured to do it. I remember one of our coaches being like, ‘Hey, you didn’t hear it from me. You should say that.’ And all the captains being like, ‘We’re going to be in trouble if we say it, but you should say it.’

“And again, they don’t like each other. West Virginia says ‘Eat S*** Pitt,’ so it is funny. I was talking to one of the (WVU) guys about it, and I was like, ‘Man, your fans don’t like me very much,’ because we went back this year. And he was like, ‘Well, yeah, dude obviously.’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, that’s fair, I deserve it.’ No hate now, I’m not in Pittsburgh anymore.”

Slovis finished his career in Pittsburgh after one season, entering the transfer portal ahead of the Panthers’ Sun Bowl appearance against UCLA, and he committed to BYU on Christmas Day in 2022.

In 11 games, missing the second half of the Tennessee loss, he completed 184-of-315 pass attempts (58.4%) for 2,397 yards with 10 touchdowns and nine interceptions. And despite a 9-4 record, capped by a win in the Sun Bowl, it was a largely disappointing season at the quarterback position.

Slovis was brought in to replace Pickett, who was selected by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft, and he anticipated walking into an offense — that hadn’t yet hired then-offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti Jr. — that featured largely the same supporting cast Pickett had.

“I think the main thing for me, and all these teams kind of asked me why’d you transfer to Pittsburgh, and I think the thing for me, looking at the situation there, you have Jordan Addison coming back doe his third year, you have Jared Wayne who was the No. 2 receiver coming back, starting running back coming back and all five starting linemen were seniors and coming back,” Slovis said. “To me, that was a dream opportunity. And they had a lot of success the previous season. And to me, the only person they lost was the quarterback.”

Of course, it wasn’t so easy. There were talented players offensively, and the offense (while not at the high-flying heights of the 2021 season) showed potential. But nothing ever seemed to come easy — outside of Israel Abanikanda’s All-American campaign. And that strife was part of the reason Slovis chose to hit the portal for a second time.

“So, I show up there and obviously, Jordan (Addison) transfers and our left tackle (Carter Warren) got hurt the first game of the year, so it didn’t necessarily work out exactly how I planned,” Slovis said. “Still had a lot of good players there. And that’s kind of really why I transferred after that season because looking a the situation, Jared (Wayne) declared, Izzy (Abanikanda) the running back declared, most of the O-linemen declared and it was like, ‘Hey I don’t think this is quite the same situation that I committed to unfortunately.’ That’s the frustrating, not the frustrating thing but the thing that’s unfortunate, you never know what’s going to happen.”

It didn’t work for Slovis and Pitt, and the short-lived partnership dissolved as Phil Jurkovec arrived and Slovis left. It wasn’t the easiest season for Slovis at BYU, but he’s attempting to show NFL personnel that he has the tools to cut it in the NFL this week in Frisco.

And he’s seen some of his former Pitt teammates this week, too, as he’s worked through drills and practices. The likes of A.J. Woods, M.J. Devonshire, Bub Means and Matt Goncalves — and former USC and BYU teammates.

“(Bub Means and I) had one play, I won’t say the concept, but it was like, ‘Hey, man, this is the old Oakland. Remember against North Carolina?’ And he was like, ‘Oh, yeah, I remember.’ And going against guys like M.J.  or A.J. every day, it was fun, and our lockers are kind of right next to each other. Me and M.J.”

Nick Farabaugh provided reporting from Frisco.