Kedon Slovis reveals whether USC was an option after Lincoln Riley hiring

USC quarterback Kedon Slovis suffered an injury in 2021 that moved the Scottsdale, Arizona native to the bench, while true freshman Jaxson Dart took over under center. And after Dart’s performance, Slovis seemed to have lost his starting spot, prompting him to enter the NCAA Transfer Portal.

Slovis was a three-star recruit in the class of 2019, according to the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He was ranked the No. 40 quarterback in his class, but USC’s recent coaching change begs the question of whether he even had the option to return to the Trojans next season. According to Slovis, it doesn’t seem like new USC head coach Lincoln Riley ever said otherwise — however, Slovis felt like it was time for a fresh start.

“I thought going in, before Lincoln Riley got hired, it’s either go to the NFL or transfer because I think my time here is over. I think it was pretty apparent to me when he did get hired — again, it was one of those things where you have to think about it for half a second,” Slovis said. “I told him that. I told him that I think I need a fresh start, regardless of what’s happened here, I feel like I need to get to a new place. But when Lincoln Riley gets hired, you have to kind of think about it and make sure you’re making the right decision. Again, he understood that. He kind of echoed that he felt that in certain places as well. He said he would understand and help me however possible.”

Slovis entered his freshman season as the backup quarterback — that is, until an early-season injury to JT Daniels thrust Slovis into the starting role. In 2019, Slovis thrived as a first-year starter, completing 71.9 percent of his passes for 3,502 yards, 30 touchdowns and nine interceptions. However, Slovis sustained an injury in 2021, opening the door for freshman quarterback Jaxson Dart, who projects as USC’s starting quarterback next season.

“Coach Riley took himself out of the equation,” Slovis said of his decision to transfer. “(Riley said), ‘If I were to be talking to you as a coach, I’d say stay, we’d love to have you and I’d love to coach you.’ … I really appreciated (the way he handled) the entire process.”

Kedon Slovis describes the moment he entered the NCAA Transfer Portal, Notre Dame call

“It was kind of a funny experience,” Slovis said of the transfer portal. “I was at the gym and I told compliance at USC that I wanted to jump in on Monday. I was in between sets and then my dad texted me asking when I was going to hit it. I texted our compliance guy to see, and he said ‘Whenever you’re ready, just let me know.’ I was like, ‘Sure, put it in.’ And by the end of that set, my phone started blowing up. It was crazy. I had to wrap up my workout and get in the car because I think Notre Dame was on the phone, it was the first call. I was like, ‘Shoot, this kind of developed a lot more quickly than I imagined.’”

Slovis returned in 2020 as the clear-cut starter after his strong freshman campaign, and he continued to build on that performance. Despite a shortened season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Slovis turned in a 67 percent completion rate, good for 1,921 yards, 17 touchdowns and seven interceptions, which made him a first-team All-Pac-12 selection. 2021 was a different story, however, as Slovis had 2,153 passing yards, 11 touchdowns and eight interceptions, while not holding the starting role down the stretch of the season.

“I think in this time, I talk to a lot of former coaches I have a lot of trust in or just people that I’ve met along the way because they know college football a lot better than, frankly, my dad does,” Slovis said. “It’s hard to keep track. That’s the thing, at each school you probably get three different guys (calling), you’re probably talking to a player personnel guy, you’re probably talking to the OC, you’re probably talking to the head coach. … I think as a whole, it’s been a lot of phone calls. And if I have 60 phone calls, that doesn’t necessarily mean I’m talking to 60 different schools. A lot of them are different people at one school.”

Ironically, as Slovis mentioned, his first call was from Notre Dame, a rival of USC’s.

“It was kind of eye-opening,” Slovis said of USC’s rival putting in the first phone call. “The whole process and what it could potentially be for me. Again, I don’t know if it was shocking, necessarily, but it was ironic to be in that situation.”