BYU QB Kedon Slovis Arrives In Provo For Last College Season
Jan 9, 2023, 11:03 AM | Updated: 11:27 am
(Photo by Justin Berl/Getty Images)
PROVO, Utah – The quarterback to lead BYU into the Big 12 Conference is Kedon Slovis. A former USC and Pitt signal-caller has seen it all in his college career. Now he’s in Provo preparing for one final year in college football.
Kedon Slovis is officially a #BYU Cougar. #BYUFootball @kslsports pic.twitter.com/IkzY8T8k9R
— Mitch Harper (@Mitch_Harper) December 24, 2022
Slovis arrived in Provo on Sunday, January 8, one day before the start of BYU’s winter semester. Before Slovis committed to BYU on Christmas Eve last month, communicating with his wide receivers and tight ends has been a big focus for the Scottsdale, Arizona native.
Kedon Slovis arrived at BYU on Sunday
Since getting in town yesterday, he’s already met most of his receiver teammates.
“I told them, ‘Hey when I go, we’re going. So be ready,” Slovis told KSL Sports on the message he’s shared with his BYU receiver teammates.
On Monday, he will enter BYU’s Student Athlete Building for the first time since his on-campus visit to Provo in December, and he’s ready to get to work on filling the shoes left behind by Jaren Hall.
“We have some logistical, meeting, and medical stuff this week. But I’m pretty sure they will let me get on the practice field whenever I want,” Slovis said. “I’m actually going to go in the building [Monday] and meet with Coach (Aaron) Roderick and start learning some of the offense. And shoot, if [the receivers] want to throw [Monday], I’ll see if they’re available. We’ll see what our schedules look like on the first day of class.”
Slovis arrives at BYU after an up-and-down year at Pitt, where he had a career-low completion rate of 58.4% and QBR of 127.1. In his freshman year at USC in 2019, he completed a Pac-12 record, 71.9% of his passes.
Getting ready to work with BYU receivers
The 6-foot-3, 215-pound signal-caller is a believer in the regimen from Cincinnati Bengals star Joe Burrow. In the offseason, Burrow throws 10,000 passes to his receivers. Slovis is looking to do that with his fellow BYU teammates.
“Definitely. That’s great to get that passing regimen down, but you really have to understand the offense as well as possible,” Slovis said. “I kind of look forward to having command of everything and knowing the offense. So to be able to kind of step in the situation and learn it in these next few weeks, it’s going to be really exciting.”
Along with Slovis learning a new offense, BYU is learning life as a Power Five program. The Cougars are set to go through their first year as a member of the Big 12 Conference this fall.
Year one of the Big 12 Conference
When Slovis first met Aaron Roderick face-to-face, it was during an in-home visit in Pittsburgh. Slovis was finishing up his fall semester class schedule in the Steel City. For the past decade, the goals of BYU football have often been in question. Because of BYU’s status as an FBS Independent. As the program prepares for the Big 12, that goal is no longer in question.
“A-Rod said it himself, he’s like, ‘I want to play for a Big 12 Championship.’ And that’s the energy I want to play for. I want to do that too, and that’s exciting,” said Slovis. “…This is a coaching staff and a group of players, I think, from what I’ve observed, that’s really hungry and knows this is a huge year for us.”
Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for KSLsports.com and host of the Cougar Tracks Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (Saturday from 12–3 p.m.) on KSL Newsradio. Follow Mitch’s coverage of BYU moving to the Big 12 Conference on Twitter: @Mitch_Harper.