Kedon Slovis, Nick Patti build bond with teammates while competing for Pitt QB job

When Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi was luring quarterback Kedon Slovis from USC, he was able to use Jordan Addison as bait.

Why wouldn’t he?

Addison caught 17 touchdown passes among his 100 receptions last season and was named winner of the Biletnikoff Award as college football’s best wide receiver. What quarterback wouldn’t want Addison as a target?

Then, the NCAA transfer portal intervened.

Four months after Slovis enrolled and became Pitt’s presumptive (though not guaranteed) starting quarterback, Addison did the reverse: He transferred from Pitt to USC.

Soon after hearing the news, Slovis picked up his phone. He had several calls to make, but none to former USC teammates, lamenting his bad timing. No, Slovis’ calls were reassuring ones to his new Pitt teammates.

“It hurts when you lose one of your better players,” Slovis said Monday on the first day of Pitt’s summer drills. “I remember calling all the guys when all the uncertainty was happening, especially all the receivers (and saying), ‘Hey, guys, I’m not here just for one player. We’re going to be good, regardless of what happens.’

“This is a great, elite group as a whole. That’s the thing that attracted me to Pitt. It wasn’t like it was a one-man show.”

Four months earlier, in another corner of Pitt’s campus, Nick Patti barely budged off his seat when he heard the news that a transfer quarterback — Slovis — would be his chief competition in the race to replace Kenny Pickett.

Nick Patti speaks eloquently and honestly about his competition with Kedon Slovis for the Pitt QB job. pic.twitter.com/VoZIzYYFsA

— Jerry DiPaola (@JDiPaola_Trib) August 2, 2022

More urgent matters were of immediate concern.

“I didn’t think much of it at the time,” Patti said. “I was focused on the Peach Bowl. I was excited about the opportunity (to replace Pickett in that game) and trying to make the most of what I could at the time. I wasn’t looking ahead.”

Later, while Patti was recovering from surgery to repair the left collarbone he broke in the game, he was similarly single-minded.

“When I got hurt, it was more about the recovery. I didn’t really focus on (my place on the roster) at all,” he said. “I trust in coach Narduzzi. I’m old enough to know you do things to win games. If that’s bringing in competition to try to get the best guy, then that’s what it is. It’s part of the business.

“I wanted to stay. I wanted to compete. I had trust in myself. I had confidence. The best guy, obviously, is going to play. I was doing whatever I can to put my best foot forward and see what happens.”

Now, the season is a month away. Slovis and Patti are teammates, competing to be the starting quarterback for Pitt’s opener Sept. 1 against West Virginia.

They’re teammates and competitors at the same time, looking to help rebuild Pitt’s passing game after its two most important players departed.

“It’s been pretty easy for both of us,” Slovis said. “He’s a cool guy. I think I’m an easy-going guy, too. It’s been pretty easy for us to go along.

“At the end of the day … we want to have success as a team.”

You might think Patti’s efforts were hampered by the collarbone injury, but you’d be wrong. He had surgery the next day, New Year’s Eve. In recovery, surgeon Dr. Volker Musahl gave Patti the good news: “He said, ‘You’re good now.’ It’s all up to you,’ ” Patti said.

Just like that, Patti put aside his first serious football injury — it was his first broken bone since he fractured his wrist snowboarding in the fifth grade — and he said he was fully recovered in four weeks.

Patti settled in, eager to work toward the job he covets.

Slovis also was settling in comfortably in his new surroundings.

He said the concept of transferring was more difficult than what happened after he got here.

“I remember thinking, ‘No one really wants to transfer, more times than not.’ You have your friends established. You have your routine established. You have your house. You have everything kind of built around this place, and you don’t want to leave it for something’s that kind of uncertain.”

But he was quickly accepted into a welcoming locker room.

“Once I got here, man, I was so excited to be a part of it, so glad I did it.”

After spring ball, both quarterbacks took it upon themselves to work out with the receivers, away from coaches. Slovis said the goal was 10,000 balls from the end of spring drills until now. They didn’t actually keep count, but he said the number might have grown to 15,000.

“You don’t want to kill (the pass catchers’) legs, but those guys are super competitive. They want to go all the time,” he said. “They’re texting me all the time, ‘Hey, man, can we go outside today?’ ”

Narduzzi said Slovis and Patti will rotate reps with the first and second teams during camp.

When will he name a starter? Being coy while stating the obvious, Narduzzi said, “I would like to have it done before the opener, put it that way. That’s the only date I can give you.

“Might be two weeks. Might be three weeks. Might find out on game day. I don’t know. Wish I knew (Monday).”

For his part, Patti wants to prove he can lead.

“Make them want to play for me. Make me want to play for them,” he said.

It appeared Patti gained some credibility when — with little regard for his personal safety — he dived for that pylon to score a touchdown in the Peach Bowl, breaking his collarbone. But he only reinforced what he believes his teammates already know about him.

“The guys know me pretty well to say that was pretty on-brand for something I would do,” he said. “I don’t think they were shocked.”