He’s back.
Well, sort of. On Tuesday, freshman quarterback Kedon Slovis returned to the practice field for a walk-through. He’s been sidelined for the past week after sustaining a concussion in USC’s game against Utah two weeks ago.
“Kedon [Slovis] is cleared to practice without contact,” said head coach Clay Helton. “He’s not cleared for contact yet. But it’s good to get him back out here, get him throwing and get him exerted, which is good.”
The bye week comes at an opportune time for USC’s coaching staff. There’s time to sort out the quarterback position as Slovis continues to regain health.
“We’ll go through the week allowing both quarterbacks to be able to get better and exceed,” Helton said. “We’ll see where we are medically going into next week. I’ll be able to let you know hopefully by next Tuesday where we stand on that.”
According to offensive coordinator Graham Harrell, Slovis’ return to Howard Jones Field went according to plan.
“It was like a walk-through,” Harrell said. “We all looked good.”
Harrell indicated that Slovis would retake the starting quarterback position as long as he was healthy.
“He’s a great player,” Harrell said. “Hopefully, he gets healthy...when he does get healthy, I would plan on playing him.”
Both Slovis and redshirt junior quarterback Matt Fink have experienced extreme highs and lows this season. Slovis set a freshman record for USC during week two with 377 passing yards in USC’s win over Stanford, only to throw three interceptions the next week in a loss to BYU. Following nearly identically in his footsteps, Fink shredded against then-No.10 Utah’s defense, then tossed three interceptions in Saturday’s loss to then-No. 17 Washington.
Collectively, USC ranks 15th nationally in total passing yards with 1,461. It’s also tied with Hawai’i and New Mexico State for most interceptions thrown in the country with nine, showing the volatility of USC’s passing game so far this season. Harrell said many of those interceptions stemmed from trying to force big plays that weren’t there instead of taking the checkdown.
“I hope it doesn’t have anything to do with being on the road,” Harrell said of the costly turnovers. “I think it’s just poor decision making.”
In similar injury news, Helton announced that sophomores safety Talanoa Hufanga and cornerback Olijah Griffin are back to practice after sitting out the Washington game with injuries. Hufanga was cleared for non-contact drills after suffering a concussion, while Griffin is expected to play in the Notre Dame game.
“Hopefully this is a week that allows us to catch up health-wise,” Helton said. “Get a healthier ball club going into South Bend.”
USC will have two full practices on Wednesday and Thursday of this week, then a strength and conditioning day on Friday. The Trojans face off against No. 9 Notre Dame on the road Oct. 12.