Miscommunication not helping USC quarterback competition
Interim coach Donte Williams has put both Kedon Slovis and Jaxson Dart in a tough position
Adam Grosbard (OC Register) — LOS ANGELES — Trying to walk the tightrope of an in-season quarterback competition, where USC finds itself eight games into this campaign, requires a deft touch. There has to be communication between all parties, so everyone is on the same page and understands their roles.
That does not appear to have been the case last week for USC as junior Kedon Slovis and freshman Jaxson Dart began a platoon of sorts at QB.
The dissonance became apparent immediately following Saturday’s victory over Arizona. After the Wildcats cut the USC lead to seven with six minutes left in the fourth quarter, it was Dart who was sent in to lead the offense with the game on the line.
It seemed like a statement of intent about how USC views the quarterbacks. Why else would you put in a true freshman over a third-year starter for the most pivotal drive of the game?
But in the post-game press conference, interim head coach Donte Williams said the plan was always to have Dart play in the fourth quarter, regardless of the situation.
Asked about that disconnect on Sunday, Williams offered this answer:
“You have to make sure Jaxson is fully back. When he got in there in the game, a whole week of practice, making sure where his mind was at. Even the first drive he was in, he led us on I believe a 96-yard scoring drive, but at the same time, he made a couple reads and checks that were wrong. The second time he went back out, he pretty much started making the right reads. So we had to make sure he was fully in the game and knew what was going on to make that assessment. Even Kedon. When I talked to Kedon the day before the game, he knew that Jaxson was going in in the fourth quarter. He thought Jaxson was going to go in the game with a bigger lead, but he didn’t know at that time with a seven-point lead. We stuck to the plan that was already deviated.”
So, Williams was asked again, you did tell Slovis that Dart would be the quarterback in the fourth quarter?
“I told him that Jaxson would be in the third and fourth periods of the game. At the same time, the second series of the game went for two plays and a touchdown. So we decided to keep (Slovis) out there for an extra series. I also told him that hopefully, we would have a lead in the fourth quarter, if we have a lead in the fourth quarter let Jaxson finish the game and play the full quarter. Now, did I know the lead was going to be cut down to seven points? No, I did not know that, but we stuck to the plan in which we had talked about. At the same time, I’m pretty sure him being the competitor that he is and he’s a great player he thought maybe the seven-point lead we will deviate from the plan and we didn’t.”
So USC did not deviate from the plan in the fourth quarter, though it had already deviated from its original plan during the first quarter. And the plan was communicated to Slovis, except not even Dart was sure that he was going to lead USC on that fourth-quarter drive until his number was called.
“Honestly, I have no idea,” Dart said after the game. “I was just kind of told I was going in the game. And we just went from there.”
Williams has not been forthcoming with updates about the team since taking over as interim head coach early in the season. When Dart had his breakout performance against Washington State, Williams hyped the possibility of a quarterback competition up until the Thursday of the next week. Later that day, it was reported that Dart had surgery to repair a torn meniscus on his knee.
Asked days later what Dart’s timeline to return was, Williams described Dart as “day-to-day” because “it’s not like he has the knee brace on or anything like that.” But Dart was on the sideline for the game a night earlier with a large brace around his right knee.
But this isn’t the same as keeping information from the media. By dancing around this subject, Williams is putting Slovis in a position to answer questions about his standing with the team that could have been cleared up by his head coach.
“It’s tough. Obviously, you want to be in and you think you give your team the best chance to win,” said Slovis, who has been a good soldier through all of this per Williams, offensive coordinator Graham Harrell and Dart. “But again that’s Coach’s decision, you let Coach kind of make the best decision for the team at the time.”
The expectation is that USC will continue to split time between Slovis and Dart, though neither Williams nor Harrell confirmed and neither Slovis nor Dart knew the plan after Monday’s practice. Slovis got the first-team series during the 11-on-11 period, and the two split first-team reps against the scout team later.
Whatever the decisions are moving forward, Williams owes Slovis the courtesy of communicating it clearly at least behind closed doors, even if Slovis isn’t demanding anything.
“I’m not really looking for answers or anything like that,” Slovis said Monday. “My job is to play quarterback and execute my job the best way possible.”
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