Dec 21, 2021 3 min read

Pitt gets USC transfer Slovis at QB

Kedon Slovis is trading USC for Pittsburgh.

The former Trojans quarterback announced Tuesday he is heading east to join the ACC champion Panthers, where he will get a chance to replace ACC Player of the Year Kenny Pickett.

“I’m feeling incredibly grateful for the opportunity to be a Panther – and I can’t wait to prove myself again on this stage,” Slovis said in a piece he wrote for The Players Tribune released Tuesday evening.

Slovis entered his junior season at USC as a Heisman Trophy contender but he struggled to find any rhythm. He passed for 2,153 yards with 11 touchdowns against eight interceptions in nine games before being lost for the season with a leg injury.

Slovis joins a wide-open race to replace Pickett, who announced last week he will not play when the 13th-ranked Panthers (11-2) face No. 10 Michigan State (10-2) in the Peach Bowl next week. Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi has not said who will start in place of Pickett, though Nick Patti figures to get the nod as the primary backup.

The Panthers also have Davis Beville and Arizona State transfer Joey Yellen, who joined Pitt in January 2020.

Pitt is in the process of looking for a new offensive coordinator after Mark Whipple left for the same position at Nebraska.

Whoever is at quarterback for the Panthers won’t lack for weapons, including Biletnikoff Award-winning wide receiver Jordan Addison, who caught 93 passes for 1,479 yards and 17 touchdowns.

Slovis made the All-Pac 12 first-team in 2020 while throwing for 1,921 yards and 17 touchdowns with seven interceptions playing an abbreviated schedule thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Former Pirates coach Bartee dead at 49

Kimera Bartee, a former Major League Baseball outfielder and Detroit Tigers first base coach, died Monday. He was 49.

The Tigers made the announcement Tuesday, saying Bartee died suddenly. They did not disclose the cause of death.

Bartee was an outfielder in Detroit from 1996 to 1999 and played the next two seasons with the Cincinnati Reds and Colorado Rockies.

The Tigers promoted him to first-base coach during the 2021 season after he was the organization’s roving outfield and baserunning instructor, a role he had in 2020 with the Philadelphia Phillies. He was previously first-base coach for the Pirates Pirates and also was an outfield and baserunning coordinator for their minor league teams.

In college football

Levi Williams ran for 200 yards and four touchdowns and passed for 127 yards and another touchdown to lead Wyoming to a 52-38 win over Kent State on Tuesday in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl in Boise.

In college basketball

Justin Moore scored 12 of his 17 points after halftime and Caleb Daniels added 16 points to lead No. 23 Villanova to a 71-58 victory over No. 18 Xavier on Tuesday night.

Collin Gillespie and Eric Dixon each had 15 points for the Wildcats (8-4, 1-1 Big East), who bounced back from consecutive blowout losses.

• Luka Brajkovic scored 22 points and made a late 3-pointer and Michael Jones scored 21 points to help lift Davidson to a 79-78 victory over No. 10 Alabama.

The Wildcats (9-2) rolled to a 13-point lead in the second half and held on for their eighth straight win in a game scheduled to fill sudden voids in their respective schedules because of COVID-19. The Crimson Tide (9-3) have dropped two of three games.