It's amazing what can get lost in an email. For BYU quarterback Kedon Slovis , it was his future.
Slovis was in Frisco, Texas, competing in the East-West Shrine Bowl on Feb. 1 and overheard his roommate and former Cougars teammate Isaac Rex on the phone discussing the NFL combine with his agent.
"I realized that I hadn't heard from anybody," Slovis said. "I thought I was going to get one and then I started to get a little worried."
It's been his dream to play in the NFL since he could walk and an invite to the combine would be a step in the right direction. So, the 6-foot-3, 215-pound hopeful started looking around.
"I checked my old addresses and there on my iCloud email, which I never use, was a note from the NFL saying, 'We missed you. We need you to get back to us!'"
Every football-related email had gone to his Gmail account, except for that one.
"I called my agent, and they resent it to the right email, and we got it in."
Slovis and former Cougars Ryan Rehkow and Kingsley Suamataia will join 318 other athletes at the NFL combine Feb. 26-March 4 in Indianapolis, where they will show off their skills to all 32 NFL teams. Until then, Slovis will train with former Cougars quarterback John Beck in Orange County, California.
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This is the third-straight BYU quarterback to receive an invite to the combine and Beck has been tasked with preparing each of them, including Jaren Hall and Zach Wilson .
"I feel good," said Slovis, who is healed up from an elbow injury. "I'm doing it smart, throwing and lifting. This is the healthiest I've been since before the start of the season."
Standing in a cold November drizzle, Slovis watched Oklahoma State celebrate a double-overtime victory that ended BYU's season and the quarterback's college career — and there was nothing he could do about it.
It was the fourth-straight game since his elbow injury. He had practiced all week. His heart was ready, but Slovis couldn't convince his body to play along. The elbow and tendon just needed a little more time.
"Coach (Aaron Roderick) told me, 'I don't want you to go out there if you can't play the way you play,'" Slovis said. "I appreciate that. I knew he was protecting me. I wanted to play, but not if I couldn't help the team."
BYU was 5-3 and one win short of bowl eligibility when the fifth-year veteran went down. The Cougars didn't win again.
"With four games remaining, I was sure we would win one of those and I'll get back," he said. "I never thought that would be the last game. That was the toughest thing about going into Stillwater and then, after the game, realizing that it's over."
Trailing 28-6 with 3:17 remaining in the fourth quarter at No. 7 Texas, Slovis and the offense took the field at the BYU 46-yard line. After a short toss to Keelan Marion, and on second-and-4, Slovis dropped back to pass again only to be strip-sacked by Longhorns defensive end Justice Finkley. Slovis lost more than the ball.
"It felt weird at first," he said. "I went to one of the trainers and said something feels wrong. They checked my elbow. I tried throwing on the sideline. It bothered me, but with the adrenaline flowing, I could throw it."
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Slovis returned and completed three passes for 49 yards — the last three passes he would ever throw at BYU. After the game, he told Roderick that something was up. Back in Provo, an MRI revealed Slovis had suffered an ulnar nerve injury and a strained tendon in his throwing elbow, which affected his ability to grip and throw the ball.
The Texas injury wasn't the first time Slovis had been roughed up during his one and only season at BYU — but it was the last.
"I didn't feel like I was playing through injuries. I took some big hits, but you just play banged up. Everybody gets banged up," Slovis said. "There is a big difference between being banged up and being injured. When that strip-sack happened, I knew something was wrong."
Roderick texted Slovis recently.
"He wrote, 'Sorry this year didn't work out like you wanted it to,'" Slovis said. "I appreciate it. There have been a lot of people apologizing for how things went. That's life. You move on and make the most of it."
The Cougars offense struggled right from the start, with UNLV transfer running back Aidan Robbins struggling to play through a broken rib. With little or no ground attack, the pressure mounted on the passing game with a receiving corps full of newcomers.
"Looking back, I never felt like we were in trouble, but I remember wishing I had two more years here because you see a lot of year-one guys in the system," Slovis said. "I was thinking how much better these guys (Darius Lassiter, Marion, Kody Epps, Keanu Hill, Chase Roberts, Parker Kingston, LJ Martin) were going to be with another year behind them, along with some of our lineman. They are poised for a big future."
In his eight games at BYU, Slovis threw for 1,716 yards and 12 touchdowns. He also added three rushing touchdowns — the first of his career. Including his numbers from USC and Pittsburgh, Slovis finished with 11,689 passing yards — more than any of BYU's legendary quarterbacks except for Heisman Trophy winner Ty Detmer.
Slovis came to BYU to improve his NFL draft stock. His invitation to the NFL combine is another positive step on the journey and his experience in Provo will be going with him.
"BYU has had a great impact on me," said Slovis, who is not a member of the school-sponsored Latter-day Saint faith. "To be able to experience football for a fifth year and put all the energy and effort into the culture and the program, I'm grateful for the personal growth I've made in a year. That's the biggest testament for BYU — not only developing me as a player, but also as a person and my core values."
Quarterback Kedon Slovis talks with media after a BYU practice in Provo on Friday, March 17, 2023. While things didn't go exactly as planned in 2023, Slovis has no regrets about transferring to BYU. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News
