Is ex-USC Football QB Kedon Slovis head and shoulders above Jaxson Dart, JT Daniels?

PFF's Anthony Treash recently dropped his top 50 FBS QB rankings, and four current and former USC football quarterbacks made the list. Those would be Caleb Williams (ranked No. 2), Kedon Slovis (No. 9), JT Daniels (No. 40), and Jaxson Dart (T-No. 43). Obviously, out of the ex-USC signal-callers, he has Slovis far above the rest.

It's interesting, because while many USC fans would agree with that assessment, there are also plenty of fans who would argue that not only is Slovis not significantly better than the other two, but one or both of the other two are actually better.

While all three are talented guys who were placed in tough situations due to poor coaching at USC, it can be tough to decide how to rank these three. As for Daniels, Treash probably thinks it's notable that SC rolled with Slovis over him and Daniels made the move to Georgia.

While it was not confirmed that USC told Daniels that Slovis would remain the starter after his injury, it appeared that the program was very enthusiastic about Slovis, and that it would take a near-perfect camp for Daniels to win his job back. As for Dart, he probably thought his play and turnover-prone performance was too much to ignore.

Kedon Slovis, JT Daniels, and Jaxson Dart have all had wild college football careers, both with and without USC football.

Many expected Jaxson Dart to be the starting quarterback over Kedon Slovis for the 2022 season if the two stayed with USC football (although of course Caleb Williams would start over both if he was to transfer here in that scenario). Therefore, wouldn't Treash put him over Slovis if he has Slovis over Daniels for that reason?

But, again, it's unclear as to if that is why he had Slovis over Daniels. After all, Slovis truly does have some notable achievements on his resume. He has been much more durable than Daniels, playing in 27 games to Daniels' 21 despite Daniels being a grade older. He also was the First-Team All-Pac-12 Quarterback in 2020.

True freshmen aren't supposed to toss for 3,502 yards in a season, yet Slovis did that as soon as Daniels got injured. He also threw 30 TD's and only nine picks. Throwing for 1,921 yards in his sophomore season and 17 touchdowns too in a shortened six-game season, Slovis has had two exceptional years under his belt.

While Daniels has looked impressive in both 2020 and 2021, it was only a nine-game sample size due to injuries. It also wasn't the best look when he came back from injury again in 2021 only to not get his starting job back.

Stetson Bennett was the QB for Georgia. Treash doesn't think very highly of him, ranking him 34th, so that doesn't help Daniels' case with him. There are truly two sides to this, though. Daniels' 17:5 TD:INT ratio since the start of the 2020 season is better than Slovis' 28:15.

The issue is, Daniels doubters probably keep coming back to his true freshman year where he completed just 59.5% of his passes for 2,672 yards and tossed 14 touchdowns to 10 picks. He was in a joke of an offense, so many put a mulligan on that year. Maybe Treash doesn't.

The tough part about a possible argument about Daniels continuing to lose jobs, however, is that again; it appeared Slovis was about to lose his job to Dart if they stayed at SC. The Trojans were running a two-QB system with those two in 2021, and both struggled as a result.

Take a look at the two QB's 2021 seasons. Below is Slovis' stats on the left, and Dart's stats on the right:

--65% completion percentage//////////61.9% completion percentage

--7.2 Passing Yards per Attempt//////////7.2 Passing Yards per Attempt

--6.8 Adjusted Passing Yards per Attempt//////////6.9 Adjusted Passing Yards per Attempt

--11:8 TD:INT Ratio (0 rushing touchdowns)//////////9:5 TD:INT Ratio (2 rushing touchdowns)

Both didn't have the best years, and while Dart's numbers looked slightly better, he also played reckless with the ball at times which led to some costly fumbles in inopportune times. Treash had the choice to go with Slovis' resume of having two great seasons, or trusting Dart's dual-threat talent and ability.

Treash decided to go with Slovis. Perhaps he's on to something, as Dart played poorly in the Ole Miss spring game. There are even murmurs that he won't even start in 2022. Again, there are fair arguments for any of these guys.

For what it's worth, Slovis and Daniels will most certainly be starting in 2022, and face off against each other Week 1. Unfortunately for Daniels, however, former disappointing USC Offensive Coordinator Graham Harrell is the OC at Daniels' new school--West Virginia.

As a result, Slovis may already have an advantage for both the game and the season. Perhaps Harrell will continue to perform better in Year 1 at a new school, though, like he did at SC with Daniels and Slovis.