USC cornerbacks Olaijah Griffin and Chris Steele talked with reporters on a Zoom call Wednesday morning, and when the conversation turned to Trojans quarterback Kedon Slovis and what it's like playing against him in practice, they didn't hold back.

"He's really an NFL quarterback playing college football right now," Griffin said. "Because there will be plays where I'll make a good play, break on the ball, and he just fits it in a spot where I just can't reach even if I'm doing everything correctly."

Steele quickly echoed those comments.

"I would say Kedon's definitely going to be somebody to watch out for this year. I think he's going to be in the race for the Heisman. He's that talented," Steele said. "He makes some throws that he probably wouldn't have made last year so that lets me know he's been working this offseason. Last year he was still a great quarterback, but this year he's making those throws, he's putting the ball where only his receivers can get it, and he's making it happen with every receiver too."

Slovis isn't presently one of the 24 players with listed Heisman Trophy odds on the website OddsShark.com, but that's largely due to the Pac-12 playing the shortest season (7 games) of any Power 5 conference.

Slovis was on the early Heisman odds list that went up after last season.

The star QB finished with 3,502 passing yards, 30 touchdowns and 9 interceptions as a true freshman last season, but more to the point, after coming back from his two-game concussion absence he averaged 346.25 passing yards per game over the last eight contests while tallying 25 TDs and 5 INTs in that span.

That included the stretch of four 400-yard passing performances in the span of five games, including the USC program-record 515 set against UCLA.

Head coach Clay Helton and offensive coordinator Graham Harrell praised Slovis and talked about his continued evolution at the position earlier this week. Read that here.

But there's no more telling perspective than that of the defensive backs who practice against him every day.

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