Kyle Sloter never lost faith he could play quarterback at the Division I level.
After a record-setting career at Mount Pisgah Christian High in Johns Creek, Georgia, the two-star dual-threat quarterback took his skill set to Hattiesburg, Mississippi to play for Ellis Johnson at Southern Miss. The Golden Eagles were fresh off a 12-win season and a finish in the Top 20 in both major FBS polls. The 6-foot-4, 218-pound Sloter was fresh off a prep career that saw him total more than 9,200 yards — more than 6,000 passing and more than 3,000 rushing.
Sloter redshirted in 2012, thriving in the classroom, earning Conference USA Commissioner’s Academic Medalist honors. Meanwhile, Johnson and the Golden Eagles sputtered on the field, skidding to an 0-12 record that resulted in Johnson’s prompt firing. Todd Monken took over as the Southern Miss head coach, installing a completely different offense and switching Sloter to “Y” wide receiver.
In 2013, he earned his first career start due to attrition more than acclimation. He played in the final five games of the season, catching five passes for 35 yards and a touchdown. In 2014, he played in eight games, making one start but caught just two passes for 12 yards.
Before the 2014 season, Monken and his staff elected to move Sloter to tight end. He saw the writing on the wall.
UNC quarterback Kyle Sloter/by UNC Athletics
“I saw myself being third on the depth chart at that spot and I wanted to get back to playing quarterback my last two years anyway,” Sloter said on Tuesday. “I got my release and I sent stuff to every single FCS program because I wanted to be immediately eligible. I heard back from 10 to 15 of them. It was just weird how it worked out in the South. All my offers in the South wanted me to play receiver and the ones out West wanted me at quarterback.”
Sloter said he held offers from schools with richer tradition and most chronicled prestige. He chose Northern Colorado because of strong relationships with head coach Earnest Collins Jr. and offensive coordinator Jon Boyer. The challenges presented in being competitive in Greeley also drew him to UNC.
“It’s one thing to go to a program that is well established and doing great but it’s another thing to go somewhere and help a team build something,” Sloter said. “That meant something to me.”
Northern Colorado was one of the FCS schools that wanted Sloter as a quarterback.
“We told him we couldn’t promise he would get the job but we could promise he would compete,” UNC head coach Earnest Collins Jr. said on Wednesday. “He did that in the spring, did it in the fall. But he didn’t win the spot.”
Instead, Collins and his staff elected to go with senior Jon Newsom for the first four games of the season before Newsom gave way to redshirt freshman Jacob Knipp. The first-year signal caller threw for 1,969 yards and 13 touchdowns in leading Northern Colorado to its first winning record (6-5) since joining the Big Sky Conference in 2006.
Meanwhile, Sloter played on special teams and earned limited time in the receiver rotation, catching six passes for 60 yards.
On Saturday, Sloter finally got his shot. On the third play of Northern Colorado’s game at Abilene Christian, Knipp suffered a shoulder injury that will shelf him at least until Big Sky play begins in two weeks, Collins said. .
In Knipp’s place, Sloter broke out in a big way. Sloter completed 25-of-32 passes for 408 yards and a UNC-record six touchdowns. He also rushed 11 times for 41 yards, including a 22-yard touchdown run in the third quarter as Northern Colorado moved to 2-0 with a 55-52 victory.
“I’ve been waiting five years for an opportunity and it was an emotional time for me after the game because I’d waited that long,” Sloter said. “No one had ever really given me a chance at Southern Miss. To come here, I was given more of a chance but I felt bad the way it happened for Knipp and I’m praying for him. To get that opportunity and get out there, it felt really good to be playing quarterback, doing what I love to do for the first time in college.”
UNC quarterback Kyle Sloter/by UNC Athletics
For his efforts, Sloter earned Big Sky and FCS National Offensive Player of the Week honors.
“I was happy for him because he’s been trying to get his shot to play quarterback since he left Southern Miss,” Collins said. “We told him if the opportunity came up, we would give it to him. It was unfortunate how it came about but he was ready for it when it came.
“I think my coordinator (Jon Boyer) said it best last night: we weren’t surprised by his athleticism. He can throw the ball, we know that. With Kyle coming in there and having to come off the bench and not expecting to play quarterback, and being prepared execution wise, that was awesome to see from that young man for him to come in and stay in it. For him to come in and do his 1/11th, he didn’t try to do anything extra. Jon did a great job of calling the game for him and he executed the plays.”
Sloter found Hakeem Deggs for a 26-yard touchdown on Northern Colorado’s first possession. He threw a 22-yard scoring strike to senior Stephen Miller to give UND a 21-7 lead at the end of the first quarter. Sloter found speedy Alex Wesley, the reigning Big Sky champion in the 400 meters, for a 37-yard score to extend the lead to 28-7 and on a 59-yard bomb to help UNC retake the lead for good with 10 minutes to play. In between, Sloter found running back Trae Riek for a 20-yard score, tight end Mike McCauley for a nine-yard touchdown and rushed in his 22-yard scamper.
“As a backup quarterback, you try to be ready but you never really expect to play,” Sloter said. “I was ready. I prepared like I was going to be the starter all week. I think that’s the key to it. I think that’s what you have to do. You only get 20 percent of the practice reps because you are trying to get the starters going, so I didn’t have the physical reps it took to be physically ready but staying in the film room, staying ready for when my number was called, that’s what it took to be successful.”
On Saturday, Northern Colorado will gun for its first 3-0 start in the Division I era as the Bears hit the highway to Fort Collins to take on Colorado State. Knipp is out indefinitely and Sloter will get a chance to shine for a second straight week. It’s the opportunity he’s been waiting for since he was a teenager.
“For us, it’s a rivalry,” Sloter said. “I don’t know how it is for them. Being the FCS team going to play the D-I school, you kind of feel like the little brother. But we are going in with a win mentality. We think we can win this game and that’s how we go into any game. If you don’t have that mindset, you aren’t going to win. If you have a lose-first mentality, that’s what is going to happen. Everyone on our team is well prepared for this. We are putting together a good game plan and going there with a winning mentality.
