Pitt had a big void to fill on Thursday night at the wide receiver position. In the pregame, it had become known that senior Maurice Ffrench would be unavailable for the showdown with North Carolina as he was sidelined with a broken jaw. Ffrench leads Pitt with 75 catches this season, and his absence was a concern heading into the game.

One player in particular that stepped up with the added responsibility was sophomore Shocky Jacques-Louis. In recent weeks, Jacques-Louis had started to come on more and more in the offense, and with Ffrench unavailable he took that to a new level with four catches for 104 yards and two rushes for 20 yards in Pitt’s 34-27 overtime win over the Tar Heels.

“I definitely thought this was a big opportunity for me to make a name for myself, so I went out there and balled out and I’m going to keep ballin’ out,” Jacques-Louis told reporters following the game.

The Florida native certainly was ballin’ out on a 74-yard touchdown catch in the second quarter. Jacques-Louis ran a post route and got behind the defender, Pickett hit him across the middle and the speedster won a foot race against the Tar Heel secondary for the score.

“It was definitely good to get a ball down deep,” he said. “That’s definitely my game.”

Pickett has now found Jacques-Louis for touchdowns in consecutive games. The Pitt signal caller was proud of how the sophomore wide receiver played filling in for the injured Ffrench.

“He’s obviously a guy that’s got a lot of speed and Maurice being down, we need guys to step up,” Pickett said of Jacques-Louis. “I think him and Jared (Wayne) had really big games for us tonight, some really big-time catches and obviously the post ball to him - he finished with his legs and scored. Obviously that’s a huge play, that’s what we’ve been missing all year, kind of a guy catching and taking it to the house, so I’m really proud of him and he did a great job.”

Jacques-Louis had another apparent touchdown in the first half, but following a replay, the play was overturned. The call on the field was a touchdown, and if you ask Jacques-Louis, he’ll say they had it right the first time.

“Oh yea for sure, I definitely made the catch,” he claimed.

Jacques-Louis did not let that call deter him, as he came up with some more big plays down the stretch. He had a 12-yard run for a first down during Pitt’s lengthy third quarter touchdown drive. In the overtime period, he caught a pass on first down and slipped at the six-yard line or else he may have scored the game-winning touchdown as well.

In the post game, Pat Narduzzi confirmed that Ffrench’s season is not over and he can join the team again some point this season. With an emerging Jacques-Louis and Jared Wayne teaming up with Ffrench and Taysir Mack, Pitt could have a dangerous set of wide receivers down the stretch.

Jacques-Louis made plays catching the ball, running it, and even returned kicks. While this was a breakout game on national television, he believes there will be more of this moving forward for him.

“I can do a lot more, this is just the beginning,” he said.