Jared Wayne relishes leadership role of the wide receivers
Jared Wayne has been a steady secondary option in the Pitt wide receivers room since his arrival in 2019. Entering year four with the Pitt program, Wayne, a 6’3” senior, looks to be more than that in this upcoming season.
The veteran wide receiver finished second on the team in receptions (47), receiving yards (658) and touchdowns (6) in 2021, mostly playing opposite of All-American Jordan Addison for the last two seasons. Now that Addison has since transferred to USC, Wayne has a chance to become the team’s top receiving option in 2022, and at the very least he’s taking the necessary steps from a leadership standpoint to earn that billing.
“Jared Wayne has been that leader this summer,” Pat Narduzzi told reporters at the team’s media day. “He's been that guy and he's one of our eagles in our leadership council. He's taken over that leadership role with those guys, and I feel good with the leader there.”
Wayne is humbled his teammates feel that way, and is planning to make the most of his opportunity entering his fourth season with the Panthers.
“It’s a privilege and I’m very grateful to be in this position and having guys coming to me for advice and trust my opinion,” Wayne said at Media Day. “I’m very grateful for it and it’s only going to help my player development and me developing as a person as well.”
Wayne has always been a steadying force in Pitt’s wide receiver room since his arrival, and has seen his production increase each year. The native of Canada made tough plays over the middle countless times during Pitt's 11-win campaign, like scoring touchdowns near the goal line in both the ACC Championship and the Peach Bowl. Wayne also made acrobatic plays too, like the circus catch over a defender in a 28-7 win over Virginia Tech.
First year wide receivers coach Tiquan Underwood believes he can take that ‘next’ step and be a focal point of the offense this season.
“Honestly I feel like this will be his coming out party,” Underwood said of Wayne’s upcoming senior season. “With the opportunities he had, he made the most of them last year. I feel like this year he’s going to have the opportunity to put people on notice. Bigger guy, great hands, really strong hands, good route runner and the thing I like most about J-Wayne is when he comes into the office, he checks in and checks out, very business-like, very professional and I think that’s going to bode well for him this upcoming season.”
The business-like approach is what he is known for around the Pitt practice facility, but his teammates also see the work he does on the field on game days as well.
“Jared, he’s a big body,” Pitt receiver Jaylon Barden said. “He’s a great catch, he can run routes, he can do everything. He can do everything, you’re going to see.”
Losing a player of Addison’s caliber is obviously a blow to the team and the wide receivers at large, and in the manner he departed made it very public for the rest of the unit. The group is eager to prove they are capable of keeping the offense flowing in 2022 without the former Biletnikoff winner.
“We have a unit that’s very hungry and we just want to prove ourselves,” Underwood said of his position group. “We’re going to take training camp day by day and try to get better and then when September 1st gets here we’ll try to show the entire country what we’re all about.”
Wayne is just one part of the unit. Pitt welcomed in a pair of transfers, Bub Means and Konata Mumpfield, that come with high expectations. Returnees like Barden and Jaden Bradley have also had strong reviews from this offseason.
“They’re going to help us a bunch,” Wayne said of the newcomers to the unit. “They look great, Konata and Bud. I can’t say enough good things about both of them. It’s a very talented group and a very unique room, too. Like you don’t have too many of the same guys, just watching all the guys practice. It’s going to be a great year for us.”