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Wayne's career game sparks Pitt's 42-16 win over Miami

Jared Wayne became the 11th player in Pitt program history to achieve a 1,000-yard receiving season after a career performance on Saturday night. The 6’3” senior recorded 11 catches for 199 yards and three touchdowns in Pitt’s convincing 42-16 win over the Miami Hurricanes.

Wayne finished the 2022 regular season with 55 catches for 1,006 yards and five touchdowns. The Ontario native posted three 100-yard games over Pitt’s final five contests and is having the most successful stretch of play in his career.

“Jared is a very hard worker,” Pitt quarterback Kedon Slovis said of Wayne after the game. “I think going in, it wasn’t like Jared transformed himself into a great player, I think he already was a great player and took himself further to the next level, but obviously with some other great players here last year I think kind of overshadows how special he is a player."

Wayne has quietly had one of the more productive careers for a Pitt receiver and the 2022 season was the first time he was the number one option in the passing game. After his 11-catch performance against Miami, Wayne moved into 10th all-time in Pitt’s career receptions list. He has 141 career catches to go along with 2,251 receiving yards, which is 12th on Pitt’s all-time list in that department.

Wayne needs 9 more receiving yards to slide past former teammate Jordan Addison for 11th all time. Of course this time last year it was expected that Pitt would have both Addison and Wayne. The attraction of having the reigning Biletnikoff Award winner was a big selling point for Slovis to transfer to Pitt, but he was quick to point out that it was not the only one.

“When I decided to come here, it wasn’t just about the guy that won the Biletnikoff,” the Pitt quarterback explained. “There’s other guys involved and Jared was a big part of that.”

Wayne has quietly went about his business this season. He is not only is the team’s go-to-option, but also the veteran in the receivers room. Wayne’s leadership qualities have been talked about all season.

In almost a fitting way, Wayne’s answers in his post game press conference were more about the team than his own accomplishments. He had talked earlier about finishing the season strong, and his play down the stretch helped Pitt finish the year on a four-game winning streak.

“I think I mentioned in one of the press conferences, I think it was after Syracuse I want to say,” Wayne recounted. "We talked about what happens in November is remembered and we just really bought into that and made the most of what we had left. I’m just really proud of the guys.”

Wayne is the fourth wide receiver to play with Slovis to reach the 1,000-yard plateau in a season. Dating back to his time at USC, Slovis also threw the ball to Michael Pittman Jr., Amon-Ra St. Brown, and Drake London.

All three of those guys are now playing in the NFL.

“It’s a heck of an accomplishment and I think of the guys I’ve been around that have that kind of output, a thousand yards in a season, they are all in the NFL and playing at a really high level,” Slovis said of his star receiver. “So I’m really fortunate to have that guy as a receiver.”

Wayne’s play on Saturday really helped set the tone early and displayed what this offense could have looked like all season. The senior wideout broke free on a spectacular 66-yard catch and run in the first quarter for a touchdown. It was Pitt’s longest passing play of the year.

“He stepped up in a big way and he had a great game today,” Pat Narduzzi said of Wayne’s performance. “But Jared was money today catching the ball and Kedon put it right where it needed to be as well.”

The Pitt offense played its best game of the season with over 500 total yards of offense and six touchdowns. Slovis and Wayne had developed a strong connection down the stretch and that was clicking for sure on Saturday. The offensive line controlled the line of scrimmage. Pitt also received a strong rushing game led by ACC leading rusher Israel Abanikanda's 111 yards and two touchdowns.

Wayne and Slovis both acknowledged they did not reach the goals they set at the start of the season, but on Saturday night they ended the year on a positive note both as an offense, and as a team. The 2022 season will be defined by some ‘What ifs’ and maybe the biggest one will be, What if Pitt's offense played like it did against Miami all season long?

“It’s awesome and we always keep fighting,” Wayne said of the team’s strong finish. “Kedon is a great example of that. Like I said it definitely wasn’t the year we expected to have. At the end of the day, stuff like takes time, so for us and him to just keep fighting and keep putting our best foot forward, that means everything at the end of the day.”

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