Jared Wayne is the latest among Pitt players to officially declare for the 2023 NFL Draft, as he tweeted his farewell and declaration on Friday:
Pittsburgh, thank you for everything! Hail to Pittπ pic.twitter.com/ySpU5l5QCi
β Jared Wayne (@jwayne_5) January 6, 2023
While Wayne's prospects in the NFL are legitimate and justified from his four-year career at Pitt, there is now a glaring hole within the Panthers' receivers room that could shift things into the 2023 season.
This is the second straight offseason in which Pat Narduzzi and his staff will have to find a way to replace an outgoing No. 1 receiver, and a stellar one at each of those two stops. Wayne became the ninth Panther to achieve a 1,000-yard season this year as his 1,063 yards sit ninth all-time for a single season in program history. His 2,308 career receiving yards also rank ninth in program history, and he is one of just 14 Panthers to eclipse the 2,000-yard receiving mark in his career.
Las year, the Panthers had to find a way to replace Jordan Addison after his controversial transfer to Southern California. Addison's 1,593 receiving yards in 2021 was good for the second-most in a single season in program history to Larry Fitzgerald's 1,672 in 2003, with each performance winning Addison and Fitzgerald a Biletnikoff Award in those years. Addison's 2,259 receiving yards are 12th-most in program history, and had he not transferred, he easily could have passed Tyler Boyd's 3,361 yards to become the program's all-time leading receiver.
Alas.
When Addison departed, Pitt at least had a sure-fire No. 1 waiting in the wings. Even with all of Addison's success, Wayne still caught 47 passes for 658 yards and six touchdowns in 2021. His 658 yards from scrimmage were second to Addison among receivers.
In 2022, does Pitt confidently have a sure-fire No. 1 to go and replace Wayne, just as Wayne replaced Addison?
Wayne accounted for 36.7% of Pitt's receiving yardage in 2022, which was higher on a percentage basis than Addison's 33.6% in 2021. So, Kedon Slovis, Nick Patti, and Nate Yarnell were all more reliant -- slightly -- on Wayne than Kenny Pickett was on Addison. Pickett threw for a historic 4,319 yards compared to the 2022 trio's 2,896, but on a percentage basis, it shows just how valuable Wayne's production was to any success point the passing offense had.
Wayne was a reliable No. 2 for Pickett and behind Addison (should we read into a way-too-early thought of the Steelers drafting Wayne?). In 2021, Wayne accounted for 13.9% of Pitt's receiving yards. The second-leading receiver for Pitt in 2022 was Konata Mumpfield, whose 551 yards accounted for 19.0%, so while factoring Mumpfield's production as a No. 2 bares a promising trend, will it be able to translate into 2023?
No doubt, Wayne leaving -- any team's No. 1 receiver leaving -- leaves a hole, but with Phil Jurkovec coming to start in 2023 and with the 2024 starter to again be a new one, this transition will be one which is sure to affect both quarterbacks.
Mumpfield and Bub Means are each going into their junior years in 2023, and the next leading returner among wide receivers after those two was Gavin Thomson, who had two catches in 2022.
Narduzzi and receivers coach Tiquan Underwood are bringing in three three-star receivers in the incoming freshman class: Kenny Johnson, Lamar Seymore, and Zion Fowler. There is still a chance that Kent State transfer and Penn Hills product Dante Cephas commits to Pitt, which would add an instant-impact player who can help alleviate production lost with Wayne's exit.
(The crystal ball projection on 247Sports currently reads a 100% lean on Penn State, though ESPN's Pete Thamel reported on Monday that "all signs point to him headed to Pitt." Per 247Sports, Cephas is the top receiver still uncommitted via the transfer portal.)
Our @collegegameday hit on transfer portal destinations. Whatβs next for the top quarterbacks and top wide receiver? pic.twitter.com/vviLeBploI
β Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) January 2, 2023
If Cephas does not choose Pitt the spotlight will be on Mumpfield and Means, barring the addition of another transfer, to step up into Wayne's role on the field and off of it, as a team leader. The receivers room will have three redshirt seniors on it, as of now: Thomson and walk-ons Josh Junko and Isaiah Stewart. Mumpfield and Means will be a junior and redshirt junior, respectively.
This makes the addition of Cephas -- another veteran with two years of eligibility left -- suddenly becomes a bit more important for Narduzzi and Underwood. He was a two-time All-Mid-American selection with the Golden Flashes and had a breakout 2021 season with 82 catches for 1,240 yards and nine touchdowns. In 2022, Cephas had 48 catches for 744 yards and three touchdowns.
If Narduzzi and Underwood want to go on a recruiting trail for a different receiver, Oregon's Dont'e Thornton, Iowa's Arland Bruce IV, and Duquesne's Abdul Janneh are the top-rated receivers still in the portal and will be juniors this coming season.
Regardless of who else may or may not join, Pitt appears to now be lacking depth at the position, and it will need to be addressed into the 2023 season.
