Wayne, Slovis tease connection that can grow

Better late than never, as they say.

Pitt football found its passing attack Saturday night in the Panthers’ 42- 16 win against Miami. Kedon Slovis tied his season high with three touchdown passes while completing 18-of-28 passes for 256 yards, including the longest of the season on a 66-yard touchdown by Jared Wayne. At the same time, Wayne posted a career high of 11 receptions for 199 receiving yards and caught all three of Slovis’ touchdown passes.

Certainly, that kind of connection would’ve been helpful to Pitt in October when the Panthers finished the month with a 1-3 record that ultimately knocked them out of contention for the ACC Coastal Division. But with both Slovis and Wayne as seniors with a year of eligibility left, there’s a legitimate question as to whether both will return next year for the Panthers.

Slovis just transferred from USC last season, and with high school recruit Kenny Minchey decommitted from Pitt, he could feel secure in his spot as the team’s starter for at least another season. After playing behind the likes of Taysir Mack and Jordan Addison in the last few seasons, Wayne has emerged as one of the best receivers in the ACC.

Despite playing on the 10th-best passing offense in the ACC, Wayne’s 91.5 receiving yards a game was secondbest in the conference, behind only North Carolina’s Josh Downs.

That being said, both players could look at the chemistry they’ve built in 2022 and see 2023 as an opportunity to boost both of their statuses as prospects in the 2024 NFL draft. But what went into their success against Miami for such an explosion?

Part of it has been the trust developed between the players, even through each of their own struggles. Slovis threw nine interceptions on the season and only had two games in which he threw multiple touchdowns. Wayne had four charted drops on the season according to Pro Football Focus, which led to a 6.8% drop rate, 40th-best among FBS receivers who were targeted at least 80 times this season.

What worked against Miami was the timing between the two players in their understanding of how to attack the Hurricanes’ defense. Frank Cignetti Jr. called up several plays to challenge Miami’s defensive balance in defending Pitt’s run game and Israel Abanikanda.

During Pitt’s first series of the game, Slovis properly executed a run-pass-option that forced Miami’s linebackers to play closer to the line of scrimmage and leave Wayne in single coverage running out of the slot. The result was an easy completion from Slovis for a first down after Wayne established inside leverage.

Play-action passes became a serious weapon for Pitt, which opened up simple reads for Slovis to his best receiver. On Pitt’s second drive, Pitt dialed up a play-action pass that again isolated Wayne’s slant route, but also combined it with a flat route from Gavin Bartholomew. The result was an easy clearout for Pitt that netted 17 yards and another first down.

Slovis’ confidence to throw over the middle to Wayne even carried when Miami managed to get pressure in his face. A miscommunication on Slovis’ 66yard touchdown pass to Wayne allowed for a defensive end to have a clear path to Slovis who came out of a fake handoff to Rodney Hammond II.

But that fake handoff also froze Miami’s linebackers again and slowed down the unblocked rusher just enough for Slovis to fire a pass to Wayne over the middle. The result was Wayne forcing four missed tackles on his way to the end zone in his most impressive play of the year.

And it wasn’t just slant routes and short crossing patterns that connected Slovis and Wayne on Saturday. For the second week in a row, Slovis properly read a Cover 2 defensive scheme and attacked it with a touchdown pass to Wayne on a seam pattern that split the safeties with impressive timing late in the first half.

Saturday night’s regular season finale doesn’t erase the offensive frustration that led the Panthers to multiple disappointing losses in an 8-4 finish to the season. But it does offer hope that if the two players stay with Pitt for another year, maybe the Panthers’ passing attack can start from a much better place next season and soar to new heights in 2023.