Pitt FB Recruiting
Pitt Lands Commitment From 2024 3-Star DL Francis Brewu
It can sometimes be as simple as just having that gut feeling. When you know, you know. And Francis Brewu certainly knew he wanted Pitt.
After Brewu — a 6-foot-2, 270-pound three-star defensive tackle from Thomas Worthington High in Columbus, Ohio — made a visit to Pitt for the first spring practice of the year Tuesday, he gave Charlie Partridge a call Wednesday night to let him know the good news.
Brewu committed to Pitt Wednesday night over offers from Akron, Army, Ball State, Boston College, Bowling Green, Cincinnati, Duke, Iowa State, Kent State, Miami (Oh.), Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio, Toledo and Western Michigan.
“The main reason is just coach Partridge is one of the best ever, so the things they do with guys my size are just second to none,” Brewu told PSN. “For example, Calijah Kancey, I actually got a chance to meet him when I was down there, and he’s just a guy who’s around my exact size.
“He’s obviously going to be in the first round of the draft class this year, and the NFL is a big goal of mine, so I think if there’s a place that I want to go to get that done, Pitt’s the place to be.”
#BLESSED I am extremely excited to announce that I am 100% committed to play football and continue my academic career at The University of Pittsburgh #H2P 🔵🟡‼️@Pitt_FB pic.twitter.com/JVsF3xlG1E
— Francis Brewu🌟 (@FBrewu) March 16, 2023
It’s been a relationship between Brewu and Pitt that has progressed rapidly since a visit in late January. He made a trip to Pittsburgh for Pitt’s Junior Day on Jan. 28, which is when he officially picked up his offer, and he made it back out Tuesday for practice.
Brewu had visits planned for Ohio State, Northwestern and Iowa State (and had already made visits to Cincinnati and Toledo) this spring, but after his visit at Pitt, he found the place he feels like he needs to be.
“I really didn’t have plans to commit going into the visit, just when I got down and sat with coach Partridge and just talked football and technique, I was just really amazed to see the level of knowledge he had,” Brewu said. “I just felt that it would be great for him to be my coach, so I made the decision.”
It was a mutual feeling when it came to Brewu’s desire to be coached by the best defensive line coach in college football. Partridge certainly played a large part in bringing Brewu to Pitt, but it wasn’t just Partridge either. Ryan Manalac was another key figure in building the relationship.
And as an “undersized” defensive lineman, one who tries to model his game off of former Pitt All-Americans in Aaron Donald and Calijah Kancey, Brewu feels like he’s a perfect fit in the system — a continuation of the linemen Pitt has been pumping out.
There’s a level of quickness off the line and a degree of hand-to-hand aggression that jumps off the page when watching Kancey and Donald, and it’s those two areas Brewu prides himself on. They’re explosive, powerful players (able to go through or around offensive linemen), and Brewu’s goal is to model himself off of both “undersized” linemen with a similar level of speed and power.
As a junior at Thomas Worthington, he flashed his speed and power, racking up 74 tackles (42 solo), 25 tackles for loss, 12.5 sacks and two fumble recoveries on the defensive line.
“I just feel like I fit perfectly in that system because they run a four-man system and they run a vertical system, so you can get vertical,” Brewu said.
247Sports rates Brewu as the 784th-ranked recruit in the class (75th-ranked defensive lineman and 35th-ranked recruit from Ohio) while On3 rates him as the 858th-ranked recruit in the class (82nd-ranked defensive lineman and 36th-ranked recruit from Ohio).
Rivals hasn’t rated Brewu yet, but he does hold a 5.6 Rivals Rating — and he should be ranked in coming re-rankings.
Regardless of rankings, Pitt’s coaching staff — which doesn’t often miss on defensive linemen — saw a lot of traits in Brewu that they valued. And Brewu, on the other side, saw the perfect opportunity when committing to Pitt.
“It feels great,” Brewu said. “It really does feel great because Pitt’s been one of the dream schools of mine, so it’s a great accomplishment to be able to have the opportunity to go to a dream school.”
Brewu is Pitt’s fifth commit in the class of 2024, the third defensive lineman — joining four-star Jahsear Whittington (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) and Ty Yuhas (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania). Pitt has also landed four-star wide receiver DayDay Farmer (Cocoa, Florida) and three-star running back Juelz Goff (York, Pennsylvania).
