Pitt FB Recruiting
2025 Post-Grad LB With Pitt Connection is Attending Junior Day
Pitt has certainly had some success with linebackers who have taken a prep year following their high school careers.
SirVocea Dennis, who is now a linebacker for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, is a lofty goal to attain, but he was a two-star recruit who picked up a Pitt offer late in his prep season that turned into one of the better Panthers in recent memory.
This isn’t to say Markus Boswell will turn out anything like Dennis, or even pick up an offer from Pitt, but he’s coming to town for Junior Day this weekend.
Boswell — a 6-foot-1, 200-pound linebacker from Lake Travis High in Austin Texas, who is playing for the JP Bandits post-graduate team — won’t be able to see his sister Raeven, a sophomore on the Pitt women’s basketball team, due to a game on the road against Notre Dame. But he’s excited for the chance to come back to Pittsburgh.
He’s heard a lot from his sister, too. She’s told him how the city works, how everything is right there –including the support system. It’s certainly a good spot.
“It’s a great place,” Boswell told Pittsburgh Sports Now. “I went there for camp, got to meet the coaches and some of the players too, learned the way they coach, and I like the way they coach, I feel very comfortable there and coach (Ryan) Manalac, awesome guy and a great coach, and we just have a great bond and great chemistry. He’s built a great connection with me.”
Boswell started hearing from Pitt prior to his appearance for a camp in Pittsburgh last summer, and he’s been hearing from the staff since. Of course, he’s heard from Manalac the most though.
“(Manalac) likes how I move and how aggressive I play because Pittsburgh’s linebackers, they’re really aggressive and they like to blitz them a lot,” Boswell said. “And I like to blitz, too. And also, not just blitzing and reading the pass, but the pass game too. He likes how I drop back and be in coverage.”
Boswell is obviously familiar with Manalac and some of the coaches on staff, but he’s looking forward to getting a chance to see all of what Pitt has to offer. He’s seen the facilities, but it was largely in passing following a camp performance. Now he’ll be able to really check it out and spend time with the Panthers coaches.
Boswell put together a strong senior season at Lake Travis, racking up 80 tackles (48 solo), five tackles for loss and a team-high nine sacks, helping the Cavaliers to an 11-3 season. But despite his success, his recruiting process didn’t go the way he wanted, so he decided to take a step back and reclassify to the class of 2025.
Boswell received interest last year, checking out Texas, Arizona, Colorado and Penn State and receiving serious interest from Stephen F. Austin, but the offers he was looking for never materialized. So, he decided to spend one more season trying to perfect his craft and pick up an offer.
Pitt is the first school to extend a Junior Day invite, and considering his ties and familiarity with the Panthers, he really hopes to pick up an offer. Of course, that’s up to the coaches, but he knows they’ve seen him in person, seen his measurements, watched his tape and now it’s just another chance to connect.
Pitt is a school that Boswell would really like to play for in the future.
“They’re a hard-working program, they set goals, of course, they produce great players that go to the NFL,” Boswell said. “Aaron Donald is one of the biggest examples. They’re just a hard-working program.”
Pitt has not yet landed a commitment in the class of 2025, but the recruits in the class are beginning to come to the forefront.
The Panthers are in the mix for four-star linebacker Dayshaun Burnett (Pittsburgh, Pa.), three-star athlete Emmanuel Taylor (Virginia Beach, Va.), three-star offensive lineman Raphael Greene (Cincinnati, Ohio), four-star wide receiver Jadyn Robinson (San Juan Capistrano, Cal.), three-star running back Jeffrey Overton Jr. (Woodbridge, Va.), three-star athlete Jaiden Brown-Demery (Mest Mifflin, Pa.) and three-star edge rusher Sharlandiin Strange (Wyncote, Pa).
