Pitt DT Francis Brewu is Stronger Than You

Francis Brewu hasn’t always been into lifting weights. It wasn’t until his freshman season at Thomas Worthington High that he actually started to like lifting.

If only that Francis could see himself now.

Brewu is only 6-foot-1. He certainly isn’t a small man, even at just 18 years old, but he isn’t 6-foot-5. Not that it really matters. If Pitt has shown anything, it’s that undersized defensive tackles aren’t at a disadvantage at the next level. Brewu is 280 pounds of thick muscle and might be the strongest man in the locker room. But that hasn’t always been the case.

Anthony Brewu, a running back at Worthington High, used to drag his younger brother to the weight room. He loved the weight room. Francis just wanted to follow in his brother’s footsteps.

So, he hit the gym. He hit the gym every day after school, three hours a day. 15 hours a week just in the gym. And even that, alongside his work on the practice field, wasn’t able to prepare him for the heights he’s reached in his short time at Pitt. He can thank strength & conditioning coach Michael Stacchiotti and his crew for that.

“I was always a strong guy because I worked out a lot, lifting has always been a passion to me, but I wasn’t close to what I’m at now,” Brewu said earlier this month. “I probably put on 40 to 50 pounds on my bench press in a short amount of time, usually, people put on 40 to 50 pounds in a year or two, but this strength program has really gotten me right. Same with the squat, I was squatting probably 600, 615 when I got here, now I’m at about 700 pounds.”

700 pounds. 700 pounds. Brewu has hit 475 pounds on the bench and 700 pounds squatting. He wants to hit 495 on the bench and 750 pounds squatting soon.

That’s a lot of weight. The average person will never be able to throw that kind of weight around, and this is only the beginning for Brewu. He recently decided to finish up a workout with a burnout — as many reps of 225 pounds on the bench as possible. 33. 33 reps.

That would’ve been third amongst all participants at the 2024 NFL Combine.

The tales of Brewu’s feats in the Aaron Donald Football Performance Center are kind of hard to believe. There are many instances of workout warriors in a college weight room, but how many of those are true freshmen? How many haven’t played a single snap at the college level?

It’s physical — and mental — therapy for Brewu.

“Nothing feels better than when you hit a PR,” Brewu said. “Nothing feels better than when you finish a set and you just kill your numbers that you got for that day on bench. Just press that weight up and exhausting your body with weight kind of gives you a clarity in your mind. So, it’s like mental therapy as well. It’s the place I can go if I’m having problems and just work out some of my issues. And just kind of relax.”

Brewu may be one of the newest defensive tackles in the room, but his work in the weight room since arriving as an early enrollee hasn’t gone unnoticed.

“Francis Brewu is really impressive in the weight room and on the field, he had some injuries he went through in the spring, so I didn’t get to see him as much,” Nate Matlack said at Pitt Media Day. “He’s probably actually the strongest guy on the team as a true freshman.”

And Matlack isn’t alone in that thought process:

“It’s not even an argument,” Nahki Johnson said earlier this month. “He’s probably the strongest guy on the team. What I’ve seen him do in the weight room, I never seen anyone do anything like — you hear stories about guys doing this, this and that, throwing around weight in the weight room, but Francis when it’s a light day, he’s throwing around a lot of weight.”

According to Terrence Moore, who matches up with Brewu daily on the interior of the trenches, Brewu is “easily” the strongest on the team.

“He’s short and compact, he hits the weight room — I’m in the same lifting group as him,” Moore said earlier this month. “He hits the weight room with the same mentality to get stronger every day. He knows he’s really strong, but coach Stacc and himself push himself to keep getting stronger.”

Isaiah Neal, a fellow youngster on the defensive line, isn’t surprised that Brewu was named to the College Football Freaks List, 2024. 

“I promise you, that boy is a freak,” Neal said earlier this month. “If y’all had the opportunity to get eyes on that man in the weight room, he’s different. And y’all get to see him on the field and how he moves to be such a big guy.”

Pitt defensive tackle Francis Brewu, spring practice, 4/2/2024.

Brewu was a dominant force at Thomas Worthington last season, racking up 28 tackles for loss and 10 sacks. He recorded 53 tackles for loss and 22.5 sacks over his last two high school seasons. He was a dominant force but hasn’t even scratched the surface of his collegiate potential.

Brewu is strong. He’s the strongest player in the locker room, but that won’t mean a thing if he isn’t able to grow as a football player.

The transition to the college level for Brewu has been hard. The speed of the game is dramatically different. His strength helps, especially as the “low man” on the defensive line, but his strength won’t matter if he isn’t able to build upon his technique. It’s a whole different game when compared to the high school level.

“I felt like I was pretty bad when I first got here,” Brewu said. “And the things I had to adjust to was getting off the ball. I’m still struggling, I think, to get off the ball consistently against these guys because they’re so quick. But getting off the ball is so huge because if you beat them off the ball, you basically won.”

So, while Brewu is stronger than just about anyone, he still has a ways to go. He enrolled early at Pitt and even when he dealt with injuries during the spring, he quickly found out that his technique will need to be perfect.

Even with overwhelming strength, Brewu will need to rely on his technique. It’s about staying low, getting off the ball quickly and using his leverage to beat opposing interior linemen.

“You can be as strong as you want, but if you’re not a good football player, then it doesn’t mean nothing,” Brewu said. “So, working with coach (Tim) Daoust and coach TJ (Minifee), our GA, they’ve played a big part in helping me improve. And I still have a lot of improving to go.”

Brewu knows it isn’t just about strength. If it were, anyone could star in college football. He’s strong, very strong even, but strength isn’t necessarily a prerequisite for being a good football player. He’s improved his explosive ability since arriving at Pitt, hitting a 31.5-inch vertical at 280 pounds, which he certainly wasn’t able to hit in high school.

Brewu is hitting five different kinds of squats right now in his attempt to add strength and explosion. Five. He’s come a long way in a short time but has a long, long way to go. It’s highly likely that Brewu has only scratched the surface of his potential.

“I’ve grown a lot, matured a lot, learned how to handle tough situations, being a college athlete is hard,” Brewu said. “Especially in these times, and being on your own, coming from high school, being with my parents, bring with my brothers, I had to make a new family and build that bond with my teammates and stuff. I’ve grown tremendously.”

It’s uncommon for defensive tackles to crack the starting rotation as true freshmen, but Brewu is someone who could crack the initial two-deep.