What Led to Pitt LB Brandon George Deciding to Come ‘Home’

Pittsburgh Panthers linebacker Brandon George (30) November 4, 2023 David Hague/PSN

“It wasn’t as if I didn’t have any other place to go,” George said. “I don’t want you to think that. It was more, this is my home. Like at the end of the day, this is the home that I didn’t necessarily want to leave. At the time, I felt as though it was time to kind of step out, but realizing that this is home, this is where I belong, these are the people that I have come to call family throughout the years that I couldn’t imagine a day without right now.

“Like it’s hard to leave something like that fully behind. Especially when, like, coaches come to see your family. Like they know everybody on a first-name basis. They ask you how your mom is doing, how your dad is doing, how your grandparents are doing. They know everything about you at this point. So, that is family. Especially when they care about you so much.”

George, now that he’s back at Pitt for a final spring, is a key piece in the linebacking corps. It’s a young unit, especially outside, but he’s pairing with Ohio transfer Keye Thompson to form a veteran Mike duo — if Thompson sticks inside.

The oldest outside linebacker — outside of Solomon DeShields — in the rotation is Kyle Louis, a third-year sophomore. The rest are freshmen and sophomores. George is going to be tasked with leading the unit. He’s been around, part of the ACC championship squad, and he knows what it takes to get back to that point. Pitt needs its edge back.

And through the start of spring, through three practices, he feels like the entire team has strived for it. Attacking the ball, pursuing the ball and making those small changes that result in greater, sustained success.

“Last year was a hiccup,” George said. “I don’t want people to think that that’s who we are as a football team because it’s not. At the end of the day, we are a smash-mouth, blue-collar football team that’s going to try and knock your teeth out your back end. That’s how we approach this spring ball, getting back to what we’re doing. How we’ve done it in the past and who we really are.”

The Pitt linebackers will look different in 2024, with only Solomon DeShields returning as a long-term starter, and George is looking forward to leading the charge.

Pitt has had some very talented linebackers come through the program over the last few seasons, but the unit needs to work together as a whole. And George — and someone like Thompson and DeShields — will need to showcase just how the unit can mesh, play off each other and serve as the heart and soul of the defense.

“The mentality we have here is we’re going to walk out and dominate every play, every snap, every second of a football game,” George said. “And let you know that you’re playing the Pitt Panthers. And that’s the ideal that we’ve set forth in the past. You look in the back. One of our four pillars is toughness. That’s something that we maybe lapsed on a little bit last year, but that’s no more. We’re a tough football team and we’re going to show people how tough we are in the coming games.”