Syracuse Football: Get to Know Your Orange Man - #10 Markus Pierce-Brewster

This afternoon, "Get to Know..." takes a look at the player who many consider to be the gem of this last recruiting class...

Name: Markus Pierce-Brewster

Position: Defensive End

Year: Junior

Height: 6'3"

Weight: 230 pounds

Hometown: National City, CA

High School: Sweetwater HS

Junior College: City College of San Francisco

2011 Stats: MBP put up some gaudy numbers for City College last fall, recording 62 tackles, 18.5 for a loss, and 8 sacks on the season.

2012 Projections: Pierce-Brewster, by all accounts, is a seasoned player coming out of junior college, and should immediately help fill the hole left by Chandler Jones.

How'd He Get Here?: Syracuse, for whatever reason, has had a lot of luck grabbing highly rated JuCo defensive linemen out of California. Pierce-Brewster joins fellow west coasters Zian Jones and Deon Goggins on the D-Line. He credited the coaching staff as a whole as a big reason why he signed with Syracuse. Marrone and company landed him over Oregon State, Kansas, Ole Miss and Indiana.

What'd Scout/Rivals Say?: Both gave him three stars, as did ESPN. For what it's worth, 247sports is more bullish on MBP, giving him four stars, and calling him the third best recruit out of California and the second best weak-side defensive end in the country.

Money Quote: From Nolan's report in January:

"One thing that really stuck out to me was the coaching staff as a whole," said Pierce-Brewster, who visited the campus Jan. 13-15. "At Syracuse, it felt more like a brotherhood. You could see that they had a strong relationship with each other. It was real alluring to me."

Links of Wonder: MPB spoke with Orange Fizz on signing day.

What Does Marrone Think?: Courtesy of The Juice

"It’s very difficult for us to bring in people with size. We’ve had issues with that trying to find enough players in this area with size," Syracuse coach Doug Marrone said. "For us to have to go to junior college to get a player like Zian Jones or Markus Pierce-Brewster, people who have been established that have done a very good job is going to help our football team."

Interesting Nugget O'Interest: Markus comes from a football family. His brother Ernest was a Kansas State Wildcat and spent time in the AFL.

Let Us Get a Good Look Atchya:

A full season's worth of highlights are available on MPB's Hudl page.