Justin Thompson had previously visited Pittsburgh for a spring practice back in March and it caught his eye. Thompson returned over the weekend for his official visit and saw even more, enough to make the 6-3 and 225-pound outside linebacker from Maryland want to commit to Pitt.

“I feel like I got to see more of the family aspect and brotherhood,” Thompson told Panther-Lair.com after his commitment. "I saw it on the field, but on the official visit I felt it on a personal level being with the players the whole day.”

The connections he made with the current players, the coaches, and the fellow official visitors was enough to tip Thompson over the edge and make his decision.

“The whole visit just felt real,” he explained. "The coaches were very genuine and everybody was just loving. I just felt a great family aspect over there, like a real brotherhood that I could fit in to.”

The visit checked a lot of new boxes for Thompson, but one thing has always been apparent to him, and that’s being a fit in Pitt’s aggressive 4-3 defense. He got to spend more one on one time with Pitt linebackers coach Ryan Manalac, which reinforced that notion to him.

“I can fit in like all three linebacker spots,” said Thompson. “They’re like the most aggressive defense in the country. I’m going to fit real well into their system and how they do things. They blitz a lot, which is what I like to do, so it just fits right.”

Thompson plans to enroll at Pitt in January and be with the team for spring football next year. He wants to find the field early, so the Pitt coaches matched him with Braylan Lovelace to be his host, a current linebacker who enrolled early and played as a true freshman this past season.

“He played 11 out of the 12 games and made great plays and got great playing time as a freshman and he’s starting this year,” Thompson said of being hosted by Lovelace. “I feel like having him as a host was great because it’s going to show me what I’m looking forward to do playing, even starting as a true freshman, so just showing that it’s able to be done as long as you put the work in.”

Thompson had a pretty good idea going into this weekend he might commit. He claimed an offer sheet which included Baylor, California, Duke, Florida, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Thomson had been talking to other schools about setting up official visits, but this was the only one set in stone. A final talk with Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi made his decision to cancel his other plans easier.

“It was a great conversation,” Thompson said when he told Narduzzi about his decision. “I talked to him before, but I feel like the last talk sealed the deal for me and that’s why I committed. I feel like that talk was what I needed to hear.”

Thompson was one of five players to commit this weekend. He is the fourth to announce joining Max Hunt, Ja’Kyrian Turner, and Julien Anderson.

“Everybody was real cool, welcoming and I feel like we all just felt the same vibe and that’s why we all wanted to commit,” Thompson said of the other visitors. “We’re all great players and could see ourselves building a great dynasty over there for the next couple of years.”