Where are they now? Former Marcus standout a key piece of SMU’s offensive line

Justin Osborne is making an impact for the Southern Methodist University Mustangs.

The former standout at Marcus High School in Flower Mound, who earned first-team all-district honors as a junior, originally signed with Auburn. After redshirting his freshman year, he entered the NCAA’s transfer portal in August of 2020, and signed with SMU that month.

Since joining SMU, Osborne has been a regular starter on the Mustangs offensive line, earning preseason all-American Athletic Conference (AAC) honorable and all-ACC second team mentions during the 2022 season.

Osborne helped propel the Mustangs to national rankings of seventh in passing offense (316.7) and red zone offense (.919), 10th in third down conversion percentage (.478), 11th in first down offense (331) and 15th in total offense (472.8), according to the SMU website.

I spoke to Osborne after the game and asked him what playing high school football at Marcus did to help prepare him physically for the college game. Osborne cited the team mentality of “grinding together,” well as the physical aspects of the program that were stressed; lifting weights, workouts and staying in playing shape. He noted that the change from high school to college centered around the amount of film watching, studying the opponent, and learning how to spot different blitz packages that are part of his responsibility to pick up on the offensive line.

Osborne wanted to credit his high school English teacher, Ms. Strauss and former Marcus head football coach Kevin Atkinson for influencing him and helping him achieve the success in the classroom and on the field that he currently enjoys at SMU.

Story and photos by Allen David Photography