Elite '24 DE Booker Pickett Jr. Includes Louisville in Top Schools

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Louisville football program has already landed one high profile Class of 2024 defender from the state of Florida, and they're already in pursuit of another one.

Tampa (Fla.) Wharton defensive end Booker Pickett Jr. announced the list of his top nine schools on Tuesday, with the Cardinals still in the running for his commitment.

His list of top suitors is a who's who of college football blue bloods, with Georgia, Ohio State, USC, Tennessee, Penn State, Miami, Florida State and South Carolina also making the cut. Pickett currently holds 36 Division I scholarship offers, also being offered by Auburn, Colorado, Michigan, Nebraska, Notre Dame and others.

The 6-foot-3, 200-pound edge rusher is one of the top prospects in the class. According to the 247Sports Composite, he ranks as the No. 11 player in the state of Florida and the No. 52 prospect in the nation.

As you can imagine, Pickett has been incredibly productive during his three years at Wharton. In 11 games during his junior season alone, he collected 56 total tackles (36 solo), an astounding 30.0 sacks and 16.0 tackles for loss. Over the course of his high school career, Pickett already has 60.0 sacks and 38.0 tackles for loss in 31 games.

In the 2024 cycle, first-year head coach Jeff Brohm was able to not only able to keep Homestead (Fla.) HS running back Isaac Brown in the fold, but land a commitment from Miami (Fla.) Columbus linebacker T.J. Capers, who is Louisville's highest-ranked prospect in the modern recruiting era.

Brown and Capers remain Louisville's only two commitments in their 2024 class, which ranks as high as No. 6 in the nation according to On3. It's the highest-ranked two-man class in college football.

(Photo of Booker Pickett Jr.: Mike Farrell - Mike Farrell Sports)

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