Booker Pickett, Jr. Follows In Family Footsteps And Signs With Miami Hurricanes

Tampa Wharton's Booker Pickett, Jr. signs with the Miami Hurricanes

Author:
Brian Smith
Publish date:
Dec 20, 2023 8:12 AM EST

In this story:

The Miami Hurricanes are bringing in a legacy with its most recent National Signing Day announcement for a recruit sending in his letter of intent

Booker Pickett, Jr.

Size: 6-foot-4, 210 pounds

Position: Linebacker

High School: Tampa (Fla.) Wharton

Recruitment: Florida State, Ohio State, Tennessee, and many other programs would like to discuss Pickett as their signee today. Miami still won out. His father, Booker Pickett, Sr., is someone Canes might remember from playing for The U from 1994-1996.

Despite his allegiance to Miami, Pickett, Jr. made it clear that his father wanted his namesake to make his own college choice. It's still Miami in the end.

Strengths: Pickett's first-step explosiveness is going to stand out to people watching his film. Playing both linebacker and edge as a senior for Wharton High School, He's been more of a pass rusher for much of his prep career. 22 sacks as a sophomore, 30 as a junior, and 16 more as a senior, according to Max Preps.

When he's not rushing the passer, he's still good at tracking down the football in the run game by out-maneuvering blockers. He's also adapting his overall game to being good as a zone or man pass defender.

Areas to Improve: The last point from above regarding Pickett's pass coverage needs more reps. It would behoove Pickett to continue to get as many pass-drop repetitions as possible before enrolling at the University of Miami. Once he has a good feel for that, Pickett's speed and athleticism will be tremendous assets to the Miami defensive cause.

From the 2024 Miami Commitments and Evaluations page, here’s an analysis of Pickett's game:

Nov. 5 Update: Pickett plays a combination of outside linebacker and off-ball linebacker for Wharton. Seeing him live on Nov. 3, his ability to get into his drop quickly became quite evident. Just as important, Pickett shows easy change-of-direction skills. Here's an example.
A swing pass to Pickett's side. Even with a lead blocker, Pickett quickly outran that offensive lineman, and also used his speed and length to close the distance between himself and the running back. Even though it was a good pass and the running back saw Pickett headed his direction, the future Hurricane made a great open-field tackle at the line of scrimmage. That's why the Canes coaching staff wants to start him off at the same spot that current Miami linebacker Wesley Bissainthe plays.

It's great that the Canes are bringing in a family member to continue the football tradition at The U!