Miami football trending for 4-star DE Booker Pickett Jr. with Thursday announcement

The Miami football program is trending for four-star edge rusher Booker Pickett Jr. ahead of his announcement on Thursday at 7:00 PM Eastern Time. Pickett Tweeted on Thursday afternoon that he would be making his commitment announcement later that night. Defensive line coach Jason Taylor is leading Pickett’s recruitment.

Pickett is the 212th prospect, 16th edge rusher and 29th player in Florida in the 247 Sports Composite Rankings. Pickett is a legacy at Miami. Booker Pickett Sr. was a defensive lineman and linebacker at Miami in the mid-1990s. There are three 247 Sports crystal balls logged projecting Pickett to commit to Miami.

The On3 Recruiting Prediction Machine projects Miami with a 91.1 percent chance of receiving a commitment from Pickett. Pickett most recently visited Miami for the Georgia Tech Game on October 8. Florida State, Miami and Ohio State were the only programs to receive multiple visits from Pickett per On3.

Georgia, Florida, Texas, Texas A&M, UCLA and USC all received one visit from Pickett per 247 Sports. Pickett tweeted a top five of Florida State, Georgia, Miami, Ohio State and South Carolina in August. Pickett would be the latest blue-chip addition to the Miami defensive line in the 2024 class.

Pickett has 233 tackles, 51 tackles for loss, 70 sacks, eight forced fumbles and five blocked kicks in his high school career at Tampa Wharton per Max Preps. Pickett has 40 tackles, 13 TFLs and 10 sacks in seven games as a senior in 2023. At 6’3 and 205, Pickett has to add a lot of muscle to his frame in college.

The 2024 Miami football class previously has commitments from blue-chip DL Artavius Jones, Marquise Lightfoot and Elias Rudolph. Taylor and Co-DL coach Joe Salave’a have done an exceptional job recruiting for the 2024 class. The 2024 Miami class is currently 13th in the national recruiting rankings.