BREAKING: Four-star Legacy DE Booker Pickett Jr. Commits to Miami
Blue-chip after blue-chip, Miami has dipped once again into the top prospect pool, giving them yet another strong recruiting class for head coach Mario Cristobal.
With Tampa Wharton (FL) Rivals250 2024 defensive end Booker Pickett committing to Miami on Thursday evening, there have now been eight four or five-star prospects pledge to the Hurricanes since the beginning of the summer.
The focus on the trenches in the last two classes has been especially strong for this staff. In 2023, Miami added five offensive lineman and this year they currently have five defensive linemen committed with 2025 five-star Armondo Blount potentially joining the group via reclassification.
The 6'4" 206-pound Pickett is the third top 250 defensive end, joining Kenwood (IL) four-star Marquise Lightfoot and Taft (OH) four-star Elias Rudolph. Pickett is actually the most productive member of that elite trio. In four varsity seasons, he has 223 tackles, 51 tackles for loss, eight forced fumbles and a ridiculous 70 sacks - with still time left on his senior year.
It was a battle for the legacy recruit, despite a long pursuit from Miami. Back in August, Pickett announced a top five that included Miami along with Ohio State, Florida State, Georgia and South Carolina.
Pickett talked to CanesCounty about why Miami was standing out deep into his process despite multiple college football powers still pushing for his talents.
"Mainly because of the relationships I've built with coach Cristobal and coach [Jason] Taylor. Coach Taylor is really the biggest reason for me. He's a Hall of Famer and somebody I'd loved to be coached by on the next level."
The Seminoles were able to get Pickett to visit for their game against LSU at the beginning of the season and then followed things up with a trip down south for Miami's matchup with Texas A&M.
Over the last month and multiple visits to Miami, Pickett seemed to be quiet things down regarding his recruitment before deciding to follow in his father's path in Coral Gables. Both off Pickett's parents attended Miami and his father, Booker Pickett Sr., is familiar with Cristobal thanks to their Canes connection.
"It just makes me feel more comfortable with Miami," said Pickett back in August of how that familiarity with the school pushed him to Miami. "My dad tells me the networking there i top tier. The culture there is really good. He played with coach Cristobal, so I know mostly everything about Miami."
Overall, things just matched up too perfectly for Pickett to end up at Miami. Besides his legacy status, Miami returns just three players that have multiple years of eligibility and have the ability to play the 'JACK' role that is more of a weakside pass rusher. The trio of ends coming in all have the physical traits, profile and pass rush prowess to fill the role.
Adding yet another top prospect has now put Miami in position to have a second consecutive top 10 recruiting class. With 24 commits and 12 blue-chips locked in, Miami jumps up to the 10th best class in the country, jumping Tennessee while inching closer to Florida State for the best in the conference.
With the pending situation of Blount plus the upcoming decision for four-star defensive lineman LJ McCray coming this weekend, Miami has a real pathway to a top five class.
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