4-star DE Pickering has his eye on a decision
SEMINARY, Miss. — Over the past nine months, Nathan Pickering has emerged as one of the top prospects in the state of Mississippi. The 6-foot-5, 277 pound defensive end is only a junior, but due to the combination of his size, athleticism, versatility and upside, he has numerous top programs targeting him to be part of their 2019 class.
As we inch closer to the early signing period for the 2018 class, Pickering appears to be pretty far along with his recruitment. On November 10, the No. 12-ranked strong-side defensive end named his top five schools.
Alabama, Florida State, Georgia, LSU and Mississippi State made that list. Despite there being a coaching change at the in-state school since that time, not only does Pickering still have the same list, but he has declared that as his final list.
"I see myself committing to one of those five schools," said Pickering. "Those five schools are really my final five schools. I do not see it changing.
"People always say to wait and enjoy the recruiting process, but then again, I have done a lot of homework and studied these five schools, so I just feel it will be one of my top five schools when I make my decision.
"I have been praying about it, God started to reveal schools that could be right for me and I feel I have found the ones that are most compatible to me."
Out of the five favorites, Pickering has yet to visit Florida State or Georgia. He plans to do that in the spring, possibly sooner.
His mother encourages him to give each school a chance and to do homework on each program, so even though he has not visited each school on his list, he knows a good bit about each.
Pickering breaks down his favorites.
ALABAMA: "I was at Alabama for the games against Arkansas and LSU. What stands out to me there are their details. They do everything very detailed. They are also very aggressive and I like that a lot. They go at it and get after it all times, even in warm-ups. I like the coaches, their style of coaching and the fans are great too."
FLORIDA STATE: "I have talked to three different coaches at Florida State and we have talked a lot. I like what they have to say and their love does not appear to be any type of fake love. I like how I relate to the coaches there and how they have relayed information to me really caught my attention. I want to take a visit there to see what it is like, but they have impressed me so far."
GEORGIA: "When Georgia first offered me, I didn't really know much about them. My mom makes me do research on each school that offers me, so when I started doing that on Georgia, I started to like them. As I kept looking at them, I saw a lot I liked. They offer my major (mechanical engineering), they place a lot of guys in the NFL and the coaches are real with me. I have watched some of their games and I like their defensive line group too."
LSU: "I visited LSU for the first time when I was there for the Arkansas game. They really made a good first impression on me. I know there is a lot of fake love out there, but I really felt LSU kept it real with me. I had some good moments with the coaches and I really liked the atmosphere. It was one of my best visits so far. There was probably 30-40 recruits there that day and the coaches spent time with each one of us. The coaches were talking to me about grades, my major and they showed me they really cared about me."
MISSISSIPPI STATE: "I have been to Mississippi State a lot with my cousin Mark McLaurin being there. I have been to a lot of games, I have just spent time around the campus and I just like the atmosphere there. I love the people there, I like how they run their school and overall, I just think it is a great school. Coach Mullen leaving does not really matter to me. I still like Mississippi State."
Pickering plans to be a December graduate and at this time he sees himself committing at some point late in the spring or early in the summer of 2018.