Five-star DB committed to LSU reacts to Florida-Miami game

Zephyrhills (Florida) High cornerback DJ Pickett said he was 1,000 percent committed to the LSU Tigers ahead of his visit to Florida last weekend. After seeing UF fall to Miami on Saturday, 41-17, the Gators’ path to flipping Pickett is unclear.

Pickett wasn’t too critical of Florida following the loss, but he appears firm in his commitment to LSU. Saturday’s outcome might have helped Miami more than Florida, too.

“It was a good match-up with two Florida teams going at it,” Pickett said to Blake Alderman of 247Sports. “All the Florida people came out. Just a good atmosphere. Miami showed me a lot today. Florida, yeah they did good today.”

Pickett is no stranger to The Swamp, but he hadn’t quite experienced a rivalry gameday atmosphere there until Saturday.

DJ Pickett’s relationship with coaches

However, atmosphere doesn’t outweigh relationships for Pickett, who says he’s likely to land wherever LSU defensive backs coach Corey Raymond is. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because Raymond spent the past two years coaching Florida’s secondary under Billy Napier.

Raymond’s departure from the program figured to have recruiting implications for Florida, and Pickett might be the biggest of those losses.

Still, Florida is hoping to convince him to stay in the Sunshine State and to come play under the team’s new secondary coach Will Harris.

“I said what’s up to Coach Harris. It was just a brief conversation, but it was a good conversation. It was a small amount of time. Coach Harris is one of my guys too.”

The Gators expect to get Pickett back on campus for the LSU game in November, but that could wind up the same way the Miami game went. Florida tried to get Pickett on an official visit for the Samford game, despite the five-star recruit pushing for the Miami visit to be an official one.

Recruiting Summary

Pickett is a consensus five-star recruit ranked inside the top 15 on all four major recruiting services. The 247Sports composite and On3 industry ranking agree that Pickett is the No. 7 overall recruit and No. 2 cornerback in the class of 2025.

Before committing to LSU on July 17, recruiting experts favored the Oregon Ducks to land Pickett. The On3 recruiting prediction machine has Oregon listed as the favorite at 51.2% odds, which has many believing his recruitment is still open.

Florida hasn’t led the On3 RPM since May 10 when the Gators had 19.9% odds. Currently, UF has a 1.1% chance to sign Pickett.

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