Booker Pickett Jr and Ryan Mack, both Miami signees, stood out at the Under Armour All-American game.
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00:00 And let's start with Booker Pickett, who was one of two hurricanes who really shined in the game.
00:04 You know, Pickett picked up a couple of sacks in that game, looked borderline unblockable,
00:11 like I mentioned, Brian. What stood out to you most from the edge rusher, who is a four-star,
00:16 yet, you know, we don't talk about him as much as, let's say, Marquis Lightfoot, but Booker Pickett
00:20 looked fantastic out there. Well, I wasn't really shocked because he had 22 sacks just as a
00:26 sophomore. He had, I believe, over that number, 25 or 26, something like that, as a junior.
00:33 Not as many as a senior as he played both linebacker and defensive end, but he'd already
00:38 accrued all those skills and he just applied them. He told me that they just wanted him to go after
00:44 the quarterback, basically, in this game. Let's simplify and not make this too rough.
00:47 And boy, did he ever. He's got a bevy of moves, man. Spin move, stop and start, he can just speed
00:54 rush. And quite honestly, most of the offensive tackles were not able to handle his first step,
01:00 no matter what he went with. Booker seemed to beat them with that first step. And then
01:05 once he had them leaning one way or the other, he would make a cut. And oftentimes,
01:10 they barely touched him. So he's a really unique athlete. Both his parents went to the U,
01:15 were athletes. Great kid. And it's somebody that I'm really curious to see what Lance
01:20 Guidry comes up with for game to game. How do we use this guy against team A compared to team B?
01:26 And that's why football is so fascinating. How well do you think his current physical maturity,
01:32 how quickly do you think that's going to translate to the college level?
01:35 That's what's also interesting. I've always been on him about his weight because he was hovering
01:41 around 200 pounds. I used to call him peanut butter because I used to tell him I was going to
01:44 make him eat peanut butter. He went from like 202, 204, like in the spring, to he's about 215
01:52 right now. He's starting to finally gain weight. And that may not sound like a lot, but a lot of
01:56 great defensive ends that played in the NFL at 260 were at this weight at that point. A lot of guys
02:01 at Miami, Peter Boerwara, Ft. State, Justin Tuck, etc. A lot of guys were 215 out of high school.
02:06 It's different when you get to college with the major college program with all those weights,
02:11 everything they could do. They've got so many guys. I think he'll be 235 in about a year.
02:15 This season coming up, I'm hoping they can get him to 225 so it's not like overbearing. You've got
02:21 to adjust to how much you're carrying. But then after his first year, probably being primarily
02:26 a special teams guy and a pass rusher that year too, I think you'll see Booker do all kinds of
02:31 different things. Again, Guidry's scheme is pretty complex. It takes a while to learn anyway.
02:36 And he told me he's going to play the same spot that Wesley did. I interviewed him earlier this
02:40 year at a game for Tampa where he played. He said, "That's fine with me. I'll play that."
02:45 And even in that game that I was at, about half the time he came after the quarterback,
02:48 about half the time he played linebacker. He moved around and he was cool with it either way.
02:52 I think you'll see him do that quite a bit for the Kings.
02:55 - I like that. And so his final stats, Booker Pickett in the Under Armour All-American game,
03:00 a game high, two sacks, as I mentioned, also had two and a half tackles for loss,
03:04 two quarterback hurries and a forced fumble. He played really well. You know who also played
03:10 really well is Ryan Mack from St. Thomas Aquinas. Now, only a three-star, Brian,
03:16 but I saw him out there covering four and five-star wide receivers, and he certainly
03:21 did not look out of place. I don't think he gave up any completions in the game.
03:24 - It's interesting because even myself, because I've seen Ryan for three seasons now,
03:31 I've been a little bit surprised about him. But from talking to Rod Mack, and I had that article
03:35 up on All Hurricanes a few days ago, his father, he was the one that coached all these guys, Josiah,
03:41 Jeremiah, Chance, all of them, coming up. And he told me, he goes, "Ryan's not the biggest guy,
03:46 but technique's good," et cetera. And he hadn't even played corner until his junior year high
03:50 school. He played running back and safety. But Chaminade and all these schools down there, STA,
03:55 et cetera, they've got loaded rosters and they had two safeties. One kid went to Penn State,
04:00 one kid went to Florida State, and they were the safeties. So he's like, "Okay, I want to play."
04:04 And he's taken to corner very well. He even had a pass breakup against Cam Foleman,
04:09 the big receiver going to Auburn. He's a 6'4", 190 guy. And he just has a knack for timing,
04:15 when to reach in for the football, not to be too grabby. He doesn't get overbearing with
04:21 all the little things the other guys do when they're grabbing, going down the field, trying to,
04:23 you're not hiding, you're out there by yourself. It's easy to see. He doesn't do those things.
04:27 He relies on his technique and he applies it play after play. And he just starts over the next play.
04:33 He's so even keeled. Middley, that might be Ryan's best attribute because corners, man,
04:37 a lot of them are high strung. They get beat, it gets in their head. He doesn't let it happen.
04:42 And here's a little stat, his three PBUs are like all-time high in that game.