As the air gets colder, and the temperatures drop, high school football has become an image of the past for most until August. But for Nafis Pickett, the work never stops.

Pickett is the wide receivers coach and the recruiting coordinator for the Alcovy Tigers, a position he started earlier this year. His role is to facilitate the recruiting efforts for student-athletes that wish to play at the next level.

The efforts made by Pickett have been as strong as the Alcovy program has ever seen. As of this writing, 15 Alcovy seniors have received offers from universities across the country to play football at the next level.

Those seniors include Tim Griffin, Cardarius Dowell, Trensten Coleman, Jaksyn Blackman, Jacob Henderson, Xavier Smith, Destin Cohran, Parker Gassmann, Jeremiah Heard, Allen Clennon, Eric Williams, Jacob Kitchens, Anthony Ragn, Elijah Slidell and Tristen Forest

Whether it’s Division I, Division II, NAIA or JUCO, Pickett said he wants to see his players find a place where they can succeed on and off the gridiron.

“At the end of the day you wanna go get an education, you wanna be able to go somewhere where you can play all four years where you won’t have to sit on the bench the whole time,” Pickett said.

Despite only having one full season under his belt at Alcovy, Pickett is far from new to coaching and recruiting. He has been involved in high school football coaching for over a decade, with stops including Duluth and Lanier. 

Pickett’s love for football began at Bishop McNamara High School in Forestville, Maryland. After spending four years playing football in high school, he successfully walked on to Delaware State for his final two years of college.

After not initially thinking about getting into coaching, he decided to transition to the other side of the game where he met his mentor Dorian Rogers at Duluth High School. Rogers took Pickett under his wing and showed him the ropes in coaching and recruiting.

Under Rogers’ guidance, Pickett began to build a network of coaches through cold calling and traditional networking events. But Pickett has since taken that one step further, utilizing the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, to his advantage. To date, Pickett has 2,500 followers on X, which has helped build his network to a whole different level. 

This especially came in handy for Alcovy’s top recruit, Griffin, who has since signed with the Cincinnati Bearcats.

Originally just receiving a handful of offers from lower-level Division I schools, a conversation with the University of Alabama’s director of recruiting Jatavis Sanders opened the door for Griffin’s biggest offer to date.

After a weekend visit with the team, Griffin was offered on the spot by the Crimson Tide, marking a pivotal point in his recruiting journey.

“To get an Alabama offer on the spot, that’s amazing,” Pickett said. “That’s when it took off for him.”

The bidding war for Griffin soon commenced, as the Alcovy talent got offers from Florida State, Ole Miss and Notre Dame among others. But it was the Cincinnati Bearcats that resonated with Griffin the most, as he signed the school on early national signing day. In doing so, became one of the most sought out prospects in school history.

But Griffin is just one of what is shaping up to be the largest signing class in Alcovy’s history. According to Pickett, we may see even more offers roll in by the time national signing day comes around.

“I would say that we could possibly get another three, maybe four more,” Pickett said. “I think when it’s all said and done, we could possibly have maybe 16-17 kids on scholarships.”

Ultimately, getting to the 16-17 mark has some components that are out of Pickett’s control. But for the parts that can be controlled, the recruiting guru has some advice for young men wanting to enter the next level of football.

“I tell kids this all the time. What makes my job easy is if you have the grades,” Pickett said. “If you don’t have a 3.0 or higher, you make it harder for me to try and sell you to coaches.”

Grades, hard work and persistence are three qualities that allow student-athletes to move onto the next level. All of this is what Pickett and company call a “culture change” that’s happening at the school.

Pickett hopes that while the team has reached new heights in its recruiting efforts this year, that the program’s trajectory continues to climb so that others can reach their goals as well. In doing so, more moments that Pickett cites as his favorite of his job can be created for a lifetime.

“The biggest thing for me is seeing these young men sign on the dotted line on signing day,” Pickett said. “Because knowing that their parents don’t have to pay a dime for them going to school, that’s the biggest win for me.”