Nathan Pickering
Nathan Pickering
Wins his gap play after play. Three seasons at Mississippi State, two different head coaches: Mike Leach and Greg Knox. One game to point at: 8 tackles, 2 sacks against South Carolina — Week 4, 2023.
Low coverage — composed from the verified record.
- positional archetype classification
- head-coach lineage
- game log
How it ended
Three seasons at Mississippi State, 96 tackles — his college career is complete.
Career Arc
Coaching Lineage · 2021–2023
2 coachesCoaching transition mid-career: Mike Leach → Greg Knox. Worth noting in scheme + development context.
2025 snapshot
Season context · Team result + system
Splits & context
Supporting Cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Jeff Lebby
Awards
Player Standing · 17 rungs
Tier 2 · StarterR06 · Starter
Starter. Tackle volume for the position at a full-time starter's level.
Career stats
| Season | Team | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Mississippi State | 44 | 17 | 3.0 | 2.0 | -- | -- | -- |
| 2022 | Mississippi State | 25 | 11 | 4.5 | 2.0 | 1 | -- | -- |
| 2021 | Mississippi State | 27 | 13 | 7.0 | 4.0 | -- | -- | -- |
| Career | 96 | 41 | 14.5 | 8.0 | 1 | -- | -- |
Signature game
SIGNATURE GAME · Week 2 · 2023
W 31–24
vs Arizona
0 TFL · 2 SOLO · 4 TOT
A wire-to-wire battle — won by 7 at home.
How he plays
Play style
Stout at the point of attack — steady tackle-for-loss production without a standout pass-rush number.
CFB Index positional classification
DNA match
Player DNA
Two-Gap Base
Stout at the point of attack — steady tackle-for-loss production without a standout pass-rush number.
His 2023 production profile sits closest to Zacch Pickens’s 2022 season.
Matches Zacch on
Not enough data yet for this comparison.
As a graduate, his production profile tracks closest to Raishein Thomas's graduate season at Northern Illinois (2023).
Matches Raishein on