BATON ROUGE — LSU football's search for the first cornerback for its 2025 recruiting class is over as of Wednesday afternoon.

Brian Kelly and company were in hot pursuit of the top-rated corner prospect in the class in consensus five-star D.J. Pickett. And the Tigers made their biggest splash on the recruiting trail since landing the No. 1 quarterback in the 2025 class in Bryce Underwood as Pickett committed to LSU.

Pickett, the No. 9 overall rated prospect in the country per the 247Sports Composite, announced his decision on his mother's birthday live on his Instagram page. The 6-4, 180-pound athlete chose LSU over Oregon, who many recruiting experts believed to be the frontrunner for his services, as well as Miami.

Landing Pickett is a massive boost for Kelly, cornerbacks coach Corey Raymond and defensive coordinator Blake Baker as he's a guy that many recruiting analysts believe is ready to come in and compete for a starting job right away in college.

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Pickett's path to a starting cornerback role at LSU appears almost written in stone as it's defensive backfield has not played up to the standard the football program has become synonymous with since the days of Patrick Peterson and Tyrann Mathieu. Last season, LSU's pass defense ranked among the bottom 20 in college football, something unheard of for the Tigers.

LSU did have another cornerback committed for the 2025 recruiting class at one point, four-star instate standout Jaboree Antoine from Westgate. But he decommitted back in June and will announce where he intends to go Saturday.

According to experts, LSU is not trending well to reclaim Antoine as he chooses between the home-state Tigers, Florida State and Miami.

The Tigers still have the No. 6 ranked recruiting class for 2025 after Pickett's announcement Wednesday.

Adding Picket is a major boost for the Tigers. But, because of the secondary's recent performance and shear lack of numbers, Kelly and his staff are still on the market for at least one more cornerback in this year's class — if not a couple to get quality depth corrected.

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LSU football 2025 recruiting class

QB Bryce Underwood / 6-3, 205 / Belleville High School / Belleville, Michigan / No. 1 ranked nationally

CB D.J. Pickett / 6-4, 180 / Zephyrhills High School / Zephyrhills, Florida / No. 9 ranked nationally

RB Harlem Berry / 5-11, 175 / St. Martin's Episcopal School / Metairie / No. 44 ranked nationally

DE Damien Shanklin / 6-4, 230 / Warren Central High School / Indianapolis / No. 48 nationally

DE LaJesse Harrold / 6-5, 215 / Robinson High School / Tampa, Florida / No. 73 nationally

OL Devin Harper / 6-5, 300 / Calvary Baptist Academy / Shreveport / No. 109 ranked nationally

OT Tyler Miller / 6-5, 315 / Laurel High School / Laurel, Mississippi / No. 234 ranked nationally

LB Charles Ross / 6-1, 195 / North Shore High School / Houston / No. 247 ranked nationally

RB JT Lindsey / 5-11, 185 / Alexandria High School / Alexandria / No. 150 nationally

OT Carius Curne / 6-4, 301 / Marion High School / Marion, Arkansas / No. 193 nationally

LB Keylan Moses / 6-2, 210 / University Lab / Baton Rouge / N/A nationally

WR TaRon Francis / 6-2, 200 / Edna Karr High School / New Orleans / No. 191 nationally

TE John David LaFleur / 6-6, 220 / Sulphur High School / Sulphur / N/A nationally

OT Brett Bordelon / 6-4, 260 / Isidore Newman School / New Orleans / N/A nationally

DL Brandon Brown / 6-2, 286 / Eau Gallie High School / Melbourne, Florida / N/A nationally

DL Zion Williams / 6-4, 295 / Lufkin High School / Lufkin, Texas / N/A nationally

Cory Diaz covers the LSU Tigers for The Daily Advertiser as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his Tigers coverage on Twitter: @ByCoryDiaz. Got questions regarding LSU athletics? Send them to Cory Diaz at bdiaz@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: LSU football earns top CB target D.J. Pickett over Oregon, Miami