Oklahoma Early Enrollees: Why 'Violent' LB Phil Picciotti is Just an 'Old School Ball Guy'

Don't expect OU's latest IMG Academy alumna to sit long, since coaches describe him as "laser focused" and say offenses "just can't block this guy."

John E. Hoover | Feb 1, 2023

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Oklahoma Sooners

Editor’s Note: This is Part 14 of a 14-part series on Oklahoma’s early enrollees in the 2023 recruiting class.

Many times, graduating high school early and launching one’s college football career pays off. Many times, it doesn’t.

While early enrollees are navigating new realms of pain and commitment, a lot of their friends are back home — playing basketball, running track or just hanging out and taking full advantage of the affliction known as “senioritis.”

In Oklahoma’s case, 14 newcomers have chosen to make that sudden transition from boys to men. Jerry Schmidt’s winter workouts might seem impossible at first, and then the summer grind is even harder. In between, the coaching staff takes over, and spring football practice puts them ahead of their summer counterparts.

In this series, AllSooners examines each of the 14 newcomers and projects their impact on Brent Venables’ football team in 2023.

— — — —

Oklahoma coach Brent Venables described linebacker Phil Picciotti as “violent.”

Allow IMG Academy coach Billy Miller to elaborate.

“He made some hits this year,” Miller told AllSooners, “our practices are harder than our games, right, because we have the best talent on both sides of the ball — and some of the tackles he made when we were in a live practice tackle situation were some of the best tackles I’ve ever seen at The Academy.”

That’s saying something. IMG puts out some of the best high school talent in the nation year in and year out. Picciotti played his senior year in Bradenton, FL, after transferring last summer from Pennridge High School in Perkasie, PA.

As a junior at Pennridge, Picciotti recorded 144 total tackles. Last year at IMG, with a massive step up in competition — the IMG National Team played powerhouses like Miami Central, De Smet Jesuit in East St. Louis, Central in Phenix City, AL, and St. Frances in Baltimore — he finished with 62 tackles.

That’s one more than Michigan State signee and 4-star teammate Jordan Hall, a three-year starter for the Ascenders.

That’s just football at IMG.

“Yeah, everyone is a big man on campus when they leave their school and come to IMG,” Miller said. “Phil came here to get that structure and that environment for what it’s gonna be like at Oklahoma.”

LB Phil Picciotti

6-3, 225
Perkasie, PA (via IMG Academy)
247 Sports: 3-star, No. 545 overall, No. 48 LB
Rivals: 4-star, unranked overall, No. 12 LB
On3: 3-star, unranked overall, No. 83 LB
ESPN: 3-star, unranked overall, No. 19 LB
Background: Picciotti was a tackling machine at Pennridge High School in Perkasie, PA, but decided he needed better competition and better coaching, so he transferred to IMG Academy in Florida. At IMG, he played linebacker for the National Team and honed his craft alongside several future Division I teammates while playing some of the best competition in the country. He was heavily recruited by Penn State, of course, but eventually chose OU over Auburn, Nebraska and Michigan. Picciotti visited the OU campus four times before taking his official visit and locked onto what Brent Venables and his staff had to sell.
2023 Projection: Picciotti looks and acts like a Division I linebacker, and he’ll be in the mix for playing time very soon. But as a freshman, it seems likely that he’ll back up junior Danny Stutsman and sophomore Jaren Kanak and compete for playing time with 2022 freshmen Kobie McKinzie and Kip Lewis, as well as senior Shane Whitter, who missed most of last season with a shoulder injury. Picciotti, a good athlete and hard hitter, will be a candidate to stand out on special teams in 2023, and should get defensive snaps in certain situations.

Venables, who knows a thing or two about coaching linebackers, likes everything he sees from Picciotti — the important stuff, anyway.

“I felt like (he) was one of the most violent middle linebackers,” Venables said. “Just can't block this guy. Violent hands. Great instincts. Really what you want to be strong on defense, just being strong up the middle.”

Miller agreed with Venables’ evaluation.

“Phil’s an old-school player,” Miller said. “I wish I could get six more of him. He’s a downhill guy — see ball, hit ball. Not afraid of violent contact. Does a great job shedding blocks and using his hands to get to the ball carrier.

Phil Picciotti / Phil Picciotti via Twitter

“Does a good job with front recognition, change of formation, the motions, the shifts, all that stuff. He understands his job and is real communicative on the field. And he leads by example.”

Miller said Picciotti is “blue collar” thanks to his parents, who own a landscaping business back home in Bucks County.

“That’s the way he was raised,” Miller said. “ … Tough, hard-nosed. He’s awesome. He’s gonna have a really, really bright career, I can tell you that. He’s gonna be a physical football player.”

Oklahoma’s 2023 early enrollees

Picciotti was first-team All-Area and All-League after his sophomore and junior seasons, and was All-Area as a sophomore. In 2021, he had 19 tackles for loss.

Picciotti committed to Oklahoma on July 4 — he picked the Sooners over Auburn, Nebraska and Michigan, as well as in-state favorite Penn State — then on July 7 announced he was transferring to IMG.

“I think it will bump up my IQ and set me up for the future at college,” he told PA Prep Live last summer. “Better coaching, better competition, it will just set me up better so I can go into Oklahoma feeling great about myself and what I have to bring to the table when I get there.

“I could see the vision Coach Venables and all the coaches have, and that is to win a championship. Also, Coach Venables has a history of creating great linebackers. Those are a couple things that separated those schools from each other.”

His former coach at Pennridge, Chuck Burgy, described to PA Prep Live last year how Picciotti handled all the recruiting attention.

“You would not think, short of seeing the carousel of coaches that came through since December, that he was going somewhere as big as he is,” Burgy said. “He keeps a mild manner and low profile. He’s humble about it, which is amazing given the attention these guys get every visit. … Just that level of attention for a 16-, 17-year-old kid, to hold it together is admirable.”

Miller saw some of those same traits during Picciotti’s time in Bradenton.

“Extremely driven,” Miller said. “He comes from a great family. Both Phil and Kim have done a great job raising Phil. He’s a ‘yes sir, no sir’ kid. There’s no BS. He’s very driven, laser-focused on his goals and ambitions for the future.”

After safety Brendan Radley-Hiles, running back T.J. Pledger and kicker Gavin Marshall, Picciotti is the fourth former Ascender to go to OU.

Picciotti is 6-foot-3 and 225 pounds, and is plenty athletic. In addition to his expertise on defense, Picciotti was an effective runner at Pennridge, too, rushing for 250 yards and four touchdowns as a junior.

“Phil was a fullback and some tailback,” said OU defensive coordinator Ted Roof.

Miller said he had a “package” for Picciotti to play offense at IMG, but “we never got to it. But yeah, there was a package for him, for sure.”

Of course Picciotti’s specialty will be at linebacker, where he will likely be a true freshman backup in 2023 while he makes plays on special teams — like he did at IMG.

“Phil can play ball, now,” said Miller. “Phil’s a heck of a football player.

“He’s a ‘ball’ guy. Everything you want in Phil, he’s a ball guy. Like I said, if you could give me six of him, I’d take six of him.”

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Published Feb 1, 2023

JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.