Honors & Awards
» Big Ten Co-Freshman of the Week (Nov. 19, 2018)
» Academic All-Big Ten (2019)
» Nebraska Scholar-Athlete Honor Roll (Fall 2018, 2019; Spring 2018, 2019)
» Brook Berringer Citizenship Team (2019, 2020)
» Tom Osborne Citizenship Team (2019, 2020)
2019 (Redshirt)
Barret Pickering utilized his redshirt season in 2019 after injuries limited him to four games. Pickering missed the first seven games of the season due to injury before making his season debut against Indiana, when he hit 1-of-2 field goals and made all four of his extra-point tries. He connected on both of his field goal tries the next week at Purdue (21 and 23 yards) while totaling nine points. Against No. 15 Wisconsin, Pickering missed his lone field goal try but was successful on all three PAT tries as he eclipsed 100 career points. After serving as the Huskers' place-kicker for three straight games, an injury kept Pickering out of Nebraska's win at Maryland. He returned to handle kickoff duties against Iowa in the season finale.
Continued injuries forced Pickering to medically retire following the 2019 season.
2018 (Freshman)
Pickering won the starting job as the Huskers’ place-kicker as a true freshman. Pickering connected on 40-of-41 extra-point tries and he hit 14-of-18 field goal attempts, including 13 of his 14 tries from inside of 40 yards. He made his final 10 field goal attempts and his final 26 extra-point tries. Pickering led Nebraska with 82 points, and he also served as the kickoff specialist in the final three games. In 18 kickoffs, Pickering had six touchbacks and his directional kicking helped NU limit opponents to just 16.9 yards per return.
Pickering connected on 4-of-4 PAT attempts in the season opener against Colorado for his first four career points. Against Troy, Pickering made his first two career field goals from 23 and 32 yards out. Pickering added a then-career-long 35-yard field goal at Michigan for his third consecutive made field goal. He made a 31-yard field goal at Wisconsin and a 34-yard field goal at Northwestern. Pickering did not miss over the final six games, going 25-of-25 on extra points and 9-of-9 on field goals, with at least one field goal in every game. He had six PATs and one field goal against both Minnesota and Bethune-Cookman. Against Illinois, Pickering scored a career-high 10 points, including a career-best seven PATs.
Pickering came up big in a victory over Michigan State, accounting for all nine points, as NU won without scoring a touchdown for the first time since 1937. Pickering hit all three of his field goals in the fourth quarter as Nebraska erased a six-point deficit. He hit two of the three longest field goals of his career against the Spartans, including a 47-yarder with 5:13 remaining that proved to be the game-winning points. For his efforts, Pickering was named the Big Ten Co-Freshman of the Week. He concluded his senior season by making a pair of field goals against Iowa.
Before Nebraska (Hoover HS)
Pickering was one of the nation’s top specialist recruits, and he enrolled at Nebraska in January of 2018. Pickering was a standout place-kicker for Coach Josh Niblett at Hoover High School in Alabama, annually one of the nation’s top prep programs.
Pickering was the starting place-kicker for a pair of Class 7A state championship teams in 2016 and 2017. Pickering connected on 39-of-55 career field goal attempts and earned all-state honors as a junior.
Pickering was ranked by Rivals.com as the No. 4 kicker in the country, while 247Sports ranked him as the 13th-best kicking prospect in the nation. Pickering chose Nebraska over Vanderbilt and Yale.
Personal
Barret is the son of Melissa and Kent Pickering and he was born on Sept. 7, 1999. He graduated with a degree in management in December of 2020. He has volunteered with the Nebraska Football Road Race, the FCA, Husker Heroes and local hospital visits.