Oklahoma Sooners Football Recruiting: 2020 ILB Shane Whitter commits to Oklahoma

One set of eye emojis down, one to go.

Lincoln Riley and the Oklahoma Sooners’ staff hosted Shane Whitter for the TCU game this past weekend, and things went quite well. The Wake Forest commitment stayed true to his original pledge for quite some time, but when Oklahoma came calling, it appeared he found a home in Norman. On Wednesday, the 2020 inside linebacker from Burlington, N.C. flipped his commitment from Wake Forest to Alex Grinch’s forces.

Whitter is currently one of Oklahoma’s two linebacker commits (more on that below), but he’s also its only true MIKE LB in the class of 2020. He stands at a frame of 6’0, 220 lbs., and his film is good enough to suggest he may get bumped to that fourth star by the recruiting services later this year in spite of his shorter stature. He has work to do in the weight room as well as learning to control the traffic over the middle in the Big 12 Conference, but his nose for the ball and ability to get downhill are what he’s currently flashing.

Whitter is just one of a few defensive targets that Alex Grinch may be incredibly thankful for this week, continuing to add to the 2020 recruiting class and gain more quality depth. The Sooners have 18 total commitments and are No. 12 in the 247Composite Class Rankings as well as they remain second in the Big 12 Recruiting Rankings. So what’s the reason Oklahoma is still at 18 after this commitment? Well, it’s because Oklahoma’s previous inside linebacker commit — Edgerrin Cooper — announced his decommitment just a moment later.

This decommitment was directly tied to Whitter’s flip to Oklahoma and has been in the works for quite some time.