4-star SDE Ron Tatum commits to Texas over Oklahoma, Alabama, others

An uneventful string of bad recruiting luck continues for Bob Stoops and his staff, as they were forced to watch Tom Herman swoop in and land another key, Oklahoma native on Wednesday afternoon as Putnam City strong-side defensive end Ron Tatum announced his commitment to the Texas Longhorns.

Along with Oklahoma, Tatum also listed Alabama, TCU and Georgia as his finalists on Monday.

By most accounts, Oklahoma was the overwhelming favorite in Tatum’s recruitment, essentially from the very beginning. While there was reason for cautious optimism in Austin, Texas was, at best, considered to be a distant second throughout. After flipping Sooners quarterback pledge Cameron Rising on Saturday, though, the Texas staff’s ability to come in and land yet another key Oklahoma target isn’t as surprising as it may have been at this point last week.

After all, Tatum did say if there was a program that could lure him from the home-state favorites, it was Texas. Today, the Longhorns did just that.

Bear in mind, though, that despite today’s pledge to Texas, Tatum has made it clear that he’s not completely shutting his recruitment down and will continue to take visits, so Oklahoma is certainly still in the mix here.

As for now, Tatum becomes the sixth member of Herman’s 2018 class and the third pledge in the last five days, as three-star offensive tackle Reese Moore committed on Sunday after Texas flipped Rising. Tatum is also now the second-highest ranked member of the Longhorns’ class, trailing just Justin Watkins, who ranks No. 41 overall. He joins four-star quarterback Casey Thompson as Oklahoma natives that have sided with the Longhorns this cycle.

A 6’4.5, 269-pound talent, Tatum ranks as the nation’s No. 122 player, No. 5 strong-side defensive end and the No. 4 player in Oklahoma, per 247Sports Composite.