Just over a month and a half after surprisingly siding with the Texas Longhorns over the local favorite Oklahoma Sooners, Putnam City strong-side defensive end Ron Tatum has backed out of his commitment to Texas in favor of Oklahoma.
I'm coming back home......‼️⭕️ pic.twitter.com/7F4YmfVsAL
— Ron Tatum III‼️ (@rontatum3_) June 12, 2017
The Putnam City (Okla.) product committed to Texas on April 26 and prior to the morning of his pledge, all signs pointed towards Tatum playing college football in Norman. Along with Oklahoma simply being a powerhouse program just 30 minutes from Tatum’s high school stomping grounds, many around Tatum wanted to see him suit up for the Sooners.
Although that wasn’t the initial news at the time of his April commitment, the seemingly inevitable as of late is now reality and the nation’s No. 4 strong-side defensive end will be staying home, despite Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops retiring just last week.
Tatum quietly visited Norman last weekend and since then, things have slowly stared swinging in Oklahoma’s favor. As promised at the time of his pledge, Tatum said he’d continue to take visits and evaluate options, but after his flip from Texas to Oklahoma, it’s unclear if that will remain the case. Tatum was expected to visit Austin this coming weekend.
Along with being the Longhorns’ fourth highest-ranked commit this cycle, Tatum was expected to fill a key need for Texas as an edge rusher that may also see time at defensive tackle. Texas now has 11 2018 commits.
Tatum is the first commit of the Lincoln Riley era at Oklahoma.