Oklahoma football: Four-star 2023 LB prospect chooses OU over Florida

Oklahoma football recruiting continued on its steam-roll July pace, adding its seventh 2023 commitment in the month on Saturday.

Four-star linebacker prospect Lewis Carter chose Oklahoma over Florida Carter made his commitment known via a Twitter message.

Carter, from Tampa, Florida, is the fourth linebacker commitment in the Sooners’ 2023 class and No. 16 overall. At the end of last month, the Sooners had nine commitments in the 2023 class. Since then, head coach Brent Venables and his staff have been on a steady roll, nearly matching what the class size was heading into the current month.

Oklahoma had just missed out on another elite linebacker from the Tampa area earlier in the day on Saturday when the No. 2-ranked LB prospect, Trey Bowles, committed to Georgia, spurning scholarship offers from OU and Ohio State.

Carter is rated as the No. 12 linebacker in the 2023 class, according to the 247Sports Player Composite.

Carter was recruited by Venables while the new OU head coach was still at Clemson and continued to stay in touch with him when he took the job at Oklahoma.

“It’s really the people, the place and the environment that I felt there,” Carter told John Hoover of the Sports Illustrated-affiliated All Sooners FanNation website.

Carter joins 4-star linebacker Samuel Omosigho and three-stars Phil Picciotti and Joshua Bates as linebacker commitments in the Sooners’ 2023 class.

Oklahoma has been steadily climbing upward in the 2023 class rankings. At the end of June, Oklahoma was 41st, based on the 247Sports classing rankings. Since then, the Sooners have jumped all the way to No. 10 with 16 current commitments.