One of the best big men from the class of 2018 has announced his verbal commitment. Brandon Whitman said he would be heading to Chapel Hill to wrestle for the University of North Carolina. 

I am proud to announce that I will be continuing my academic and athletic career at the University of North Carolina!!! pic.twitter.com/5la9pzMvM4

— Brandon Whitman (@WhitmanWrestler) March 22, 2017

Whitman is ranked 9th at 195 pounds and is the No. 35 overall recruit amongst current juniors. Whitman mentioned the atmosphere when asked what made him choose the Tar Heels

They have good coaches, and the kids that they're recruiting are the right kind of kids that just seems like they're a family down there. I want to be part of somewhere that can get me where I need to be and I wanted to be comfortable as a team and be around kids that want to get to the top.

He said that his competition plans for the summer are to compete in both styles at the junior world team trials, then also compete at junior duals and Fargo. He competed at Cadet worlds last year at 85kg for Greco-Roman. He was fifth as a junior in both styles last year in Fargo, with a Cadet finals appearance and third place finish in Greco in 2015.

Whitman is 150-3 in his career for Dundee high school and a three-time state champ, with his only career losses coming to D1 wrestlers Max Dean and Logan Massa. He chose UNC over Minnesota, Virginia Tech, Cornell and Michigan.

He mentioned he would like to redshirt his first year, though UNC's current 197 is a junior, so the Tar Heels might need a short term solution there. Coach Coleman Scott has a very strong senior class coming in this year that features Jaime Hernandez, Austin O'Connor, Zach Sherman, Chasen Blair, Clay Lautt, Nick Mosco and Matt Smith.