Racist SAE frat video costs Oklahoma a top football recruit

Jean Delance won&#039;t be playing for the University of Oklahoma

(Image credit: The Associated Press/YouTube)

The video of Sigma Alpha Epsilon's University of Oklahoma chapter cheerfully chanting the N-word, with a riff about lynching, has now hit the Sooners where it hurts: Football. On Monday, top football recruit Jean Delance de-committed from Oklahoma, two days after affirming his decision to play for the Sooners. He cited "personal reasons," but later acknowledged that the racist video was the driving factor.

Delance, a junior offensive tackle from Mesquite, Texas, is ranked a 4-star recruit by 247Sports, the No. 16 offensive tackle and the 167th overall prospect in the class of 2016. He'll be fine — Oklahoma's loss is some other team's gain.

But it has to sting for Oklahoma. Later Monday, Delance told a Dallas TV station that the University of Oklahoma had "felt like home," and that the football staff had always "treated me like family." But the video changed his mind, even though the university boarded up SAE on Monday and kicked everyone out. "I'm glad the way they handled it, but still, that's a bad downside to me," he explained. Watch Delance bid the Sooners farewell below. —Peter Weber

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.