Rather than some conspiracy about where the manager's and other players are from, perhaps the reason Whiteman's not started yet is simply that he was injured for half the games and for the other half he's been kept out by Lowe understandably being reluctant to change a winning team, along with Whiteman still getting up to speed after being out injured since early pre-season.
He surely must be ready for a start after coming on against Plymouth, Birmingham, Rotherham and now West Brom. Even if there is less building from deep this season, in my opinion there's no aspect of the role that Ledson is currently fulfilling that Whiteman cannot carry out just as well or better.
I also can't help but think Whiteman will be better off not playing as some kind of ball-playing centreback anyway, and will be able to affect the game from a more advanced position with the cover of McCann and the defence behind him.