For Oklahoma LB Jaren Kanak, Brent Venables is 'The Guy I Wanted to Play For'

The freshman from Kansas built an immediate and profound connection with the Sooners' coach even before Venables was hired at OU.

NORMAN — Jaren Kanak’s journey from Hays, KS, to Clemson (almost) to Oklahoma has been well documented.

But this week, the freshman got to share his own perspective on his unique path.

“It's been great,” Kanak said Tuesday after practice. “It's an out-of-world experience, nothing like I've ever had before. I'm just having a great time soaking it all in.”

Kanak originally committed to the Tigers when Brent Venables was the defensive coordinator under Dabo Swinney. But now he’s a Sooner, playing meaningful snaps at linebacker and on various special teams.

Venables was the lure, Kanak said.

“I’d say one of the biggest pulling factors was coach Venables and the energy and the connection that I had with him,” Kanak said. “One of the bigger reasons why I came here, along with the other staff like coach (Miguel) Chavis and coach (Todd) Bates, I really had a great connection with those guys. Coming here with them, it's been super comfortable and a great transition. I've had a great time.”

That doesn’t mean it was easy to decommit. Telling Swinney he wanted to go to Oklahoma wasn’t something he enjoyed.

“Yeah, decommitting from any school that you've been committed to and given a verbal commitment to isn't an easy process,” he said. “Especially with something like that and the way the situation took place, it was a little bit more difficult than usual. With God's guidance, I was able to get through it.”

The bottom line, he said, was the comfortable relationship and personal fit he developed with Venables, Kanak said.

“I love the type of guy that coach Venables is and the energy that he brings,” Kanak said. “At the end of the day, that's the guy I wanted to play for. There were a lot of other reasons I don't really need to get into. For the most part, to keep it simple, it was my decision and that's what my family and I thought was best for me.”

One of the hurdles was Venables’ close relationship with Swinney. When Venables left Clemson, he told Swinney he wouldn’t bring any of Clemson’s recruits.

“When I took the job, he was uneasy,” Venables said last winter. “I tried to reassure him that Clemson was the great place that he fell in love with. I don’t think he felt comfortable at the end of the day and expressed that to coach Swinney. I told him I didn’t have a spot for him. I told him if he was going to de-commit, he needed to do things the right way.”

Honorable, to be sure. But Kanak had his own needs.

“Obviously, he's a man of his word,” Kanak said. “Originally, he had given his word to Swinney that he wasn't going to try to poach anybody from Clemson, and he stuck with that. He told me ‘I don't want you coming (to OU) if Swinney isn't OK with it.’ He had a lot of integrity with it. He wanted to stay true to his word to Swinney, a man he has looked up to and learned from for a lot of years. I guess that might've made things a little more difficult to try to convince Swinney that this is what I want to do and this is what's best for me. Once Swinney gave me the OK, coach Venables was more than happy to take me.”

The connection he built with Venables were strong. One hails from Hays, the other is from Salina — just about 90 minutes apart on Interstate 70.

“There's a cool connection there and a unique connection,” Kanak said. “There aren't a ton of guys here from Kansas, but him and I are from Western Kansas. It's a tough, Western Kansas type of vibe.”

But it goes much deeper than location. Venables’ dad left when he was young, while Kanak’s died in a car crash before he was born.

“Just think about Brent's own story, you know, his dad leaving and his mom going through what she went through,” Kanak’s mom, Lisa Kanak-McGrath, told AllSooners last winter. “Just a kind of an unbelievable and I would think very powerful connection between those two.”

Said Kanak, “There were a lot of things that connected us that I really liked about him. I don't know if I can hone in on a specific one, but there was a time when I just knew this is a guy I want to play for.” journey from Hays, KS, to Clemson (almost) to Oklahoma has been well documented.

But this week, Kanak got to share his own perspective on his unique path.

“It's been great,” Kanak said Tuesday after practice. “It's an out-of-world experience, nothing like I've ever had before. I'm just having a great time soaking it all in.”

Kanak originally committed to the Tigers when Brent Venables was the defensive coordinator under Dabo Swinney. But now he’s a Sooner, playing meaningful snaps at linebacker and on various special teams.

Venables was the lure, Kanak said.

“I’d say one of the biggest pulling factors was coach (Brent) Venables and the energy and the connection that I had with him,” Kanak said. “One of the bigger reasons why I came here, along with the other staff like coach (Miguel) Chavis and coach (Todd) Bates, I really had a great connection with those guys. Coming here with them, it's been super comfortable and a great transition. I've had a great time.”

That doesn’t mean it was easy to decommit. Telling Swinney he wanted to go to Oklahoma wasn’t something he enjoyed.

“Yeah, decommitting from any school that you've been committed to and given a verbal commitment to isn't an easy process,” he said. “Especially with something like that and the way the situation took place, it was a little bit more difficult than usual. With God's guidance, I was able to get through it.”

The bottom line, he said, was the comfortable relationship and personal fit he developed with Venables, Kanak said.

Jaren Kanak / Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

“I love the type of guy that coach Venables is and the energy that he brings,” Kanak said. “At the end of the day, that's the guy I wanted to play for. There were a lot of other reasons I don't really need to get into. For the most part, to keep it simple, it was my decision and that's what my family and I thought was best for me.”

One of the hurdles was Venables’ close relationship with Swinney. When Venables left Clemson, he told Swinney he wouldn’t bring any of Clemson’s recruits.

“When I took the job, he was uneasy,” Venables said last winter. “I tried to reassure him that Clemson was the great place that he fell in love with. I don’t think he felt comfortable at the end of the day and expressed that to coach Swinney. I told him I didn’t have a spot for him. I told him if he was going to de-commit, he needed to do things the right way.”

Honorable, to be sure. But Kanak had his own needs.

“Obviously, he's a man of his word,” Kanak said. “Originally, he had given his word to Swinney that he wasn't going to try to poach anybody from Clemson, and he stuck with that. He told me ‘I don't want you coming (to OU) if Swinney isn't OK with it.’ He had a lot of integrity with it. He wanted to stay true to his word to Swinney, a man he has looked up to and learned from for a lot of years. I guess that might've made things a little more difficult to try to convince Swinney that this is what I want to do and this is what's best for me. Once Swinney gave me the OK, coach Venables was more than happy to take me.”

The connection he built with Venables were strong. One hails from Hays, the other is from Salina — just about 90 minutes apart on Interstate 70.

“There's a cool connection there and a unique connection,” Kanak said. “There aren't a ton of guys here from Kansas, but him and I are from Western Kansas. It's a tough, Western Kansas type of vibe.”

But it goes much deeper than location. Venables’ dad left when he was young, while Kanak’s died in a car crash before he was born.

“Just think about Brent's own story, you know, his dad leaving and his mom going through what she went through,” Kanak’s mom, Lisa Kanak-McGrath, told AllSooners last winter. “Just a kind of an unbelievable and I would think very powerful connection between those two.”

Said Kanak, “There were a lot of things that connected us that I really liked about him. I don't know if I can hone in on a specific one, but there was a time when I just knew this is a guy I want to play for.”