NORMAN — Perhaps no player on OU’s roster knows Brent Venables like Jaren Kanak.

Kanak is from Hays, Kansas, about 90 minutes west of Venables’ hometown of Salina on I-70.

Kanak committed to Venables, then Clemson’s defensive coordinator, in the summer of 2021.

When Venables was hired a few months later to replace Lincoln Riley as the Sooners’ head coach, Kanak was going to follow him no matter what it took.

Venables didn’t want to poach Clemson’s established recruiting class, but when it became clear Kanak was either going to follow Venables to Norman or wind some somewhere that wasn’t Clemson, Venables ultimately embraced Kanak’s wishes to follow.

Venables’ first OU season didn’t go as planned.

The Sooners slipped to 6-7, their first losing season since 1998 — the year before Bob Stoops brought change, and Brent Venables, with him to OU.

OU was atrocious defensively, finishing as one of the worst defenses not only in the Big 12 but the country.

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But after a difficult season, those closest to Venables inside the program remain completely convinced in Venables’ ability to not only get the program back to where it was during the Riley era but to better position the program to succeed as it makes its move to the SEC next season.

The Sooners still have a season to go in the Big 12, first, though.

Venables’ second season opens Saturday when OU hosts Arkansas State (11 a.m., ESPN), and Kanak said his affection for Venables has only grown as he’s watched how Venables has handled the ups and downs of the last year.

“I love Coach V for who he is and the standards that he holds and the person that he’s going to push me to be and the football player he’s going to push me to be,” Kanak said. “Ever since I came here he’s been the same guy. He’s helped raise the standard around here and that’s what I love about him.”

That consistency is what Sooners players and coaches said have marked Venables even as he’s navigated through the offseason and worked to diagnose and fix the issues that led to last season’s struggles.

“He talks about it all the time but he says, ‘If we don’t, they won’t,’ and that’s just setting the standard of how we operate every single day as a staff,” offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby said. “He is so incredibly consistent in how he operates every single day. To me, that’s what makes him such an incredible leader for our program, for our guys, for us as a staff. That’s who he is.”

Venables’ demeanor as it relates to football is just one piece.

“This is way bigger than just football,” defensive end Ethan Downs said. “And for us to be a part of this, to see the whole revelation change from life going down the hard road and then being able to pick our straps back up and get going again, like head back on in the war and become victors. Like, we’re not victors yet, but that’s the vision. And we have great vision through our struggles.

“He’s showing us how to do that. So no matter how the season goes or how the rest of the career goes here at OU, I’m more prepared for life through Coach V than I’ve ever been.”

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But Venables’ steadiness shouldn’t be confused with stubbornness.

Venables hasn’t been afraid to make changes when he feels they are necessary.

He overhauled the defensive roster in the offseason, bringing in a handful of experienced transfers who are expected to make a big impact.

Six of those Division I transfers are listed on OU’s two-deep ahead of the opener.

Venables said he is more involved in the Sooners’ defense now, even as he reiterated his belief in Ted Roof’s ability as a defensive coordinator.

“I need to be completely involved defensively,” Venables said this week. “Not that they need my help. But that’s what I know. That’s how I got to this position. And I think a year ago, I was certainly involved, but not to the depth that I think that I felt like I needed to be after evaluating all of it. So it’s going to be a collective thing just like every other defensive staff I’ve ever been a part of. The success and decisions — it will be collective and a collective effort. Everybody has their role. But this is something that I feel like that’s one area that I know, without question, I could do a good job of just being another voice, another mind and another body and able body to help out.”

Venables has set the tone in practice, in team meetings, in the weight room, and in meetings with his coaching staff.

“Everybody’s looking at coach to see the response and the response is exactly what you think it would be from the man who lives by it — doesn’t talk about it, he lives it every single day,” Lebby said. “For me having the ability to walk into those double doors every day, go to work for him, it’s humbling and it’s been great so see.”

OU vs. Arkansas State

KICKOFF: 11 a.m. Saturday at Owen Field in Norman (ESPN)

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OU football: Brent Venables' consistency helps boost Sooners' optimism