Oklahoma DL Jonah Laulu Recalls Meeting Brent Venables, How He Became a Sooner

OU's new 6-6, 280-pound defensive end met Brent Venables via FaceTime during a workout from the Alamo Bowl and was immediately drawn to the Sooners.

It didn’t take Jonah La’ulu long to decide he wanted to be a Sooner.

Not after he watched new Oklahoma coach Brent Venables doing curls on a video chat.

Yeah. Curls.

“It’s a funny story,” La’ulu said Monday when he met with the OU press corps for the first time following a morning practice.

After La’ulu entered the transfer portal following three solid seasons at Hawaii, Venables contacted him via Twitter. They exchanged numbers and Venables — who was in San Antonio for the Alamo Bowl — faced a schedule crunch. He was at the team hotel working out, but he couldn’t miss this call.

“A couple hours later, I got a group FaceTime from Coach Venables … and then another random number that I had no idea,” La’ulu said. “I was like, ‘Who is this? A group FaceTime?’ So I answered the phone, I had the phone up (in front of his face) and I was like ,’Hello?’ Coach Venables was literally in the hotel, lifting, in the camera. Looking at the camera, doing curls.”

Also on the other end of the line was Venables’ new defensive ends coach, Miguel Chavis, who’s been known to radiate a little positive energy.

“Coach Chavis, the first thing he said was, ‘What do you know about the cross-chop?’ ” La’ulu said. “It’s a D-line move, and he was like, ‘What do you know about the cross-chop?’ and I was like, ‘What? Who are you?’

“And then he flipped the camera around, he showed he was watching my film and I was ‘Whoa.’ They just had a good synergy in just how they were talking to me. It was like they were freaking playing basketball, alley-ooping each other talking to me, passing dimes. I was like, ‘Dang, you guys are dropping facts and dimes.’ “

Jonah La'ulu in Hawaii

The interaction created a powerful draw for the 6-foot-6, 280-pound La’ulu, who had been leery of jumping into the transfer portal following his time at Hawaii, where he’d made 70 career tackles, eight quarterback sacks and had a hand in a couple of fumbles.

Jonah La'ulu is one of Oklahoma's most experienced defensive linemen.

“It was a very crazy process,” La’ulu said, “because entering the portal, I’ve seen guys enter the portal and then get nothing so they’re kind of stuck. It was one of those things where I kind of stepped outside the comfort zone, put my trust in God and I’m glad to be here. I feel like I made the right decision to come here. I’m just appreciative of all the people who have been behind me and supported me through this process.”

Jonah La'ulu instantly gravitated to quarterback Dillon Gabriel, who's also from Hawaii.

It all stems back to that short call on FaceTime with Venables and Chavis.

“Just talking to them and building that connection with them, that relationship with coach Chavis and coach Venables, that’s really what got me,” La’ulu said. “I feel like he doesn’t get enough praise as he should, coach Chavis, because he’s a great recruiter. I was like, ‘coach Chavis needs a raise or something,’ because he’s great at recruiting. I instantly fell in love with coach Venables and coach Chavis and I trusted those guys. They kept it real with me.”

La’ulu grew up in Las Vegas and played three years in Hawaii, so he wasn’t exactly prepared for the Oklahoma weather when he arrived after the bowl games.

“Coming in January, I wasn’t used to the weather,” he said. “One day it was snowing, like a snowstorm. I’ve never been in a snowstorm before so I immediately went outside. I’m loving it here so far, though.

“I made a snow angel. It was fun. My hands were really cold. It was cool. I tried to make a snowman. It did not work out. It was very powdery snow but it was fun. It was like being a kid out there in the snow, experiencing my first snowstorm.”

When he got to Norman, La’ulu naturally gravitated to another Hawaii transplant: quarterback Dillon Gabriel.

“Shoutout Dillon Gabriel. That’s my guy,” La’ulu said. “Immediately when I came, we hit each other up because of the Hawaii connection. I’ve been to his house a couple of times, we’ve hung out a couple times. He’s a good dude, a good genuine dude. I can definitely see when I first came because I didn’t really know anybody, I could see how he is, how he relates to all the guys. He took the O-line out to eat, he took the receivers out to eat. So he’s definitely a good dude. I’m glad to have him as our quarterback.”

In all, La’ulu says his experience so far as a Sooner — three-quarters of the way through the spring semester, two-thirds of the way through spring practice — has been great.

“These guys are welcoming me very well and getting along with everybody,” he said. “Everybody’s welcomed me with open arms because I’m coming from afar. Appreciate these guys taking care of me, taking me out. Because I don’t have a car. I’ve got my ‘Lamborfeeties.’ 

“I’m loving it so far. I am missing some fresh fish, though, I will say that.”