Baker Mayfield Praises Recruit Who Quietly Flipped From Clemson to Oklahoma

Jaren Kanak was a highly-touted recruit in the 2022 class, originally set to play for Brent Venables on the Clemson defense. When Venables took the job at Oklahoma, his plans changed.

On Tuesday, Bob Przybylo of Sooner Scoop spotted Kanak's name in the University of Oklahoma student database. While no official change in commitment had been announced, it looked like a definitive sign that the four-star athlete out of Kansas was set to be a Sooner and not a Tiger.

Today, Kanak made that announcement official:

pic.twitter.com/Vx3N8pDPiK
— Jaren Kanak (@KanakJaren) December 23, 2021

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Mayfield left Texas Tech for Oklahoma after a year playing for the Red Raiders, enrolling at OU as a walk-on without any guaranteed spot under Bob Stoops. He'd go on to win the Heisman Trophy and be selected No. 1 overall in the NFL draft.

When he took over at OU, Venables said that he was not trying to poach Clemson commits. Kanak made the decision himself, enrolling at Oklahoma on what is reportedly a financial aid package until February, when he will sign his letter of intent according to Brandom Drumm of 247Sports.

On Tuesday night, Mayfield tweeted at Kanak himself, saying that he appreciates how he went about things. “Sometimes you just gotta go enroll and handle your own business,” the Sooners great said.

@KanakJaren I like your style… sometimes you just gotta go enroll and handle your own business.
— Baker Mayfield (@bakermayfield) December 22, 2021

Kanak now shows up in recruiting databases as an Oklahoma commit, in a class ranked No. 10 overall by 247Sports. The program has one SI99 player committed as of now in quarterback Nick Evers.

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