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Oklahoma confirmed a significant position change on its 2025 roster on Thursday evening.
They’ve decided to take Jaren Kanak, a former 4-star prospect at linebacker, and switch the Kansas product from defense to offense this coming season. Instead of his usual spot at linebacker, the 6-foot-2, 230-pounder will play tight end this fall as Oklahoma transitions to new offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle.
Kanak only played 92 snaps at linebacker during the 2024 season, according to PFF. But in 2023, he played 596 snaps, so there was a sign last fall that Kanak was getting fazed out of the Sooners’ defensive rotation. But instead of getting another shot at linebacker in 2025, Kanak will instead get a shot to help turn around Oklahoma’s offense, which struggled a lot last fall, leading to the firing of offensive coordinator Seth Littrell.
Kanak’s numbers went down last season because of the lack of playing time. In 2023, he piled up 62 total tackles, 27 of them solo, 2 sacks and 1 forced fumble. But last fall, Kanak only had 17 total tackles, 5 of them solo, and failed to record a sack. He did have a fumble recovery in 2024, but Oklahoma has decided that Kanak can make his best contribution to the program in 2025 as a tight end, not a linebacker.
Kanak was the No. 156 overall player and the No. 6 athlete in the country when he signed with OU back in the class of 2022, per 247Sports Composite rankings.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
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