Dabo Swinney shares details on Tyler Venables' decision to say after dad's departure

When former Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables decided to leave and become the head coach of the Oklahoma Sooners, it would have been easy to assume that both of his sons, Jake and Tyler Venables, were going to follow him back to Norman. Surprisingly, both of them decided to stay with Clemson. Recently, Tigers’ head coach Dabo Swinney talked about Tyler Venables’ decision to stay after his dad left.

“I’m sure it was hard. I thought he was gonna go. I mean, I just kind of assumed…him and his dad are close. But I said, ‘What you gonna do?’ He’s like, ‘I’m staying.’ I’m like, ‘Well, awesome.’ So, I didn’t want to assume anything, but I thought emotionally he was probably gonna be with Brent. Brent was even more excited that he was staying with us,” Swinney said.

“You know, Brent knows what we have here. He knows the structure. They’re trying to get that [at Oklahoma]. They’re trying to build that. But you don’t do that overnight. And he knows the people in our building and just what all he’s exposed to. Plus, “T-Bone” has got a lot of friends on this team. It’s a really close team and close group of guys. Man, he’s probably been the most productive guy. I think he had 39 production points in the first scrimmage. And then showed up again today,” Swinney said.

“I mean, he’s just really playing well for us. It’s good to see him healthy and flying around. Yeah, I mean, I just assumed maybe that he might be gone just simply because of his emotional situation there. But no, he said, ‘I’m staying.’ I said, ‘I’m glad.’ And Jake’s here. You know Jake’s here. Jake’s a student-coach for us. So, really glad Jake’s here, too,” Swinney said.

Last season, Tyler Venables started two games for Clemson but played in 12 games total, racking up 33 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, one sack, and three pass breakups.  Venables is a junior, formerly a three-star recruit and the No. 37 ATH in the 2020 recruiting class, according to the On3 Consensus Rankings.

During his four-year career with Clemson, Jake Venables finished with 89 career tackles, 16.5 tackles for loss, 4.0 sacks, two pass breakups, and a forced fumble. According to the On3 Consensus Rankings for the 2018 cycle, he was rated as a three-star prospect and the No. 54 linebacker in America. He eventually committed to play his college football under his father, Brent Venables, at Clemson. He’s currently a member of the strength and conditioning staff for the Tigers. Venables has also interned in the past with the UFC’s strength and conditioning program, according to his LinkedIn page.

Simon Gibbs also contributed to this article.