Clemson DC's Son Has Great Visit To UNC
Jake Venables a 6-2, 212-pound linebacker is well- groomed in the game of football.
The 3-star prospect in the class of 2018 is the son of current Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables, who is one the up and coming assistant coaches in the nation.
But there is no pressure coming from dad in the recruiting process to get his son to play for him at the next level.
"My parents have been supportive throughout the process and they both want me to go where I feel my best fit is," Venables told THI.
On Friday afternoon, Venables and his mom took the trip to Chapel Hill for this weekend’s home football game versus Pittsburgh. It was his mother’s first time at UNC.
"She loved it there." Venables said.
The D.W. Daniel (SC) prospect enjoyed the atmosphere and continued to build good relationships with Coach (Gunter) Brewer and Coach (John) Papuchis.
"They told me they liked my size, length, speed, and my ability to make plays in space," he said.
The atmosphere Saturday at Kenan Stadium really stood out to the rising junior. He was really intrigued by the close-knit family environment at UNC. That positive family vibe has Venables thinking that something special is going on at Carolina.
"Coach (Larry) Fedora is doing a great job with this team and the program as a whole," Venables said.
Venables certainly liked what he saw from Tar Heels, who edged Pittsburgh 37-36 on a last-second touchdown. Carolina’s grit and will impressed Venables.
"They never quit,” he said. “Even though they were down you could see nobody was hanging their heads, they wanted to win. And that they did on a Bug Howard 2 yard Touchdown reception with 2 seconds to go.”
North Carolina is showing him that they are not just focused on football, they want to let him know what it would be like to be a student athlete there.
"UNC is a good academic school,” Venables said. “The coaches make it more than just football, it has a family environment feel, and they have a history of winning.”
Venables previously toured the campus during the summer and loved everything he saw, including the football offices. He’s seen renderings of the new indoor facility that will be ready in a couple of years and the junior was impressed.
As of right now, the schools that are recruiting the LB the hardest are UNC, Clemson, Oklahoma, TCU, Texas Tech, and SMU, with visits to Oklahoma, TCU, and Texas Tech on the horizon.