Hero Kanu is stepping into the kind of leadership Texas needs right now, and he’s doing it in the middle of a mess the Longhorns would rather not be talking about.
Texas has spent the last few days dealing with backlash over the on-field celebrations from Colin Simmons and Raleek Brown against Tennessee. Head coach Steve Sarkisian and Athletic Director Chris Del Conte have already spoken publicly, and the team is reportedly handling the issue internally. Even so, plenty of people remain unhappy with what they’ve seen.
Kanu, though, has made it clear where the program stands from inside the locker room. The fifth-year defensive lineman went on The Jim Rome Show and addressed the Simmons celebration directly, saying the team is already moving toward something a little cleaner.
"I run up to him, and I'm trying to celebrate with him, and I look over, and I'm like, 'Oh, this is gonna be a flag,'" Kanu said. "This is absolutely not who he is off the field; that was just in the heat of the moment... but we're working on those new celebrations."
Rome pushed the idea that a player who piles up 5.5 sacks in a game might have earned the right to celebrate however he wants. Kanu didn’t bite. He said Texas understands why people were turned off and stressed that the standard has to reflect the school on the front of the jersey.
"I do understand that [displeasure]; we understand that as a team," Kanu answered when Rome tried to goad him into telling people to back off their displeasure. "[Simmons] understands that the people that he represents, the University of Texas. We want to be putting our best foot forward, and that's just not who he is and who we are as a team."
Kanu also talked through the moment itself, saying he had never seen anything quite like it. By the time Simmons got to his third sack, Kanu was already reminding him the game wasn’t finished.
"I had never seen something like that before. I mean, there was the third sack, and I was on the sideline talking to him, 'Hey, the game is not over.
Do you wanna be great, or do you wanna be legendary?'" Kanu said.
"5.5 is what he ended with."
The irony, of course, is that Kanu had a strong day of his own against Tennessee. He finished with four total tackles and 0.5 sacks, part of a Texas defense that piled up 10 sacks in the game.
Kanu transferred to Texas from Ohio State after three years with the Buckeyes, and since arriving in Austin, he has grown into a clear voice for the Longhorns’ defense. This latest moment only reinforces that role.
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