‘Thermostat’ Texas DT Hero Kanu faces off against his former team, Ohio State
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AUSTIN, Texas — In the moment that Texas Longhorns senior linebacker Justin Cryer found himself in the large, friendly embrace of fifth-year defensive tackle Hero Kanu in the TANC, he didn’t know the big Ohio State Buckeyes transfer like that, and he wasn’t especially comfortable with it.
The thing is, the loud, larger-than-life Kanu knows everyone like that, even if he doesn’t actually know them.
Described by Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian as a “social butterfly,” Kanu told Cryer, who transferred from Florida State during the offseason, to come sit with him. Cryer assumed it would be with some fellow football players.
“We sat with people from track, some people from golf, like we sat with just a bunch of different people,” Cryer said last month.
Did Kanu know them? Nope, but he was about the fix that.
“He’s someone who really loves where he’s at. He loves where where he’s at, and he loves just being around people,” Cryer said.
Go to a Texas soccer game, and Kanu might be sitting in the stands. A volleyball match? Kanu might be there, too.
“He’s a very active on-campus guy. I think he enjoys his experience here, but just for us in particular, he’s a joy to have,” Sarkisian said this week.
“You’re a thermostat or a thermometer. Thermostats set the temperature in the room that they go into. Hero Canoe is the thermostat, he’s not a thermometer. He doesn’t check the gauge. He’s who he is on a consistent basis, and I think he lifts everybody else up in a positive way.”
Kanu’s personality doesn’t change on the field, either.
“He has a different type of gravity around him,” Cryer said. “Something you just naturally drift towards as the day goes on, and even whenever you go onto the sideline after we messed up on something, he comes up, slaps you back of the head like, ‘Man, you good bro’ with that little accent he got.”
The accent is German. Kanu grew up playing soccer outside of Munich and didn’t begin playing American football until he was 15. Discovered by Brandon Collier, a former college player who started a service to match European players with American programs, Kanu instantly impressed Collier with his rare combination of size and athleticism and quickly decided to make the move across the Atlantic to play at Santa Margarita Catholic in California.
Still raw, and unable to play in 2020 because of COVID restrictions, Kanu made his football debut in 2021 and earned more than 25 offers from the top programs in the country thanks to that combination of size and athleticism, ultimately choosing Ohio State after taking official visits to Georgia, Oklahoma, and Notre Dame.
Getting onto the field with the Buckeyes wasn’t easy, though, thanks to the depth of talent along the interior offensive line that limited Kanu to 230 snaps over his three seasons in Columbus, although Kanu’s playing time did increase to 124 snaps in 2024 when Ohio State won the national championship with the help of a semifinal win over Texas in the Cotton Bowl.
Looking for a bigger role, Kanu entered the portal. Forced to make a quick decision on a limited timetable — the Buckeyes didn’t beat the Fighting Irish until January 20 — Kanu committed to Texas over Florida and Georgia.
On the Forty Acres, the Texas coaching staff quickly discovered that Kanu’s relentless work ethic matches his big personality, setting the tone in a position room that lost six defensive tackles after the 2024 season.
“Hero’s been tremendous. He definitely came in with a workers’ mentality,” Sarkisian said.
Kanu’s hard work paid off with starts in 12 of 13 games for the Horns in 2025 as his snap count increased to 476, resulting in 30 tackles, four tackles for loss, two sacks, 21 defensive stops, and 20 total pressures with only one missed tackle.
Facing a decision about whether to declare for the 2026 NFL Draft or return to Texas, Kanu opted to use his final season of eligibility, the kind of choice that paid off for former defensive tackles like T’Vondre Sweat, Alfred Collins, and Vernon Broughton.
“I’m excited that he decided to come back because he had a tough decision to go pro or stay, and he decided to stay,” Sarkisian said. “I think he’s going to benefit from that decision.”
The decision set up a second opportunity for Kanu to beat his former team.
“I have a lot of friends on that team,” Kanu said. “They’re not friends this week.”
Even with that week-long break, Kanu is still remembered fondly in Columbus.
“A tremendous person, somebody who has had a unique journey,” Ohio State head coach Ryan Day said this week. “You know, started off in Germany and then Santa Margarita Catholic, and then here. When he was here, he made a lot of great friends. Some guys that are still in the locker room, and he did a lot in the community, worked at a local restaurant here. He’s somebody who has a lot of talent as well, and a good football player for sure. He’s somebody that’s well respected in the locker room, and certainly as a player.”
It’s translated to the Texas locker room, which had to integrate its 22-man transfer class this offseason, the largest of the Sarkisian era, as well as 26 high school signees.
So even though the hug in the TANC was a little too much for Cryer in the moment, it didn’t take long for Kanu’s personality to break down that wall.
“One of my favorite teammates is Hero. Like he’s a big guy, but he’s someone who’s very loud, very vocal, and he brings everybody in,” Cryer said. “Like everybody knows Hero, everybody loves Hero. He’s someone who you gravitate towards when you get here. So he was kind of like the big connecting piece for everybody coming back, then he brought everyone together and gave us a good compass and a good a place to start from going into the spring.”
Now the culture reflects Kanu’s personality.
“He definitely came in with this idea that I’m going to buy into the culture here at Texas. But at the same token, he contributed to that culture, and I think he’s improved it — I think that culture in the D-line room is really a byproduct of his leadership,”
On Saturday, the big Texas defensive tackle hopes that culture is enough to gain an edge against his old team in a game that projects as having the type of narrow margins reflected in the 1.5-point spread.
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