OSU football defensive lineman Jaden McKenzie: Big fan of cold temperatures, not spiders

Jaden McKenzie has been steadily increasing his role with the Ohio State football team. Playing in one game in 2020, he saw action in three games the following season and five last year.

In the 2023 opener against Indiana, McKenzie tackled running back Christian Turner and teamed with Caden Curry to bring down quarterback Brendan Sorsby on a 6-yard sack.

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He and his defensive teammates never allowed the Hoosiers to get past the Buckeyes' 22-yard line, and Indiana managed only 2.8 yards per play.

This May, McKenzie earned a degree in human development and family sciences. He is a three-time OSU Scholar-Athlete and aspiring chiropractor, who enjoys art and photography. A New Orleans native, McKenzie was forced to move after Hurricane Katrina.

To learn more about McKenzie, read on.

Get to know Ohio State football defensive lineman Jaden McKenzie

Let's start with a fill-in-the-blank question. Most people don't know I'm good at...

Drawing.

Really? What do you like to draw? What medium do you use? Pencils, charcoals, inks ...

Pencils. Pencils and sometimes paint. I like to look at stuff and draw it. I used to be in class, and I would be like, "Do you care if I draw you?" And draw people's faces and stuff and try to be as accurate as I can. Or like cars. I would look out the window and try to sketch a car or something.

The sketches you draw of people, what kind of reactions have you gotten to those?

They say it's pretty good. I hope they're being honest. But, yeah, they say it's pretty good. Most of the time.

How did you discover you had this talent?

Bored in class. That's when they come. Just get bored and start doodling.

So what class have you doodled the least in?

Miss Kraft's (sports journalism) class. I definitely enjoyed that class. I would also say Math II, because I am so not good at math, I have to pay attention in that class. So I couldn't do it in math. I would say those two.

Do you want to want to go into sports journalism?

It wouldn't be a bad idea, but I wouldn't say that's something I'm really focused on right now. I have a (degree) in human development and family science, and I'm working toward a sports coaching degree right now. That would be something I'd be really interested in, just because I feel like coaches poured so much into me growing up, and they've added so much value to my life, I feel like I would love to do the same for others.

Where does this desire to give to others come from?

Growing up. I was originally born in New Orleans, Louisiana, and we were forced to move because of Hurricane Katrina when I was 5. So losing everything and watching my mom work hard for everything that she's had, and bringing us to the point in life we're in now, that just made me think people need that extra help. Because there's people along the way that helped us get to where we are at, too.

I can imagine how that would have an impact on you.

I was 5, so it wasn't too much that I knew that was going on. I just knew something crazy was happening just because of the panic from everyone else. We ended up (going) to Texas to stay in a hotel for like a month or something like that. One of my mom's friends moved to North Carolina, and she told us it was good out there. So we went out there with them and stayed out there for a while. Just ... how my mom really handled all that change and directed me and led me through it all by herself – I thought it was amazing.

She sounds like an amazing woman. What does she do?

She is. She's an amazing woman. She does hair, actually.

That explains your look, because it is on point.

Thank you. Thank you, I appreciate it. She's been doing hair for a while, since she was young. ... She's a barber and hair stylist. And it was her friend who helped us get down there, and we stayed with them for a while until ... my mom was able to get back on her feet and find housing. Just all the sacrifices she's made – she made sacrifices for me to play football even. I didn't start until my senior year because the high schools were weird. We had to move and stuff.

Do you have any brothers or sisters?

I do. I have a little brother. So my little brother, he came along a little later. (We're) around nine years apart. So it's a huge age difference, but I couldn't be any closer to him. That's my little sidekick.

What's the one thing about you that least matches up to the stereotype of a football player?

I hate when people know that I'm a football player. I'm not telling people I play football because then they put that stereotype on me. When they do know, I try to do everything in my power to make sure they know that that's not what it is because almost the whole football community isn't like what they think it is. There's a lot of great, creative, amazing athletes out here who can do amazing things outside of football.

I've got a good (example) for you. I just bought a camera not too long ago, like a little under a year ago, a nice little camera. And what I do is I go around the parks around the area, downtown and stuff, and I just take pictures of like nature and scenes on the street and random stuff. I like taking pictures. That's one thing I really enjoy.

I've seen your Instagram account. Why are these pictures not there?

Because, you know what? I don't like taking pictures of myself. But I'm coming up with an Instagram, though, right now. I'm trying to think of an idea to put an Instagram together just to post the pictures from that camera.

You were 5 when you left. Do you still identify with your New Orleans roots?

Majority of my life I spent in North Carolina, so that's a huge part of my life. But ... my mom is New Orleans. That's who she is – so the gumbo and King Cake and Mardi Gras, going back and visiting. It's crazy because of the accent. That's the part that kind of gets people. If I say I'm from New Orleans, people will say, "No you're not. You're definitely not from New Orleans," because of the accent. And my mom kind of lost hers as well. But definitely, I identify as being from New Orleans, a New Orleans native, yeah.

What's your favorite area of the country to visit?

That's a good question. You want to hear something crazy? I hate, I hate heat. So it might not be New Orleans, Texas, or Florida. Have you ever been to Mackinac Island?

I have not.

It's beautiful. That's probably my favorite place that I've been in the country. It's at the top of Michigan. It's called Mackinac Island, and it's literally an island where there's no cars. You get around by bike or horseback or something. It's crazy. It's nice, though. And it's cold. It feels good out there because it's cold.

So when you retire, what type of place do you want to live?

In the country somewhere. I need a good bit of land, but not too far from a city, so the city is still accessible. So I would stay somewhere out in the country, get some acres, put a nice big house next to mine for my mom, and just live happily ever after out there.

Do you know what you want to do with your human development and family sciences degree?

I do not know what I want to do with that. But – so this is going to throw you off – I want to try to go into chiropractic school after this. This is something I've thought about within the past couple years. ... Dealing with the injuries – I'm about to go off, off track.

That's fine. I love following people off track. It's one of my favorite things to do.

Coming here, I got some injuries with my knees and stuff. It was just hard to bounce back from, and I got to a point where I was thinking about just completely throwing in the towel because I couldn't handle it physically. And then I started going to the chiropractor. I think that saved my life, honestly. I was just so fascinated by it and my testimony of it, and how I'm in the position I'm in now because of it, I feel like that's something I want to try to pursue. So I know the degrees that I'm working towards right now have nothing to do with it, but that's what I want to do. That's my goal right now.

I love how your story is one of, someone has made this impact on me, I would love to make a similar impact for other people.

God gave me something special, and I still to this day have not pinpointed it, but I know it's something really special and something that I'm supposed to use to help other people. And he put me in certain situations in life – with a humble beginning – that got me to the point I am now because I think I'm using his gift. I could do a better job, you can always do a better job ... I just try to bring a smile to somebody's face as often as I can. There's people in my life that brought a smile to my face when I needed it the most, and I like to relay that because I feel that's what you're supposed to do.

What do you do that makes you smile the most?

Listen to music.

And what do I need to add to my playlist?

Any Lil Wayne song. Or J. Cole. You can't go wrong.

Is there anything else OSU fans need to know about you?

I'll tell you a fun fact about me.

I love fun facts.

I'm terrified of spiders. I think I have arachnophobia. It doesn't matter the size, as big as I am, you could put the freshest, newborn baby spider on me, and I'll scream like a little girl.

So when you see a spider, who do you call to help you?

Anybody but me. Anybody. When there's a spider in the room with me, that room belongs to the spider now.

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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Get to know: Ohio State football defensive lineman Jaden McKenzie