Family time

CHICAGO -- Marvin McNutt is Marvin McNutt Jr.

His dad, Marvin McNutt Sr., is here at Big Ten media days with his son. His mom, Anita, is along, too. They spent a few minutes on Thursday evening snapping photos of Hawkeye fans with their son.

McNutt's parents have been by his side the whole way during his career as a Hawkeye. They were there when he had lonely moments as a freshman, when Iowa coaches foreshadowed a move from quarterback to wide receiver. They were there in Miami when McNutt caught a TD pass in the Hawkeyes' Orange Bowl victory over Georgia Tech.

They weren't there for his game-winning TD against Michigan State in '09. Maybe that's one regret, but the McNutts were in Chicago for Big Ten media days. They want to soak in their son's final season at Iowa, which could include the TD reception record, among other things.

"It's a blessing," Marvin McNutt Jr. said Friday. "You get kind of choked up thinking about it. As a college student, your going to go through your trails and tribulations. I had my share early in my career. With that though, to see where I've gotten with them is truly a blessing and an honor."

Family is sort of the theme for the three Hawkeyes -- McNutt, linebacker Tyler Nielsen and defensive tackle Mike Daniels -- who gave interviews for two hours at Friday's Big Ten media event.

McNutt's sister, Monique, attends Ashford University in Clinton and played volleyball there, so Marvin Sr. and Anita know the Avenue of the Saints very well.

"We usually stop in Hannibal," Marvin Jr. said. "You kind of have to. The highway goes right through town."

Nielsen is from Humboldt, which is a three- or maybe four-hour drive to Iowa City, but he's not alone in the college town. His brother, Nick, is a walk-on wide receiver for the Hawkeyes, recently changing positions from safety. His sister, Natalie, lives and works in Iowa City.

"She'll take us out to eat every once in a while, and that's nice," Tyler Nielsen said. "It's nice because I sit with my brother and my sister and we don't talk football for once. It's nice to get away from it at least for a little while."

The Nielsens aren't the only brother team on the Hawkeyes. There's defensive end Broderick and running back Marcus Binns. There's tight end Zach and quarterback A.J. Derby. Of course, there's the father-son duo of head coach Kirk Ferentz and center James Ferentz.

Daniels' parents, Mike Sr. and Carlene, fly in from Blackwood, N.J. for a couple games a season. But Daniels is very much "of" his family and carries them with him at all times.

His parents worked while he was growing up, so his sister, Jeneca, did a lot of his raising. Mike Sr. is a paralegal for his grandfather, David Paul Daniels, who served as a beat cop in Camden, N.J. while raising six kids and putting himself through law school.

"Camden has been the most dangerous city in America a couple times this past decade," Daniels said. "He was a beat cop out in Camden, raised six kids, got his law degree and now he has his own law firm. He worked incredibly hard. That shapes your attitude toward life. You've got to work. He emphasizes hard work."

Ferentz is not a big fan of recruiting, but he said he does enjoy meeting families and building those relationships. One snapshot in that area came in 2002, when the family of fullback Edgar Cervantes drove to Miami from California to watch their son.

Ferentz greeted the family at practice. He knew everyone's name, saying the Cervantes had a daughter that reminded Ferentz of one of his daughters.

"I don't like traveling and being away from home with recruiting, but I can contradict that," Ferentz said. "The neatest thing about recruiting is meeting a lot of people and going beyond just meeting the player, meeting people who have been influential in their lives.

". . . Meeting Mike Daniels' granddad, that was unbelievable. I was sold right then."

It's not news that Ferentz dislikes the fact the Big Ten schedule has swallowed up the Thanksgiving holiday -- "I'm over it," he said. Last year, the Hawkeyes practiced that morning and the staff worked to "place" players in Thanksgiving-like settings with whatever families they could find. Ferentz thinks that might've been a factor in the Hawkeyes' losing performance that weekend at Minnesota.

Beyond that, the program has a senior tailgate event and a spring barbecue. During the spring event, Iowa tries to bring in incoming freshmen so they can get used to being in Iowa City.

"At the banquet in December, the seniors sit up there and wonder how they got there so fast," Ferentz said. "I think the parents are more reflective. I think they sometimes think 'This is our last game' more than the players.

They have a ball. That's part of the fun of this whole thing and it goes well beyond football."