Iowa notes: Kirksey family reunion, McCall ready for contact, Derby to contribute

Iowa sophomore linebacker Christian Kirksey and his nephew, Minnesota senior nose guard Brandon Kirksey, will shake hands, embrace and point to one another on the field Saturday afternoon.

That's right, Christian is Brandon's uncle. Christian's older sister, Felicia, gave birth to Brandon on June 22, 1989. Christian was born Aug. 31, 1992. It sounds unusual, but to Christian it's all part of the family.

"It's funny situation," he said Tuesday. "My mom had me last, so my sister had him first.

"I'm expecting a lot of Kirkseys to be in the house. They just love both of us. There should be a lot that go to the game."

Brandon Kirksey has started the last 18 games and played in 40 overall for the Gophers. He has 11.5 tackles for loss in his career. Christian Kirksey played as a true freshman last year and has started all seven games for Iowa this season. He has a team-high 70 tackles and has forced two fumbles.

Christian Kirksey said he's unsure how the jersey situation will play out among the family members at Saturday's game.

"(Felicia) can root for both of us. It's a family thing," Christian Kirksey said. "I would guess she would wear Minnesota stuff."

And as for Christian's mother and Brandon's grandmother ...?

"Same here, they love both of us," Christian said. "They're just proud of us for succeeding at football, being college men."

It's unlikely Christian and Brandon will meet anywhere other than the field this week. Both Christian said both have root for the other to have success.

"I'm just proud of him," Christian said. "I have a lot of respect for him because he's been in this program for a long time. My family, they're just proud of us because we're both playing college football."

Freshman running back Mika'il McCall will dress for his second consecutive game this week. McCall suffered a broken ankle in the first week and Ferentz had planned to red-shirt him.

But McCall returned more quickly than expected. He practiced last week without wearing a red, no-contact jersey.

"It's a matter of how quickly he can get caught up and how good he feels," Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz said. "A big difference between being cleared medically and really being able to play. That's the next hurdle for him to overcome.

"We'll give him some work this week and see what happens."

McCall's situation is similar to what sophomore starter Marcus Coker had to endure last year. Coker broke a clavicle early in 2010 training camp and did not play until late September.

"I think from that standpoint, Mika'il would be further ahead than Marcus would have been," Ferentz said. "I'd counter that by saying the injuries are a little bit different. The collarbones are pretty predictable. We had a pretty good idea what the range would be, how he'd work back from there. It was pretty much set in stone. It worked out that way.

"Whereas with Mika'il, we'll see what happens. He really hasn't done a lot of hard cutting, a lot of hard this and that. The nature of that position, it's not that your collarbone is not a factor as a running back, but that lower leg stuff is."

Ferentz said defensive tackle Tom Nardo, linebacker Anthony Hitchens and linebacker Tyler Nielsen "have a chance" to play after missing last week's game.

Derby likely won't play LB against Minnesota

Ferentz said red-shirt freshman A.J. Derby appears excited about his move to linebacker, but Derby likely won't play the position this Saturday. Derby will see the field on special teams, however.

"What he did Saturday was real encouraging, this past Saturday," Ferentz said. "Basically he ran down and did something he's never had training for. He did it better than most guys do after training. That's a good sign. Did a nice job of avoiding a blocker. Maybe he executed that technique in high school. Made a nice tackle. For not really knowing what he was doing, that he was pretty encouraging. Now the work really begins for him, learning the calls, technique, all that type of thing.

"Based on that one play, that's certainly something easy to get excited about. Now we can build from there. His attitude is good. I think he's excited about this whole challenge."

Ferentz added that there are no plans to shift the 6-foot-4, 235-pound Derby to another position, like defensive end.

"Our intent right now is for him to be a linebacker," Ferentz said. "We haven't thought much beyond that."