Ferentz on Kirksey

When I wrote a story in the fall on Iowa's recruiting pipeline into St. Louis, I talked to Hazelwood East coach Mike Jones. He raved about Christian Kirksey's athleticism. At the time, I had no idea who I was talking to. Well, now I sheepishly submit that Jones is the linebacker who basically won Super Bowl XXXIV for the St. Louis. He tackled Tennessee receiver Kevin Dyson at the goal line to preserve the victory. So, Jones kind of knows what he's talking about when it comes to linebackers.

And make no mistake, Kirksey is coming in as a linebacker, weakside he told me during signing week. He's one of four LBs signed in the 2010 class.

Links -- Here's a signing day snippet from the St. Louis Globe-Democrat. . . . Kirksey came in at No. 9 on the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's list of St. Louis' top 30 football recruits. . . . Here's a story I did on Kirksey and fellow Hawkeye commit and Hazelwood East defender Don Shumpert. The Avenue of Saints has taken a right turn to Iowa City thanks to recruiting coordinator Eric Johnson.

Bio -- From UI sports info: High school honors - - Named Missouri all-American while earning first team all-state honors as a senior . . . was first team all-conference as a senior after earning honorable mention recognition as a junior . . . earned second team all-Metro honors in St. Louis area . . . Career - - two-year letterman as linebacker and fullback . . . collected 163 tackles as a senior, with nine tackles for loss, three QB sacks, two interceptions and one touchdown . . . recorded 89 tackles as a junior, with three tackles for loss, one interception and a QB sack . . . team captain as a senior . . . team won state championship in junior season and returned to playoffs the following year . . . also lettered in track, helping team win state championship as a junior.

Personal - - Born 8/31/92 . . . Sports Management major . . . member of prep Honor Roll . . . parents are Patrice and Elmer Kirksey . . . high school coach was Mike Jones.

Ferentz on -- This isn't a direct statement on Kirksey, but I found it interesting: "You know, I polled our staff the week we got back after the Bowl game, whatever day that was, Thursday, I think we met. And I asked everybody predict who our linebackers are going to be. Give them our two deep next year at linebacker. And I think I got eight different answers eight out of 10 or whatever. Kind of interesting. That's a good thing. I think it's good, really Pat's probably a better Will linebacker, but played good at Mike and I think it's good to have that versatility. I think the guys we have in this group here are really going to have that kind of versatility, too. So we're fine with that."

On Iowa working its way into St. Louis: "Yeah, that's North County. Players talk to each other. One thing I noticed here in the '80s, we had a lot of players from New Jersey. Bernie was a tremendous recruiter throughout his entire career. I remember asking Bernie about that. He told me -- this was at a young age -- but he says players sell players and I think there's a lot of truth in that.

"The fact that guys came out here had good experience, good quality experience in all the areas I talked about. That's important."

Projection is fun -- I see a redshirt for Kirksey. He probably needs to build a somewhat lanky 6-2 (or 6-3), 200-pound frame into Big Ten linebacker.

Ultimately, depending on his speed and cover skills, he emerge as the best candidate for strongside linebacker in what has the potential to be a talented LB class.

Christian Kirksey & Don Shumpert (2) from Chris Pool on Vimeo.

This vid didn't seem to want to work, so keeping my fingers crossed here.

Iowa Commitments Christian Kirksey & Don Sumpert from Chris Pool on Vimeo.

Ditto on this one. It's Vimeo. Never linked to that.