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Provo • As he has watched film this week of Southern Utah's defense to prepare for Saturday's game, BYU receiver Nick Kurtz has wondered if Cougars safety Micah Hannemann suddenly joined the Thunderbirds' roster.
SUU's junior safety also wears No. 7 and "kind of moves the same" as BYU's Hannemann, Kurtz notes. There's a good reason for that. It's Micah's brother, Kyle, who is a year older and in his third season in Cedar City after graduating from Lone Peak High a year before Micah did.
The brothers said they have been looking forward to Saturday's game for a really long time.
"He is my older brother, so I have always kind of looked up to him and stuff," Micah Hannemann said. "And it is going to be fun. Hopefully they will let me play receiver for a couple of plays so I can go against him, because we both play the same position."
The sons of Howard and Mindy Hannemann both started their college careers as cornerbacks — Kyle in 2014 after a church mission to Tahiti and Micah in 2012 straight out of Lone Peak High School. Micah served a mission to Carlsbad, Calif., after a limited role as a freshman, and played in all 13 games as a sophomore in 2015 for BYU, making 46 tackles, two interceptions and seven pass breakups.
Kyle made five interceptions his first two seasons at SUU, and has one this year despite missing a couple of games with a concussion.
"Yeah, we've been talking about the game for quite awhile now," Kyle said Tuesday. "It's been pretty fun, although we probably won't [face off] on the field, both being safeties. We've watched their special teams and I have been sending him clips of himself messing up on special teams, making fun of him."
Good-naturedly, of course.
"I already told him that if we ever go up against each other he had better watch his back," Micah said with a smile. "Hopefully we are both on the field a couple of times at the same time. It will be fun."
Micah missed BYU's 35-32 loss to West Virginia with an injury, but is finding his stride in his first year at safety in Ilaisa Tuiaki's defense. He had an interception against Michigan State, while Kyle's pick came last week in a 38-21 win over Montana State.
The brothers say that Kyle is quicker laterally and more explosive, while Micah is taller and has more top-end speed. They played with each other two seasons at Lone Peak, and had plenty of backyard competitions, and even boxing matches in the family room at their house in Alpine.
"I wouldn't say it is the biggest game on the schedule, but we are not approaching it just like it is any other game," Kyle said. "Every game is a big game for us, and obviously it will be a good opportunity to go up there and play them. So we are going to give it our best shot."
They aren't the only Hannemanns who wear No. 7. Older brother Jacob Hannemann, who signed with BYU to play both football and baseball, wears No. 7 in his minor-league baseball career. Jacob was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the third round of the Major League Baseball draft in 2013 and is on the roster of the Tennessee Smokies in Class AA ball.
"Micah started wearing No. 7 last year, and then our older brother got a No. 7 jersey and sent us a picture of it and said, 'You guys have to get No. 7 so we can all have it," said Kyle, who was No. 22 for two seasons. "I thought about it awhile and thought, 'Sure, why not?' "
Kyle wasn't heavily recruited by BYU, but he said he's perfectly happy playing for FCS Southern Utah, and the T-birds won't be intimidated by the bigger program on Saturday.
"It's an opportunity for our program to get some respect," Kyle said. "That definitely has a big influence on the importance of this game for us."
Twitter: @drewjay —
A battle of brothers
Career stats of BYU's Micah Hannemann and SUU's Kyle Hannemann:
Player Pos. Year No. GP Tckls Ints PBU
Micah Hannemann, BYU Safety Junior 7 29 65 3 11
Kyle Hannemann, SUU Safety Junior 7 30 53 6 10
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Southern Utah at BYU
P Saturday, 1 p.m.
TV • BYUtv