Auburn’s David Irons isn’t one of the top 10 cornerbacks in the draft, and his younger brother Kenny Irons, an Auburn running back, will be drafted much earlier, probably in the second round.

But the older Irons, who isn’t likely to be picked until the fifth round, was the most entertaining speaker at February’s NFL scouting combine, drawing unprecedented applause after a hilarious “routine.”

If football doesn’t work out for him, Kenny Irons should consider a career in stand-up comedy.

Kenny Irons, a year younger, is the butt of most of David’s good-natured kidding.

“It was always very competitive with us, even looks-wise,” David Irons said. “But he was the ugliest out of the bunch. Some days my mom says she wishes she never had him. No, I’m joking. Other than that, he’s a great guy.”

Even though Kenny turned out to be the more talented athlete, he had to play fullback in high school and block for David.

“I’d tell him to just scare the opposing teams with his face,” David said. “I’d tell him not to wear a visor. They’d look at the face, and they’d move out of the way, and we win the game. The days he wore the visor and he didn’t show his face, that’s the games we lost.

“We had what was called the ugly sweep. Ugly sweep on the right and ugly sweep to the left. That’s when (Kenny) scares opponents away and I run down the sideline for touchdowns. At the end of the game, I’m sitting out in the fourth quarter, and we just let him in the game so he can feel good about himself.”

That’s not how Kenny remembers it, although he agrees David was once “The Man.”

“I used to block because he was always the fastest guy around,” Kenny said. “But coach gave me the ball and let me run it a few times. Coach was like, ‘Oh, you run hard, Kenny. I’m going to give you the ball more.’ So David got mad because I ran the ball more and he ran the ball less.”

Football is a tradition in the Irons family. Their father, David Sr., was in camp with the Detroit Lions, and his cousin, Gerald Irons, was a linebacker with the Raiders and the Browns from 1970-79.

Gerald’s son, Grant, is a five-year veteran defensive end with the Raiders. Grant’s brother, Gerald Jr., was an All-America linebacker at Michigan, and another brother, Jarrett, played at Nebraska.

Neither David nor Kenny Irons began their college careers at Auburn. Kenny started at South Carolina but played sparingly in his first two years and transferred.

David spent three years at Butler Community College in Kansas because he redshirted his first season after tearing the ACL in his left knee. Both enrolled at Auburn in January of 2004 but missed that season, Kenny because of NCAA transfer rules, David because he tore the same ACL.

They’ve been together more than three years, but they’re almost certain to be split up in the NFL, which David jokes is just fine with him.

“If a team drafted me on the same team, I don’t think I would report to camp,” he said. “I’ve been with him forever, all my life. I told him it’s time to divorce, sign the papers over in divorce court.”

But not before the family comedian gets a few more shots in at his little brother.

“I can’t even go to scary movies because I see him every day,” David said. “I told him he needed to get with Steven Spielberg and make one of the scariest movies out there. On Halloween, I can’t go trick-or-treating without him bringing his own self to be his costume.”

Ah, brotherly love.

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