Childhood siblings can the best — and the worst.

When pestering the heck out of you in the moment — in a strange way — they might be molding you to be your best someday.

That’s how Gophers defensive end Danny Striggow looks back on being the youngest of four competitive, athletic kids growing up in Orono, Minn.

Up until Striggow was seven or eight years old, the everyday question was: “Has Danny cried yet today?”

If the topic came up at the dinner table and the answer was no, older brothers Bob and Jackson would look at each other and nod as if to say: “We’ll take care of that.”

Danny might have started crying on the spot out of confusion or fear of what was coming his way, which usually was arguing, roughhousing and maybe even a few punches thrown. And definitely some wrestling.

“It became a game for them,” Striggow said.

What was far from a laughing matter at the time, is now just that roughly 15 years later.

“It’s something that’s super fun to joke about now,” Striggow told the Pioneer Press this week. “Yeah, even I laugh thinking about it. I’m like, ‘Man, I came a long way.’ ”

Striggow, a fifth-year senior, will play in his 44th college football game Saturday when the Gophers play the Michigan Wolverines at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor. The Big House is not a domain for the tender.

“I got some pretty thick skin now,” Danny said.

All three Striggow boys won Minnesota high school wrestling individual state championships and Jackson and Bobby went on to wrestle for Michigan. While Wolverines, they are fully supportive of their younger brother. With other family ties to the state of Michigan, roughly 20 family members will be in the stands for Saturday’s game.

“It’s just supporting our brother,” Jackson Striggow said. The extended family members “are not quite as devoted. They’re obviously Dan fans, but they still have maybe a Michigan shirt underneath. But for us, it’s no question.”

And there’s also no question older sister Hannah, who went on to play volleyball at Wisconsin-River Falls, also gave Dan a hard time growing up. “She whipped my butt,” Danny confirmed.

Jackson is five years older, Hannah three and Bob two, but Danny soon outgrew them to reach 6-foot-5 and 260 pounds.

Minnesota defensive end Danny Striggow, left, poses with his siblings, from second left, Hannah, Bobby and Jackson Striggow after Minnesota’s 23-13 win over Wisconsin in a college football game at Huntington Bank Stadium in Minneapolis on Nov. 27, 2021. (Courtesy of the Striggow family)

“I think as siblings, we could be unforgiving at times,” Jackson said. “And I think that it’s kind of the case in college athletics, whether you’re well meaning or not, it can be unforgiving. You make a mistake and you got to own up to it. So I think that was probably one of the good things that came out of it.”

Striggow looked up to his older siblings and the standard they set in the household, but as he got older, he wasn’t afraid to “smack talk” and push his siblings’ buttons. And he was forced to deal with the repercussions. He also wanted to be better than them on the field or mat.

Now in his fifth season, Striggow has become “one of most versatile and maybe one of the most important players’ on the current Gophers team, head coach P.J. Fleck said this week.

Striggow’s flexibility on the field includes him being able to drop into coverage or move to inside linebacker in some sub packages. “We don’t just want him to be in one spot,” defensive coordinator Corey Hetherman said.

Striggow, who might have a future in the NFL, continues to be a student-athlete ambassador for Special Olympics Minnesota and on Thursday had the “promising alum scholarship” named after him at Orono High School for the next year. His picture is now hanging in the school.

“It’s cool because he is not only a great athlete,” Jackson said. “But is good in the community.”

That sounds like a proud older brother.

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