Football teammates discover they’re related

They’ve been friends for about five years now, Danny Trevathan and CoShik Williams, because their families were friends with each other. Only friends, they thought.

They’ve been teammates for three years now, the senior linebacker and the junior running back, and roommates for two, because their personality similarities overrode their positional differences.

They’ve been related for — well, their whole lives, of course, because that’s how it works — but they’ve only known it for five months.

After the Blue-White game in the spring, Trevathan’s grandmother visited Williams’ mother’s house for the first time, Williams said. They got to talking. Trevathan’s grandmother said she had family in Georgia, from Decatur, where Williams has family. The two women figured out there was a family connection, one that wasn’t easy to see because they both have to trace through their mother’s side of the family, where last names change often, to be related. Together at the time, the two football players looked at each other.

“We looked at each other like, ‘what?'” Williams said. “It was a big shock. That’s why we haven’t told anybody, because we thought they weren’t going to believe us. It’s crazy. But yeah, we’re distant cousins. Blood related.”

Calling each other “cousin” isn’t completely natural to either. Trevathan talked about working out in the summer “with my roommate — well, my cousin, actually, I just found out in the spring.” Williams still doesn’t know exactly which relationship takes precedence, so he goes with all three.

“It’s kind of hard because I’m used to saying he’s my roommate, my friend,” Williams said. “Now he’s my cousin, too.”

The two just traveled together to meet more of Williams’ family, and their relationship has grown more than just by label.

“We’re closer now that we’re family,” Williams said.