After Javonte Williams went down with a knee injury and tore his ACL in the Denver Broncos‘ October 2, 2022 game against the Las Vegas Raiders, he remembers lying on the hospital bed post-surgery and asking God, “Please help me.” It was the running back’s first-ever surgery, and it was a jarring experience. Of course, these days ACL tears are more likely to be season-enders than career-enders, but the fear persists. Big names like Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski have suffered ACL tears and waltzed right back into their careers.

Javonte Williams was lucky enough to have the support of his family in all this, of course. It was thanks in part to them that he managed to make a comeback the very next year, starting in 13 out of the 16 games he played. Here’s more about that family.

Who Are Shekemia and Jermaine Williams?

Javonte Williams was born in the small town of Wallace, North Carolina to loving parents Shekemia and Jermaine Williams. Wallace is the kind of town where everyone gets a nickname. Shekemia was “Kit Kat,” Jermaine was “Big Pookie,” and Javonte, appropriately, was “Little Pookie.” Young Jermaine even played for James Kenan High School as a linebacker back when he was a teenager. It was sitting on the couch watching TV next to his dad that Javonte first got into football.

And Javonte’s mother, Shekemia, was also very supportive of the youngster. Jermaine reminisces fondly of the days when Javonte got a little too “physical” during games of flag football as a kid, “Every Saturday, we would get in an argument with other parents because instead of him snatching flags, he was just diving at other kids, and it was a lot of moms and my wife getting into it.” Shekemia is part of the reason the young man excelled, not just n the field, but in the classroom too. She made sure her kids knew education must always come first, and it must have stuck: Javonte graduated highschool with a 4.6 GPA.

The first thing Jermaine and Shekemia did after Javonte left for college was to foster a newborn girl, Ryleigh. Born in 2020 to a mother suffering from drug addiction, the young girl has now been adopted into the family. And his family’s initiative led Javonte to set up the Javonte Williams Foundation in 2022. The foundation seeks to champion youth in foster care and provide them with all manner of essential resources.

How do Javonte Williams’ parents support him?

Javonte’s first high school coach, Joey Price, has described his parents as rocks. Jermaine did all he could to support his family in those early days, from working as a barber to running a bail bonds company. All Javonte had to do was ask and his dad would drop everything and give him a fresh haircut. Only after he moved to Colorado to play for the Broncos did he get his first non-dad haircut.

Every time Javonte has a game, Jermaine is up at 5 AM like clockwork. It’s almost like he’s the one expecting to go on the field, not his son. He then follows up with a little ritual. The pair have been running since Javonte was in highschool; Jermaine texts him a YouTube link to the NFL on Fox theme. And without fail, Javonte will put that theme on and get into the mindset for the game. It’s an adorable father-son tradition, and it’s the kind of thing that makes you want to fall in love with the game all over again.

His family has been there for him all the way through, from nurturing him as a kid to encouraging him on the field to praying for his recovery from injury. It’s clear Javonte Williams is a very lucky man, with a family who loves and cares for him. Fans will be eager to see him in action against the Pittsburgh Steelers this Sunday.