Former Texas A&M defensive end Myles Garrett. (Getty)
The time has finally come for Myles Garrett.
The former Texas A&M defensive end will most likely hear his name called Thursday as the first pick of the 2017 NFL Draft to the Cleveland Browns.
His dream of playing football professional will become a reality. The intimidating defensive player had a storied collegiate career and was largely influenced throughout his life by his family.
Myles’ half-brother plays basketball professionally, while the rest of his family has been involved in many athletics throughout the years.
Here’s what you need to know about his family:
1. His Older Half-Brother Plays Professional Basketball
Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers goes up against Sean Williams (51) and Courtney Lee (6) of the New Jersey Nets during a 2009 game. (Getty)
You don’t have to look too far to see the first instance of the Garrett family’s athletic success.
Myles’ half brother Sean Williams was drafted in the first round of the 2007 NBA Draft to the New Jersey Nets. He had a solid collegiate career at Boston College before that.
The 6-foot-10 Williams was a standout inside the paint for Boston College from 2004-2007. He became known for blocking shots with his intimidating defensive presence. He broke his own record for blocked shots with 75 in just 15 games during his junior season.
But he ran into trouble with team rules, being suspended twice and dismissed from the team after his third year. He was arrested for possession of marijuana in 2005.
Despite the troubles, he entered the draft and was selected by the Nets.
In February 2009, he was arrested after allegedly violating a no-trespassing order while attending a Boston College and Duke University game. The police report said that Williams was “belligerent” while being arrested and wrote obscenities instead of his name on the trespass warning. Just one month later, Williams found himself in trouble again. He was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct and criminal mischief after getting into an altercation with a salesperson at a cell phone store in Colorado. The incident apparently ended with Williams smashing a computer monitor in the store.
Williams was demoted to the NBA D-League for a bit before being released by the Nets and starting an international basketball career. He traveled to China to play professionally and then Puerto Rico in 2009. After that, he played for a team in Israel before finding his way back in the D League. He signed a contract with the Dallas Mavericks in 2011 but played just a handful of games.
Most recently, Williams signed a contract to play professional basketball in the Philippines but was replaced after playing in just three games.
In the prime of his career with the Nets, Williams appeared in 73 games and averaged 5.6 points to go along with 4.4 rebounds and 1.5 blocks.
When Myles made a went to College Station on his official visit, Williams was there with him. His sister Brea said that Myles looks at Williams as a “role model and a mentor.”
“(Myles) knows the things Sean went through and how my mom hated watching her son self-destruct,” Brea said in a 2015 interview with Sports Illustrated. “Myles never wanted to let my mom down. Honestly, the best thing Sean could have done for Myles was to f— up.”
2. His Mother Was an All-American Hurdler
Myles’ mother Audrey was a successful track and field star at Hampton University in Virginia.
She received a scholarship to be on the track team at Hampton and graduated from the school with a major in communications.
In her time running track, she was an All-American hurdler in the 60-meter event in 1982.
After she graduated from Hampton, she went on to work as a service coordinator within the social services department in Arlington, Texas and has vowed to keep her day job even with Myles playing in the NFL.
3. His Sister Was a Track & Field Star, Too
Video: Myles Garrett on his sister, Brea, saying he rescues bugs in house: ‘Every life is precious’:
Brea found her own success competing on the track and field team at Texas A&M.
She won the indoor NCAA championship in the weight throw back in 2014 and trained to make the United States team for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Growing up, the elder Brea wasn’t just Myles’ sister, she was his protector.
In a 2015 interview with The Houston Chronicle, Brea said that Myles was “just so quiet and sweet” when he was little.
“He’d read his books or get started on his homework on the bus,” Brea told The Chronicle.
She spoke of one time when a couple of older children on the bus home “pantsed” Myles. She said that she waited for the children when they got off at their stop near their homes and beat them up.
I got off with them and, right in front of their house, beat them up. I got kicked off the bus for doing that. But that day I made it known, ‘You don’t mess with my brother.’
4. His Mom Said She & the Garrett Family Are Looking Forward to Myles Possibly Landing In Cleveland
With Myles appearing destined to go to the Browns with the first pick, Audrey has said that she’d be happy to possibly move to Cleveland.
TMZ caught up with her in March, and she said that she lived in the city for two years and has family that currently resides there.
“If that’s where we go, that’s where we go,” she said.
With a huge contract in Myles’ future, Audrey said that his first purchase will most likely be a car because “he’s still driving the Volvo we bought him back in college.” She added that Myles doesn’t think about the money a lot of the time, instead focusing on “laying the groundwork that will benefit people in need.”
5. His Father Said Myles Was Obsessed with Dinosaurs When He Was Younger
Audrey started dating Lawrence Garrett when Williams was 5-years old. Soon enough, she gave birth to Brea and Myles.
As has been told in countless stories by his family members, Myles was a quiet individual growing up with a passion for dinosaurs.
Lawrence told Sports Illustrated that Myles was a dinosaur nerd. In fact, the backyard at the family home in Texas still has marks signifying the areas that Myles dug up when he was a child.
“He started when he was four or five finding rocks and calling them dinosaur teeth,” Lawrence said in the article.
Myles reportedly learned how to read because of a Jurassic Park video game that he played with his half brother. Myles’ interest in dinosaurs almost led him to accepting an offer to play at Ohio State University because of its paleontology program. Instead, he went to Texas A&M where he was in architecture school and minored in geology.
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Myles Garrett Family: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know