From Marvin Harrison Jr. to Caleb Downs, Colts' family ties in college football run deep

With the Colts on their bye week, players, coaches and the front office staff have a chance to relax and recharge as they prepare for the final stretch of the season.

A common pastime for players during their bye week is to go back to their alma maters and watch their former college teams play. However, there are quite a few Colts who will be out supporting their loved ones as they embark on their own college football careers.

Rookie wide receiver Josh Downs' brother Caleb is a freshman strong safety at Alabama. With Josh establishing himself as a formidable player in the NFL and his brother earning a starting job as a true freshman, the duo has been thriving with their new teams. However, Josh looks forward to showing his brother that he still has the edge.

"I did one-on-ones with him one time and I was cooking him," Downs said. "But I don't know about now. We'll have to go back home and see who's better now."

Rookie defensive tackle Adetomiwa Adebawore's brother Adepoju is a freshman defensive lineman at Oklahoma. As Adetomiwa has been working on his own adjustment to the NFL, he has also been a valuable resource for his brother as he gets comfortable playing Division I football.

"I was just telling him to work hard, put your head down, always work and always be willing to learn," Adebawore said. "Always try to find a way to push yourself to be better than you were before. So. it's really just about learning and just going hard at everything."

While Downs and Adebawore are less than a year removed from their time in college, wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr. hasn't donned his USC threads in almost four years, but he is still a Trojan through and through.

Which made it bittersweet for him when his brother Mycah, a senior wide receiver, transferred to the University of Utah, a school that has given his alma mater fits over the past couple of years.

However, with both teams leaving the Pac-12 to join different conferences in 2024, Utah's latest 34-32 win may be the last bragging rights Mycah can hold for a while.

But if the two schools do find themselves playing against each other again while Mycah is still in school, Michael said he knows exactly how he wants it to play out.

"I want my brother to go for eight catches, 180 yards and still lose," Pittman said.

The same can't be said for running backs coach DeAndre Smith, who wants his son Donovan to come out on top no matter who he plays.

Donovan is a junior quarterback at the University of Houston who has started every game this season. That includes thrilling wins over West Virginia and Baylor.

DeAndre will be in Houston this weekend for the Cougars game against Oklahoma State. While he said he's looking forward to being a 'proud papa' in the stands watching his son play, he also knows he's going to be on edge the whole time.

"I've never been nervous as a coach. I've never been nervous as a player, but watching him, just because of the position and everything he does is so critical - so, I get so nervous," Smith said. "But I've learned, especially with him to control it because he likes to start slow, but then I've seen him over and over again, kind of get in a groove and make big plays. He never gets rattled, so that's the one thing that kind of helps. What also kind of helps is that he'll never show any emotion, he'll just stay even-keeled. At times it's very nerve-wracking, but at the end of the day when he comes out healthy and obviously if they get the win, I'm usually better."

Here are the players, coaches and members of the front office staff who have family members who are playing college football:

The connections don't stop there. There are several former players who have loved ones who are looking to create their own legacies: