Blountstown player honors fallen teammate and friend in a special way every Friday night!

PANAMA CITY, Fla. (WJHG/WECP) -On February 28, 2021, tragedy struck the community of Blountstown. 17 year old, Tevaun Wint was killed in a car accident on State Road 69. In the nearly seven months since his passing, the Blountstown Community has kept Tevaun in its thoughts through fundraisers, wristbands, and vigils, and this fall, his number is still on the field. “Me and Tevaun were very close. We played football together.” That from Andrae Williams, who is a junior wide receiver and cornerback for the Blountstown football team. His connection to Tevaun was deeper though than simply being on the same team.

“We worked out on the weekends together to perfect our craft.” says Williams. “We even went to lunch and all of the above. For some reason, we called each other, ‘That was my twin’ because we had similar traits.” The passing of his best friend has certainly taken a toll. “It was hard you know. An empty desk in the class and an empty jersey. That’s never easy. It was very hard on me because I lost my best bud and basically my brother that I never knew.” That jersey? Empty no more. Andre going from 14 to 10. “My coaches hit me up and asked if I wanted to wear his number, and I said ‘Most definitely.’” Andrae told us.

“We all knew how close Andre and him were.” Blountstown head football coach Beau Johnson told us. “They would get together and work out on the weekends. They were both trying to get out of here and go get a scholarship, go get an education, come back and help their mothers financially and their families, and it was just important to them to use football as an avenue.” For Andrae, there was no choice in the change of number. “It’s something that I felt like I had to do, and I really wish, I mean, it sucks, but I really wish that he was here to wear his own number, but unfortunately he’s not. I’m going to do what I have to do and honor his name in myself.” He’s doing a standup job of that already. 6 visits to the end-zone this season in only four games. “I know Tevaun would’ve wanted me to keep pushing for it.” Williams says. “Me and him would always talk about, ‘Hey man, it’s starting to get real. We can’t skip any reps. We’ve got to go hard,’ because to me, it was like he was the only person that saw the same future that I did. I’m not just trying to go to college. I’m trying to past that, and that’s what we were pushing for.”

Williams and the Tigers are off to a 4-0 start this season. The team gets a bye this week and gets back on the field October 1st at Holmes.

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