How a joke between a father and son led to them becoming college football teammates

While watching his Compton College defensive teammates experience difficulty holding the line in the third quarter of a home football game last month against LA Southwest College, wide receiver Lamar Willis approached the coaching staff and offered his services.

“Yes, go in,” he recalled the coach telling him. “We need someone at defensive end.”

With that blessing, Willis entered the fray, jogging alongside starting defensive back Josiah Willis.

It was quite the moment for Lamar and Josiah — father and son — tasked with holding the line.

“It felt like an out-of-body experience,” said Lamar, who is 46 and 5-foot-10 and 205 pounds. “I’m lined up on the football field at a position I don’t know anything about, but I’m doing it alongside my son.”

That Compton game against L.A. Southwest on Oct. 25 — like LeBron and Bronny James teaming up for the Los Angeles Lakers last season — seems to have been historic: There’s no documentation of another father and son playing together as teammates on a college football team.

“In the moment, it was crazy,” said 18-year-old Josiah. “It was pretty cool to get on the field and see an older version of me.”

Their stats for the game were identical: Lamar and Josiah each had a solo tackle. For Lamar, the reality of what he was up against was quickly evident during his brief appearance on defense.

“I got off the line, ran into this big guy and it’s helmet-to-helmet contact, and it’s loud,” recalled Lamar, laughing as he recounted the moment. “The guy stumbles back, I’m woozy, and the running back is right there in front of me. I reach out to touch him, he just flies by me and I’m thinking, ‘He’s fast.’ ”

The impetus for this father-son combo becoming college football teammates materialized this past spring when Josiah, two years removed from helping his Mayfair High School team to a 2023 CIF (California Interscholastic Federation) Southern Sectional title, was contemplating his future.

A college scholarship was within reach, he figured, with a a strong senior season. But those scholarship hopes were quickly dashed when an ankle injury in the second game of his senior year at Los Alamitos High School forced him to miss the remainder of the 2024 season.

“My career seemed like it was over, and I was thinking about becoming an Army Ranger,” Josiah said. “But when my ankle started to feel right, I started to consider JUCO [junior college] football.”

As Josiah told his father this past spring of his desire to play football again, Lamar jokingly responded: “I still have eligibility.”

The two shared a laugh, and then Josiah said, “Why don’t you come play JUCO with me?”

It wasn’t a farfetched offer to Lamar, a local businessman who spent part of his adult life dabbling in bodybuilding. He quickly agreed, leading the two to explore schools that would take on a package deal.

“We had a few places say, ‘No,’ ” Josiah said. “When we went to Compton, they said, ‘Yes.’ ”

Playing at Compton had meaning for Lamar, who grew up there in the 1980s and used football as a diversion to a dangerous neighborhood culture that was depicted in “Snowfall,” the former television crime drama.

“That era in Compton was pretty bad, and I dropped out of high school in the ninth grade,” Lamar said. “Then I saw a friend who played high school make the [news]paper, and I was better than him. So I decided to give this football thing another try.”

Lamar returned to school, taking classes at a continuation program to make up the years he missed. That led to him being eligible for one year of high school football at Bellflower High School, where he played cornerback in the late 1990s.

“Coming out of Compton and the way things were there was a challenge,” Lamar said. “Choosing to play football saved my life.”

Josiah’s path to football, like his dad’s, was also indirect. When the family moved to Huntington, he was told the high school — Marina High — might not have room for him.

“My dad said, ‘Well, he plays football,’ and when he told them that they said they could get me right in,” Josiah said. “I was a scrawny, skinny kid who barely played football. I had to learn, and my dad put me through drills all summer. When they threw me in the scrimmage, I balled out.”

After a year at Marina, Josiah transferred to Mayfair High, where he was a two-way player, with his biggest contributions at cornerback (72 tackles, 33 solo as a junior). The ankle injury sidelined him from his planned senior season in 2024 and kept him away from football until this season at Compton College.

From a football standpoint, it was not a season to remember for Compton. The team was winless (0-10, with forfeits in the last two games) and was outscored 480-12. On a team that eventually ran out of bodies due to injuries and players leaving the team, Compton even fielded a player who was older than Lamar: Orson Villalobos, a 50-year-old defensive end.

While the results were forgettable, the opportunity for Lamar — who once ran for mayor in Compton — and Josiah to play together was special.

“He’s my dad, but he’s also my best friend, and him being there when I was hurt my senior season inspired me to come back and play,” said Josiah, a 5-10, 170-pound freshman. “The fact that we played together, and the fact that we had a chance to line up together, was pretty cool.”

Also cool was the social media love they received the past few weeks.

“I had friends calling that we were on ESPN’s social media page, TikTok and Instagram,” Josiah said. “It was a shock.”

With the 2025 season behind them, are Lamar and Josiah prepping for a sequel?

“I’m healthy and I’m ready, but a lot depends on how he’s feeling,” Josiah said. “If he’s feeling good, then there’s no doubt we should do it again.”

It sounds like Lamar is ready. 

“I had a blast playing with him, and I’m open to it,” Lamar said. “Playing with my son was priceless.”

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