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Travis Benjamin, Kelvin Benjamin
 

Both chased rabbits while growing up in Belle Glade, Florida, wore No. 3 at Glades Central High and sported dreadlocks under their helmets, but Kelvin Benjamin and Travis Benjamin -- NFL wide receivers who share the same surname -- are not related.

"It's very amazing to think that," said current Glades Central head coach Jessie Hester, who also coached Kelvin. "It's a small community like that, and the name itself is not a real popular name ... so you would kind of think that there would be some type of connection."

When a reporter asked Kelvin after a game early in the 2017 season whether he was related to Travis, he succinctly said, "Nope."

Travis, who is 13 months and one week older, calls Kelvin "cuz" or "brother" and believed they might be distantly related, so he referred ThePostGame to his maternal grandmother, Jacquelyn Stewart, the oldest child of an oldest child.

"A lot of people thought they were related, but they are not," Stewart said. "Travis Benjamin -- he's not related to Kelvin Benjamin."

Well-versed in her family's history, Stewart, who helped raise Travis, didn't have to consult her family tree or go on ancestry.com.

Travis' dad lives in Florida while Kelvin's father is Jamaican and returned to the island when Kelvin was a toddler.

Kelvin Benjamin

Stewart was so certain that Kelvin, 27, and Travis, 28, aren't related that whenever she saw Kelvin's mom, Christine, who worked as a waitress before unexpectedly passing away before the Carolina Panthers' 2017 season, the subject never came up.

Travis first became familiar with Kelvin in middle school.

"Belle Glade, Florida's not a big area. So everyone knows each other," Travis said. "Just kept hearing about how big he was."

Kelvin is now a hulking 6-5, 245-pound-over-the-middle-target. At 5-10, 175 pounds, Travis, who ran college track at Miami, relies on the 4.36 40-time and his juking ability.

"We're very different receivers," Kelvin said.

But despite the different frames, their faces look similar, especially when a lankier Kelvin was 35 pounds lighter in high school.

"It really is a real serious resemblance," Hester said.

Kelvin reached state twice, and Travis won the state title his junior year, but because Kelvin repeated the third and seventh grades, they were never together on the same varsity team.

Travis Benjamin

Travis, who still goes by the nickname of T3, sported No. 3 for Belle Glade. And when Kelvin reached the varsity squad, he also wore that number.

"That flagship number is No. 3," Hester said. "He's the head dog as far as the team goes."

Just two years into their respective NFL careers, both suffered the same knee injury. In his second year as a pro, Travis tore his right ACL in October 2013. Kelvin tore his left ACL during practice before the 2015 season.

Travis, who rehabbed diligently at the Cleveland Browns' facility and didn't take a vacation, told Kelvin how to work on his conditioning and flexion during the recovery process.

"He gave me advice for my ACL," Kelvin said, "because he'd been through it already."

Travis takes pride in how well Kelvin bounced back the following year, recording 63 catches for 941 yards for the Panthers in 2016. That represents Kelvin's second best season.

After the Panthers selected Kelvin in the first round of the 2014 NFL Draft, he set franchise rookie records with 73 catches and 1,008 yards. During the 2017 season, they traded him to the Buffalo Bills for two 2018 draft picks.

Kelvin Benjamin

The Browns drafted Travis in the fourth round of the 2012 NFL Draft. He returned three punts for touchdowns for them, and his best year was 2015 when he caught 68 passes for 966 yards. After that season the then-San Diego Chargers signed Travis to a four-year, $24 million deal.

During his bye week every year, Travis attends a Glades Central football game. With a home in Miami, which is about an hour drive away from Belle Glade, he's a frequent presence in the area.

"Both guys are heavily active in the community," Hester said, "and very much still a big part of what we're doing."

Travis gave away Nike backpacks stuffed with school supplies this past June. Last summer Kelvin sponsored local kids headed to college camps and he usually hosts a kids' day or basketball tournament.

"We see each other and chill, kick back and laugh," Travis said. "Whenever we're in town, we go see each other."

This season they will see each other on the field when the Bills host the Chargers in Week 2. That contest will represent the fourth time their teams have faced off in the NFL.

"When we play each other," Travis said, "we're always talking s---."

Travis Benjamin

Right now Kelvin owns bragging rights, having defeated Travis' team twice.

In 2014 Kelvin had five catches for 47 yards as his Panthers defeated the Browns 17-13. In 2016 Kelvin's Panthers bested Travis' new team, the Chargers, 28-16. Travis finally got the upper hand in 2017 during a 54-24 victory most remembered for rookie Nathan Peterman's five-interception debacle.

Regardless of whose team wins, they swap jerseys after the game and wish each other luck the rest of the season.

They, however, don't wish good fortune upon their respective college teams. Early on, Travis was trying to convince Kelvin to join him at Miami, but Kelvin ended up going to the rival school, Florida State -- Hester's alma mater -- where he scored the game-winning touchdown with 13 seconds left to lead the Seminoles to the 2014 BCS National Championship.

To the ACC and beyond, Belle Glade, a Palm Beach County town located on the shores of Lake Okeechobee, is a football pipeline despite its population of about 20,000. The student body of Glades Central had about 1,100 when the Benjamins played and has about 900 now.

Muck City Book Cover Part of what is known as "Muck City" because of its black dirt soil, which was drained from the Everglades and grows sweet corn, peas and sugar cane, Belle Glade is also a fertile football area.

In addition to the Benjamins, current NFL players -- Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Deonte Thompson and Detroit Lions cornerback Cre'von LeBlanc -- also went to Glades Central.

Hester starred at Glades Central before the Los Angeles Raiders selected him in the first round of the 1985 NFL Draft. He succeeded Willie Snead, whose son plays wide receiver for the Baltimore Ravens, as Glades Central head coach.

Perhaps they honed their speed from chasing rabbits, a hobby for generations of boys in the area, including Travis and Kelvin. Former Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Santonio Holmes sold the hides of rabbits every weekend to help his mom make ends meet. Former Jacksonville Jaguars running back Fred Taylor owned a T-shirt that read: "Dead Rabbits: Honor and Pride."

In 2016 Anquan Boldin said that Muck City, which includes Pahokee -- where the former Arizona Cardinals receiver grew up -- and Belle Glade, had produced more than 60 NFL players.

"I cannot put my finger on why," Hester said. "For a small community like this to have such a gold mine … is really astonishing."

It's also astonishing that the Benjamins are not related despite everything they have in common. They, though, remain close, having forged a bond through their Muck City upbringing.

"I'm definitely a fan of Trav," Kelvin said. "I'm happy seeing him over there balling and doing good things."

Follow Jeff Fedotin on Twitter @JFedotin.