When cousins Sharieff Andrews and Takai Whitmore were six years old, they played football side by side in Dorchester Eagles Pop Warner uniforms that were a bit too big and their efforts more cute than dominant.

One got bigger while the other got faster, and by their high school years they were among the best high school football players in Massachusetts. Last week, their hard work – the physical training, the practices, the games – paid off nicely when they sat at their childhood “chill spot” in the Dorchester YMCA and signed Letters of Intent to play Division 1 college football next fall.

Whitmore, the faster one, who turned 19 last week, will play for Bucknell University in Pennsylvania on a full scholarship. Andrews, 19, will be at Morgan State in Baltimore, also playing on full scholarship.

“It felt amazing to sign the Letter of Intent,” said Andrews. “It’s everyone’s dream to go to school for free and do something you love like football. You get to earn the degree you want to get while still playing football and that’s amazing.” Whitmore said he is excited to go to a school with stellar academics and be able to play football at the same time.

The most enjoyable part for the cousins, though, was that they are giving their parents a “gift” for supporting them.

“Academics at Bucknell are amazing,” said Whitmore, whose overall goal was to get to a point where “my parents don’t have to worry about paying for college. They (Michael Whitmore and Teisha Worrell of Dorchester) have a lot going on and keeping that off their plate was important to me. I wanted to give back to them for all the sacrifices they’ve made for me.”

Added Andrews: “That was really the main reason for working so hard to get a scholarship – being able to tell my parents (Dexter Andrews and LaTarsha Williams of Dorchester) don’t have to pay for my college. It’s so much weight off your shoulders.”

Andrews has honed his skills as an interior defensive lineman, and he expects to play as a freshman in some role at Morgan State. He’ll arrive at the school after a post-graduate year at St. Thomas More School in Connecticut. Before that, he played his junior and senior years at Malden Catholic High School as a transfer student from the Wakefield schools where he had been in the METCO program since the seventh grade. His elementary school days were spent at Boston Renaissance Charter, and, for a year, at the Davis Leadership Academy in Fields Corner.

Whitmore attended William Monroe Trotter Elementary, and then Boston Latin Academy (BLA), where athletics was not a key focus. As he began emerging as a high-level football player, he caught the attention of Dexter-Southfield,where he played the last few years.

This year was a breakout time for him as a running back, where he often dominated on the field. However, he’s be playing defensive back at Bucknell, as he is one of the top-rated defensive backs this year in New England.

Still, both said their journeys began together on the Dorchester Eagles Pop Warner team, under the tutelage of long-time coach Terry Cousins and his crew of adult leaders.

Football, which Andrews began playing at age five, is an experience he shares with his older brothers, Dexter (Jr.), who played for Worcester State, and Taaj, who is in junior college in California playing for the College of the Sequoias. The game was a trial by fire for Sharieff. “Football was kind of inherited,” he said. “I was the youngest and they used to really sling me around.”

Whitmore began playing because his cousins and friends were already doing so. While his mother was initially skeptical when he took up football at age six, eventually all family members were aboard with their support.

Andrews said his work ethic traces back to his time in an Eagles uniform. “That’s really what made the dog in me,” he said. “Everyone knows the Eagles are tough and we had a lot of good players. We were always the powerhouse in the city and as young kids we learned that drive and how to compete and how to go up against the best competition.

“What I learned with the Eagles helps separate me from other athletes. No matter what, I can’t stand around or lie down. I’ve always got to be going.”

Whitmore, who didn’t inherit football in the same way as his cousin, said he learned confidence as an Eagles player.

“I was accustomed to being around the right people and good coaches,” he said. “You eventually look around and realize you’re playing on a team with a lot of good players and you’re one of the top players. That meant a lot at a young age and helped me understand I can do this. I got a lot of confidence from that situation with the Eagles.”

The signings at the Y last Wednesday (Dec. 21) coincided with the early National College Signing Day, when thousands of young men across the United States signed letters to play football at various universities on full scholarships. For Andrews and Whitmore, having it at the YMCA was a “full circle moment.”

The staff and the facility, which has a partnership with the Eagles, were always friendly and accommodating. They said it was a safe place to go even when things might not be ideal on the streets outside the building. Having had very positive childhood memories there, they said they wanted to show the kids there now that any dream is possible.

“Coming back to sign my letter served as a representation and something for the kids here to see, kids that are in the same position I was a few years ago,” said Whitmore. “That meant a lot to my family and me.”