Lincoln-Way East’s DJ Ritter finds landing spot at Air Force

DJ Ritter readily admits that he didn’t think his recruitment to play at the next level would end with his commitment to the Air Force Academy.

“My goal was to play Power 5 football and just have a normal college life,” the Lincoln-Way East linebacker/safety said. “I wasn’t really considering Air Force.”

But Air Force was persistent and slowly convinced Ritter there was a viable option waiting for him in Colorado Springs that was outside the Power 5 umbrella of schools.

“I wasn’t all that interested in Air Force,” Ritter said. “My family and I were familiar with Colorado, we’d taken vacations to Breckenridge to snowboard before. So I decided I just want to see the campus and see what it’s like up close. And I 100% loved what I saw. I got to know a lot of the coaches and take a tour of education system, buildings and whatnot, and that definitely increased my interest.”

Things became more complicated in Ritter’s recruiting cycle when he had a senior season that was slowed by a series of small injuries limiting him to a 52-tackle senior season that included 35 solo stops and five tackles for loss for the Griffins.

“He had a really good junior tape,” Lincoln-Way East coach Rob Zvonar said. “But he had some bad luck in his senior season, and some of the schools that probably were interested didn’t stay with him after the injury.

“It takes a commitment to go to one of the service academies, but if he can go out to Colorado Springs and see it for the opportunity it is, he could do well. We’ve got a history of placing kids in programs that are able to achieve because of the way we’ve prepared them, and DJ could be another one of those.”

Power 5 interest wasn’t really coming at a level Ritter had hoped, but Air Force’s interest never wavered, and with that Ritter started to consider all the Academy system has to offer.

“When the season came, I still wanted to have a more normal college lifestyle, but then the season came and I have a rough season because of some some injuries. I had a concussion and a broken thumb that I needed surgery on. So it was a pretty injured season,” Ritter said. “And that just kind of made me think of that you’re going to college not just to play football; you’re going to college to receive an education and what you can build on those four years that you are there.

“And I just kind of took my decision a lot safer and smarter and understood that football could be everything that I ever dreamed of, but it’s that education that will set you up for your career and get you out to your job. That became highlighted to my attention, and there’s no better place to do that than at Air Force.”

Ritter’s commitment to Air Force comes with a five-year service commitment that must be served following Ritter’s time at the Academy. And while some might look at that condition as a detriment, Ritter sees it differently.

“The first time I heard that, I was like, ‘Wow. That’s a lot. A big commitment, a lot of time and effort.’ But then I really started to see it more as an opportunity,” Ritter said. “If I didn’t go to Air Force and I played somewhere else, and then I graduated and I tried looking for a job, I’m going to be doing whatever that job is for nearly five years anyway, and if I did that at the Air Force Academy, it gives you so many more benefits and opportunities.”

Ritter’s brother, Jackson, is at the University of Iowa. He sat out the 2022 season with an injury. Like his brother, DJ Ritter expected to also go the route of a Power 5 University.

But over time, he realized that just because that route was the path he’d conditioned himself to follow, there was no rule that the route couldn’t and shouldn’t change.

“My brother goes to Iowa, and I’m very familiar with the Power 5 schools and what advantages they get. He’s also a student-athlete. He is a senior right now,” Ritter said. “I saw what it means to be playing Power 5, and I see the advantages and opportunities you get from going to them. But I’ve also compared that to opportunities at Air Force, and I think after you graduate, it’s just completely unmatched.

“It wasn’t what I originally thought it would be, but I’m happy with my decision.”