Patience pays off for Army LB Rhattigan
‘Toughness and humility’ shaped after three years
Army linebacker Jon Rhattigan is right where he always wanted to be as the biggest game of his life looms. It just took a little longer than he imagined.
A football captain in high school in Naperville, Illinois, Rhattigan saw his first three years with the Black Knights go like this: No varsity action in 2017; played in one game in 2018, the season finale in the Armed Forces Bowl; appeared in all 13 games last year and registered six tackles while playing on special teams.
“Toughness and humility. That was the first three years,” Rhattigan said. “It was a grind, as college football should be. I think this program, especially, is built on toughness and humility, and I think that’s a great way for me to describe the first three years. I was fine in my role on the team and doing the best I could each year. Thankfully, that role has changed.”
Has it ever.
This year, Rhattigan has been a key starter on a defense ranked fourth nationally (289.3 yards allowed per game) under first-year coordinator Nate Woody. Rhattigan leads the Black Knights in tackles with 67, eight of them for losses, and he’s tied for the team lead with two interceptions, one that he returned for a touchdown. On Monday, he was named one of 18 semifinalists for the Bednarik Award, presented annually to the nation’s top defensive player, a nice start to the week as Army (7-2) prepared to play host to Navy (3-6) at Michie Stadium in West Point, New York, on Saturday.
“I think he made up his mind in the offseason that he was going to be a leader for us,” Woody said. “He stepped up and took on a role that we desperately needed. I can’t tell you how tremendous of an asset he’s been.”
Rhattigan simply had to wait his turn. He was behind two-year captain Cole Christiansen on the depth chart, and Christiansen — a Nansemond-Suffolk Academy graduate — is now in the NFL with the Los Angeles Chargers.
“I guess it just happens,” Army coach Jeff Monken said. “You don’t always find yourself at the top of the depth chart right away. We knew he was a good player, but I felt like we had some good players there that were playing, too.”
Rhattigan’s high school coach said his former star understood the process and never griped.
“It’s tough when you’re not playing, but I never heard him once get down on himself or the team or anything like that,” Naperville coach Bill Ellinghaus said. “He knew that he was behind a really, really unique player and he was willing to put the work in to be as good as he could be when the time was right. When I talked to him last summer, he said, ‘You know what? I think it’s my time.’”
Growing up with two older, athletic brothers — Joe was a star tailback for Princeton — taught Rhattigan valuable lessons that have served him well at West Point.
“If there’s one thing that Jon is really good at, it’s enduring those kinds of things,” said Rhattigan’s father, T.J. “He was in the shadow of both of his older brothers most of his life. He’s a survivor. He perseveres. He just will not quit. I’m sure it was difficult for him. He wouldn’t say anything.”
Rhattigan, at 6-foot-1 and 245 pounds, had several offers from both the Ivy League and Mid-American Conference and some interest from Big Ten schools before suffering a torn knee ligament early in his junior year in high school. He rebounded with a solid senior year and chose West Point during a trip east to visit several schools.
After a stop at Brown of the Ivy League, it was on to West Point to the surprise of his father, whose attempt to dissuade him failed.
“I said, ‘What are you doing? You’re not going to go to West Point. You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into,’” T.J. Rhattigan recalled. “And he said, ‘We have to go. This coach, when everybody else gave up on me (because of the injury, long-time Army assistant) Tucker Waugh kept calling.’”