Here's a SA that might be a good fit for the GT football program;
Air Force tight end Caleb Rillos tries to keep transfer portal from becoming distraction
Caleb Rillos has established a firm list of priorities to guide him through a unique senior football season at Air Force.
The hierarchy goes – school, football, all the other “side conversations, and those have grown plentiful after his entry into the transfer portal.
“That’s the order for everything,” said Rillos, the 6-foot-6, 255-pound tight end from Golden who has been an academic standout at the academy.
“I never want to have my team or anyone think I’m not fully involved, because I am,” the Ralston Valley High School graduate said.
The vast majority of players in the transfer portal join either after departing their team or as a way to evaluate options during the offseason. Rillos’ situation is different because of Air Force Academy policy. As a senior who will graduate with honors in May, he does not have the option of returning to the Falcons in the Fall of 2024. He does, however, have two years of NCAA eligibility remaining. He also, on the strength of his academic record (a GPA around 3.9 as a mechanical engineering major -- has access to one of Air Force’s competitive graduate school slots.
If he can match a graduate school – he’d like to get an MBA or master’s degree in systems engineering or mechanical engineering – with a non-athletic scholarship (Air Force requirement) at a program that would also welcome him onto the football team, he can keep playing
By entering the transfer portal during the season, it has allowed other programs to put him on the radar and make contact. At this point he sees potential landing spots at Florida, Virginia or Rice.
“I’ll definitely go to grad school no matter what, I just don’t know the exact school or the exact location because I have to work with our own school and other programs to make it work,” said Rillos, whose parents – Matt Rillos, a football player under coach Fisher DeBerry, and Brooke (Effland) Rillos, the academy's Most Valuable Female Athlete as a standout volleyball player in 1999-2000 – are both Air Force graduates.
Recent examples of Air Force athletes who continued their careers beyond the academy by way of graduate school include quarterback Isaiah Sanders (Stanford) and punter Charlie Scott (Alabama) in football and Carter Murphy (currently at Georgia Tech) in basketball.
Rillos has caught passes in five consecutive games for the Falcons (8-1, 5-0 Mountain West) and consistently grades high as a blocker, according to numbers posted by Pro Football Focus.
“We’ve been asked about him,” said Air Force coach Troy Calhoun, who noted Rillos’ catch radius because of his long arms and willingness to extend them and his confidence in his ball skills among his strengths, in addition to focus and energy. “Boy, I mean, he is exceptionally bright. I think he could go to any graduate school out of the 127 schools that have graduate schools.
“He’d be a great addition.”
That doesn’t mean Calhoun is entirely on board with the situation thrust upon Rillos. Calhoun has long advocated for ways to allow cadet-athletes to be afforded longer playing windows than what are currently allowed under the eight-semester framework of an Air Force education.
Asked if he had thoughts on the issue, Calhoun responded: “Oh I do, I just can’t share of publicly. I definitely do.”
Rillos knows nothing is guaranteed about his future, but he knows Air Force has three more games on the regular-season schedule, plus bowl eligibility, plus the potential of playing in (and perhaps hosting) the Mountain West championship game. He’s trying to soak it all in.
“Hopefully it does (work out with graduate school) and I have some more games on my plate,” he said. “But if it doesn’t, this is one of the greatest teams I could have played with for my last year.”
Article by Brent Briggeman
All reactions:
1717
