Bloomington alum John Ridgeway drafted to the NFL 178th overall
BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — An elaborate tattoo consumes the considerable upper left arm of 6-foot-5, 320-pound John Ridgeway.
There is one letter — JKG — for each member of his family: dad, John; mom, Katie; and sister, Grace.
“I put each of their birth years next to each letter, too,” Ridgeway said. “Every time I see it while I’m playing or working out, it’s a reminder of my family. It’s a way to show that I love them and why I play the game.”
While the ink is a permanent reminder of his family at home in Bloomington, the 2017 Bloomington High School graduate has spent the last couple of months in Texas preparing to compete for one of 53 roster spots with the Dallas Cowboys. The defensive tackle was picked in the fifth round (178th overall) of the NFL Draft in April after completing his collegiate career at Arkansas.
After missing the first game of the Razorbacks’ season due to an appendectomy, Ridgeway made his presence known quickly with six tackles, including one for a loss, in a win over Texas. Ridgeway played a total of 15 games from February 2021 through Arkansas’ bowl game on New Year’s Day 2022, including four starts for Illinois State during the Redbirds’ Covid-altered season in the spring of 2021.
Ridgeway, 23, earned all-Missouri Valley Conference honors in 2019 and was named to the league’s All-Newcomer Team and an FCS Freshman All-American by Phil Steele in 2018. He led the Redbirds with 22 tackles during the team’s Covid-altered season in the spring of 2021 before entering the NCAA transfer portal and making his way to Fayetteville.
“Arkansas was great to me,” Ridgeway said. “I was there only one year, but I cherished every moment I had there.” It has been a lot of football in a short amount of time, especially for a lineman, but his experience and performance at Arkansas clearly put him on the NFL radar. His time in a Razorback uniform included a chance meeting with Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones, also an Arkansas alum. Jones’ grandson, John Stephen Jones, played quarterback for the Razorbacks. “I sure wasn’t expecting to meet him, but when the opportunity came, I said ‘I need to make sure this dude is going to remember me,’” Ridgeway said.
Whether or not it had an impact in the Cowboys selecting Ridgeway in the draft is anybody’s guess. But it couldn’t have hurt. “He came out to practice a couple of weeks ago and said to me, “What’s up, Razorback?”, Ridgeway said. “So, that was cool.” The Cowboys have established players at defensive tackle, but Ridgeway figures to be in the competition for snaps within the rotation.
Ridgeway got a good feel in rookie mini-camp and OTAs (organized team activities) for the adjustments he needs to make in order to transition from the college game to the NFL. “The speed of the game is the biggest difference,” Ridgeway said. “It’s much faster from the players to the play-calling. In high school, you don’t have a lot of checks (at the line of scrimmage). You start to see them in college, but in the NFL, every play seems like it’s a check. “Every player is smart, and they know how to read the defense. So just making sure I have that football IQ sharp and being accountable to the job they’re asking me to do.”
An old adage has it that NFL actually stands for “not for long”, and that resonates with Ridgeway. He knows he will need to be at the top of his game during training camp or risk not being around long himself. “Every time I walk into the room, I want the coach to have something good to say about me,” Ridgeway said. “It’s a cut-throat league, so you have to know your job and be able to do your job, or you’re not going to be on the field.”
Ridgeway is setting goals much like he did in high school when he wrote on a chalkboard “2017 state wrestling champion” and “2022 NFL Draft pick.” He left them on the board until they came to be. “I’m big on speaking things into the universe,” Ridgeway said. “But you can also talk all you want; you still have to put in the work.”
The confidence is certainly there. “I knew the moment I put on my helmet what I am capable of. My family, my coaches and support team knew I could do it, too, and I don’t want to let them down. My coaches back home will tell you I’m wired a little differently. Some people will say I’m arrogant. I’m just competitive. I do not like losing.”
The Cowboys certainly hope they’ve got a winner.
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