From Military Academies to The NFL: 7 Remarkable Football Stories

With the 2026 NFL regular season kicking off on September 9, most football stories are about depth charts, new coaches and Super Bowl predictions. The men on this list took a different route to the league.

They played Division I football while preparing to become military officers. Some waited years before reporting to an NFL training camp. Some served in combat. One flew A-10s, one earned a Bronze Star Medal with Valor, and another managed to play an NFL season while still assigned to a naval base.

These are seven of the most interesting stories of football players who went from a federal service academy to the NFL.

Why the path from a service academy to the NFL is different

Graduating from Army, Navy or Air Force normally comes with a military service obligation. Being selected in the NFL Draft does not erase it. The rules governing professional sports have changed several times, which is why two players from different eras can face very different choices.

Some graduates served on active duty before playing. Others were moved into a reserve status while pursuing professional sports, with military service still waiting after football. That tension between an NFL opportunity and an obligation to serve is part of every story here.

1. Roger Staubach: Heisman Trophy, Vietnam and America’s Team

Roger Staubach had already won the 1963 Heisman Trophy at Navy when the Dallas Cowboys used a future selection on him in the 1964 NFL Draft. Dallas then waited five years to see him in uniform.

After graduating from the Naval Academy, Staubach completed four years of active duty. That included volunteering for a tour in Vietnam as a Supply Corps officer. He finally arrived at Cowboys training camp in 1969 as a 27-year-old rookie, an age when many NFL players are already in the middle of their careers.

The wait did not keep him from becoming a legend. Staubach led Dallas to victories in Super Bowls VI and XII, earned MVP honors in Super Bowl VI and reached the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. The Cowboys went 90-31 when he started at quarterback.

Staubach is the clearest proof that a delayed NFL start does not have to mean a lesser career.

2. Chad Hennings: From 45 combat missions to three Super Bowl rings

Chad Hennings was one of the best defensive players in college football. The Air Force Academy star won the 1987 Outland Trophy, and the Dallas Cowboys drafted him in the 11th round in 1988.

Hennings knew the NFL would have to wait. He became an A-10 Thunderbolt II pilot and flew 45 combat missions over northern Iraq in support of Operation Provide Comfort. Football became distant enough that he later said he had begun to think of it as part of his past.

An Air Force reduction-in-force program opened a door in 1992. Hennings separated from active duty, moved into the Air Force Reserve and reported to Dallas. He then spent nine seasons with the Cowboys, played in 119 regular-season games and earned three Super Bowl rings. He also continued serving in the Reserve for almost another decade.

Going from combat sorties to the defensive line of a dynasty sounds like a movie pitch. Hennings actually did it.

3. Alejandro Villanueva: An Army Ranger who became a Pro Bowl tackle

Alejandro Villanueva did a little of everything for Army football, lining up at offensive tackle, defensive line and wide receiver. He graduated from West Point in 2010 and was commissioned as an Army officer.

Villanueva went on to serve three tours in Afghanistan, including service with the 1st Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment. During one deployment, he helped rescue wounded soldiers under enemy fire and received a Bronze Star Medal with Valor.

He had gone undrafted in 2010, but after his military service he gave football another shot. The Philadelphia Eagles signed the 6-foot-9 veteran as a defensive end in 2014. They released him, and the Pittsburgh Steelers saw a better future for him back on the offensive line.

That position change helped produce a seven-season career. Villanueva played every regular-season game from 2015 through 2021, started 107 of 113 games and made two Pro Bowls. He spent six seasons with Pittsburgh and finished with the Baltimore Ravens in 2021.

He even caught a two-yard touchdown pass in 2018, because apparently being an Army Ranger and a Pro Bowl tackle was not enough for one résumé.

4. Napoleon McCallum: An NFL rookie who was still on active duty

Navy running back Napoleon McCallum was selected by the Los Angeles Raiders in the fourth round of the 1986 draft. His first NFL season came with an arrangement that would be difficult to imagine today: he played for the Raiders while serving on active duty at the naval base in Long Beach, California.

McCallum appeared in 16 games as a rookie, but a later assignment took him away from Southern California and the NFL. He completed his active-duty commitment before returning to the Raiders in 1990.

Across his two stints, McCallum played 74 games for the franchise. His career ended with a devastating knee injury in 1994, but he had already pulled off something unique. He did not simply pause his military career for football during that rookie season. For a time, he was doing both.

5. Caleb Campbell: Drafted, issued a helmet and ordered back to duty

Few players have experienced a draft story quite like Caleb Campbell’s.

The Detroit Lions selected the Army safety in the seventh round in 2008. Under the Army’s interpretation of the professional-sports policy at the time, Campbell expected to play while serving as a recruiter if he made the roster. He reached Detroit, received his equipment and was ready for his first training-camp practice.

Then the policy changed.

On the eve of camp, Campbell was ordered to stop playing football and perform traditional military duties for at least two years. Detroit never signed him, so its draft rights eventually expired. After completing two years of active duty, Campbell returned to the Lions in 2010 and appeared in three regular-season games.

His NFL career was brief, but getting into a regular-season game after two years away from organized football made the comeback meaningful. His story is also a useful reminder: a service-academy player can be drafted without being immediately cleared to play.

6. Joe Cardona: Eleven seasons while serving in the Navy Reserve

Long snappers rarely become the headline, but Joe Cardona has built one of the most durable service-academy careers in NFL history.

The New England Patriots drafted the Naval Academy graduate in the fifth round in 2015. Cardona was able to begin his NFL career immediately while also serving as a Navy Reserve officer. In a 2022 Navy Reserve profile, he described the pressure plainly: his teammates deserved his best, and so did his sailors.

Cardona spent ten seasons with New England, won two Super Bowls and became a team captain in 2024. He played for Miami in 2025 and enters the 2026 season with the Los Angeles Rams. Through 2025, he had appeared in 177 regular-season games.

He recently concluded his Navy service as a lieutenant commander. For more than a decade, his job on Sundays existed alongside responsibilities that most NFL players never have to balance.

7. Rayuan Lane III: The modern Marine-NFL path

Rayuan Lane III arrived at Navy as an overlooked recruit. The Naval Academy was his only Division I offer. He became a four-year starter at safety, started 43 consecutive games and helped Navy finish 10-3 in 2024.

Lane briefly explored the transfer portal and drew interest from programs including Notre Dame and UCLA. He stayed at Navy, passing up larger-profile opportunities and potential name, image and likeness money because of his connection to the academy and his teammates.

The Jacksonville Jaguars selected him in the sixth round of the 2025 draft, making him the first defensive back from Navy ever drafted into the NFL. He graduated weeks later and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps Reserve.

Lane then proved he was more than a good draft-day story. He played all 17 games as a rookie, led Jacksonville with 339 special-teams snaps and recorded 15 special-teams tackles. He remains on the Jaguars roster entering 2026.

His route reflects the current professional-sports policy: he can serve in the Reserve and pursue the NFL now, with an obligation to return to full-time military service after his football career.

Two more Navy graduates to watch in 2026

The opening week of the 2026 season adds a fresh chapter. Navy teammates Landon Robinson and Eli Heidenreich became the first pair of Naval Academy players drafted in the same year since 1956.

Both landed with hometown teams four picks apart in the seventh round. The Cincinnati Bengals selected Robinson at No. 226, the same overall slot used on Pat Tillman in 1998. The Pittsburgh Steelers selected Heidenreich at No. 230, producing a huge reaction from the crowd at the draft in Pittsburgh.

Both Marine officers made their teams’ initial 53-man rosters. As of September 8, neither has appeared in an NFL regular-season game, so their professional stories are just beginning.

More service-academy players who reached an NFL regular-season game

This is a selected list rather than every service-academy graduate who attended a camp or joined a practice squad. Each player below appeared in at least one NFL regular-season game.

There are other academy stars who were drafted or signed but never appeared in a regular-season game. That distinction matters. Reaching a camp is an accomplishment, but reaching an NFL Sunday is another hurdle entirely.

A football dream with an extra obligation

The players above did not all receive the same deal from the military. The rules changed, the wars changed and the NFL changed. What remained constant was the obligation attached to attending a service academy.

That is what makes these careers more interesting than a list of statistics. Staubach was 27 when his rookie season began. Hennings flew combat missions before lining up for the Cowboys. Villanueva returned from three Afghanistan tours and became a Pro Bowler. Cardona balanced an NFL career with more than a decade in the Navy Reserve. Lane is now trying to write the newest version of the story.

When the NFL season begins, hundreds of players will run onto the field after taking difficult paths to get there. Very few of those paths passed through West Point, Annapolis or the Air Force Academy first.

Sources and further reading

• 2026 NFL schedule and Kickoff Weekend
• Roger Staubach, Pro Football Hall of Fame
• Roger Staubach, Naval Academy Athletics
• Chad Hennings, U.S. Air Force
• Alejandro Villanueva, U.S. Department of Defense
• Alejandro Villanueva career statistics, NFL
• Napoleon McCallum, Raiders
• Caleb Campbell career statistics, NFL
• Joe Cardona, U.S. Navy Reserve
• Joe Cardona, Los Angeles Rams
• Rayuan Lane III, Jacksonville Jaguars
• Landon Robinson and Eli Heidenreich, Naval Academy Athletics
• Additional NFL players from service academies, NFL

Photo-use note: The three images used in this article are identified by DVIDS as public domain. The appearance of U.S. Department of War visual information does not imply or constitute Department of War endorsement.