Derrick Davis | The Valdosta Daily TimesRicky Trejo poses for a photo in the gymnasium of Georgia Christian School on Tuesday after signing a letter-of-intent to play football at Dakota College in Bottineau.

DASHER — Ricky Trejo just wants to make his family proud.

Tuesday in the gymnasium of the Georgia Christian School, he did just that.

In front of his extended family, ranging from parents and siblings to nieces and nephews, Trejo signed a letter-of-intent to play football at Dakota College at Bottineau in North Dakota, setting himself up to become the first member of his family to play collegiate sports in the process.

“I tried not to cry, to be honest,” Trejo said after putting ink to paper. “All my family is here watching me. This is a big deal for all of us…

“It was very emotional trying to hold it in.”

Trejo has been a Swiss Army knife of a player for Georgia Christian during his career with the Generals, seeing time, and succeeding, at multitude of positions, including tight end, full back, linebacker and where ever else he was asked to line up.

In seven games last season, Trejo made 73 total tackles with seven tackles for a loss, three sacks, three forced fumbles and a fumble recovery, resulting in the third all-region selection of his career.

As a junior, Trejo was selected for the GISA Class AA All-State team.

Trejo was willing to perform any role his coaches asked of him at Georgia Christian, but when searching for the perfect fit for himself on the collegiate level, Trejo wanted to find a school that would allow him to focus on the position he loves: linebacker.

Although he’s yet to make a trip to the school, Trejo spoke to the coach at Dakota College at Bottineau multiple times over the phone. Once he was offered a spot, Trejo knew he wanted to become a Lumberjack.

“The way he said he wanted me, it made me want to go over there,” Trejo said. “I love playing linebacker, and that was one of the colleges that actually offered me to play it…

“Once he told me I could play middle linebacker, it was kind of like the doors opened for me.”

Dakota College at Bottineau, which re-established its football team in 2008 after discontinuing the program in 1959, may be getting a steal in Trejo, who may just be scratching the surface of his potential on the gridiron.

Not only will Trejo be focused on a single position for the first time, he’ll be focused on a single sport for the first time.

“I feel like I can be a lot better now,” Trejo said. “Concentrating on one position, and actually just playing football year-round now, because I played basketball and I used to play soccer here. So, it was kind of like, I could only practice football in football season deal.

“Finally just playing football year-round in just one position is going to be big for me. I feel like I can be better.”

Trejo is willing to travel across country and brave the harsh North Dakota harsh winters to live his dream and provide a role model for his younger relatives.

Bottineau is fewer than 15 miles south of the Canadian border — a 1,859-mile road trip from Trejo’s home, spanning 27 hours.

“It’s going to be a long trip, but I’m just worried about playing football over there,” Trejo said. “It’s going to be a culture change, but I’m ready to take it on.”

As for his family, Trejo doesn’t expect them to make many of his games up in Bottineau, but with as close as the family has shown to be, it’s a probably a safe bet they’ll find a way to watch him play.

“My family’s never flew,” Trejo said with a laugh. “The only one in my family who has flew is my mom, so hopefully they’ll catch it live stream.”

Derrick Davis is the sports editor at the Valdosta Daily Times.