Chesterton all-state defensive lineman Owen Edlen looks forward to becoming cadet at Air Force Academy to hone leadership skills and athletic talent

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

It was as though Chesterton football coach Mark Peterson picked up the phone one day and said, “Central casting, send me an All-American boy of high school football star. Make him big, strong, powerful, charismatic, wholesome, scholarly. Send me a born leader.”
And onto the campus Owen Edlen walked more than three-and-a-half years ago with broad shoulders, perfect posture and a determination to put everything he had into his athletic career and do it in a way that makes those around him want to follow his example.
For putting all that and a similar attitude in the classroom into his four seasons in the Chesterton football program, what Edlen is getting out of it is admission to the Air Force Academy, where a football locker with his name and number on it awaits.
The future cadet intends to play football, work on his game and his body to keep his NFL dreams alive, and study Behavorial Sciences at the 18,500-acre campus just north of Colorado Springs noted for its beautiful views of the mountains.
The Indiana Football Coaches Association named Edlen a 5A all-state defensive lineman after he amassed 69 tackles, 16 tackles for loss, seven sacks, five pass breakups and returned a fumble 52 yards for a touchdown.
Edlen grew up dreaming about playing football for Notre Dame and was recruited by the Fighting Irish as a preferred walk-on, but when the NCAA decided to drop roster limits from 125 to 105 in the wake of NIL and the transfer portal becoming a way of life, Notre Dame and several other big football schools stopped recruiting preferred walk-ons. That turned Edlen’s attention to the military academies recruiting him.
“I always said even before Air Force was my top option, out of all the people that recruited me, Air Force had the most like-minded people,” Edlen said. “It’s really cool to get to go to a place where everyone pushes themselves to be better than they are. That’s really cool to me.”
He also likes that in the wildly changing landscape of college football, he’s joining a program playing by the same rules as in the past.
“Air Force is very much in my opinion how college football should be,” Edlen said. “They recruit their guys, they have faith in their guys, and they are going to develop you. They don’t see you as business. They see you as a player, as a person, and they just want to develop you and they’re very much staying rooted, unlike most of the other schools in college football.”
AFA cadets aren’t allowed to accept NIL money. The school doesn’t accept transfers and cadets until the end of sophomore year to transfer.
“You can’t deny college football is changing now, where it’s essentially becoming the NFL,” Edlen said. “People are worried about who’s paying me more, where am I going to get more NIL money, stuff like that. Kids are transferring three of the four years that they’re in college.”
Cadets upon graduation enter five years of Air Force service with generous starting salaries. Edlen said he was told that three former Air Force football players are in the NFL and that if players put it in at least three years in the NFL their service commitment is adjusted downward.
“In college football you could go somewhere, and your scholarship is essentially a year-by-year basis. If they want some guy from the transfer portal who they think is better than you, they can pull your scholarship. Air Force is very much the opposite. They’re like no, we choose you, we want you, we’re with you the whole way through football.”
Edlen said he learned during his visit that cadets, regardless of whether they are athletes, are paid an average of about $1,000 a month.
“In college football you could go somewhere, and your scholarship is essentially a year-by-year basis,” Edlen said. “If they want some guy from the transfer portal who they think is better than you, they can pull your scholarship. Air Force is very much the opposite. They’re like no, we choose you, we want you, we’re with you the whole way through.”
Edlen’s high school coach agrees that Air Force shapes up as a perfect fit for him.
“I think when you start looking at those guys who play at that level, a certain level of discipline comes into play, high level character in terms of personal expectations, will follow instructions and do all that while also being a self-starter, “Peterson said. “I think Owen’s going to be a great fit, not only from an athletic, a football perspective, but personality, character, level of integrity.”
Edlen’s older brother enlisted in the Air Force and is stationed in Italy, “working on drones for NATO,” Owen said.
“The Air Force and the Air Force are two very different experiences,” Edlen said.
He won’t be idle, counting the days until leaving for Colorado. Edlen is practicing daily with Coach Bryan Nallenweg’s track and field team and will throw the shot put and discus again for the loaded Trojans. He placed eighth in the state in the shot and all but one of the throwers who finished ahead of him, then-sophomore Westen Ott (third place) of Churubusco, was a senior.
Edlen has room to add weight to his 6-foot-3 frame on which he is carrying about 230 pounds now.
“Owen has a great motor and can turn it loose. He has had a great career here at Chesterton. His best football is still ahead of him, and I say that with nothing but great regard,” Peterson said. “His own physical growth and development will continue and should flourish at that next level, particularly at the academies. They always get the most out of their players.”