For as long as Trey Ratliff can remember, this is the time of year at home when the phone rings nightly with calls for his father from old Army teammates and friends. And the phone continues ringing until the Army-Navy Game is played.

William Ratliff was a two-year letterman as an offensive lineman for Army in 1986 and 1987. As a kid, Trey didn't understand the emotion and tradition behind the phone calls. As a young man committed to West Point as an offensive tackle recruit out of Wake Forest (N.C.) Heritage, he is beginning to comprehend the lifelong bond.

But no matter his age, it never escaped his attention his father always signed off on the phone calls the same way:

"Beat Navy!"

This year's 114th Army-Navy Game on Dec. 14 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia won't be the first one Trey has attended with his father, but it will be like no other now that he is bound for West Point. Now, he can envision himself wearing Army's colors on the grand stage. Best-selling author John Feinstein wrote in his book, "A Civil War: Army vs. Navy, a year inside College Football's Purest Rivalry," that every American should attend at least once this iconic American game.

"I've been to the game when I was younger, but I'm really excited about this year's game," Ratliff said. "I've always watched the game on TV and I've talked about the game with my Dad, but this year's game is different."

As the son of an Army letterman who served 21 years before he retired as a Lt. Colonel, it's easy to assume Trey has been a track to attend West Point since he was in diapers, which included years his father was a West Point professor.

But that's not always the case with sons who have ultimately followed their father to West Point, and it wasn't for Trey. Football wasn't his favorite sport when he began high school, preferring basketball and baseball. Other sports always have been on the family radar. His older sister Karson Ratliff was a 2013 all-conference player at the University of Connecticut. She was a second-team pick for the 2013 All-American Athletic Conference (formerly Big East).

- 2014 Army commit, Trey Ratliff

Also, Trey didn't consider himself a college football prospect until the last couple of years, when he grew into to his 6-foot-5 frame that now tips the scales at 275.

But with his size, his 4.65 grade-point average, his status as a team captain at Heritage and his willingness to take on the challenge of military discipline, he fit the Army football profile with or without his father's legacy. It wasn't long before Army's staff zeroed in on him and defensive backs coach Tony Coaxum was on Heritage's campus.

But most importantly to Army's prospects on the field, he's labeled an over-achiever, a late bloomer or a tweener -- take your pick. Those types of recruits with the right work ethic can develop into a talent that can compete with BCS Division I prospects that BCS recruiters don't have to take a chance on.

"I definitely see Trey as a Division I talent," said Heritage head coach Jason McGeorge, who played at North Carolina State (1994-96). "He has the drive, size and strength to play Division I football."

In fact, a Stanford recruiter was on campus despite not ultimately offering Ratliff a scholarship offer. All that Ratliff lacks, in the eyes of BCS schools, is foot speed, but McGeorge told recruiters he believes that Ratliff will develop foot speed and improve his techniques now that he's focused on football as his future and he's growing into his body.

In addition to Ivy League schools pursuing him, UTEP recently offered a scholarship with the hope the Miners could lure him into an opportunity to play Division I football without the military commitment.

That might have worked a year or two ago, but not now. He's matured into that small percentage of Americans willing to serve their country in a time of war. As Stanford coach David Shaw told his players before the Cardinal played Army earlier this year at Michie Stadium, " ... we are playing against young men willing to do things down the road we are not willing to do."

Ratliff committed in October after he visited West Point the week of the Wake Forest game. He was drawn by the academics, the historic campus and the allure of serving his country. He cites the job security provided by a West Point education and five-year military commitment. He also said he saw enough interaction between the football team and coaches he's confident Army is on the right path despite the team's 3-8 record entering the Army-Navy Game.

 "When I was younger, I knew about West Point, but I wasn't necessarily considering attending a military academy," Trey said. "But as I got older I realized the challenge and the opportunity. It's about more than football. I'll be an officer when I graduate. I'll have a job and I can make it a career or go on to something else."

Heritage, on the outskirts of Raleigh, is one of those sprawling, modern high school campuses that have the look of a small college. It opened with sophomore and freshmen classes in the 2010-11 school year. Ratliff's Class of 2014 is the second graduating class but first four-year class to matriculate.

On a school day the hallways are quiet with the hush of academic emphasis. The school's faculty is delighted to have Ratliff as a cornerstone of academic heritage to fit the school's name. He will be Heritage's first West Point student and will be an alumnus to point to as a role model for future students.

"It means a lot to Heritage High, the faculty and the administration," said Ratliff's teacher in Advanced Placement World History, Abby Soffe. "He will always be remembered here as the first person to go on to a school of that caliber. He's a well-rounded young man. I told him I feel a lot safer knowing he's going into the military. He brings brains and physicality and it's rare to find such a well-rounded young man."

Soffe's classroom is in a lower level of the building far from the athletic facilities, but Ratliff, despite his size, fits in comfortably as one of 16 students who gather for a class that is considered one of the most challenging in social sciences on campus.

As Ratliff began to consider his college future, he said his father extolled the advantages of a West Point education, but he emphasized his college destination was his decision. But there was that moment last summer when Trey attended a Navy summer camp and is father quite naturally hinted at disappointment. On the trip home his father commented, humorously, about having to pick up his son on Navy's Annapolis campus.

"I know my Dad was happy when I committed to West Point, but he never pushed me in any direction," Trey said. "He would have supported me if I went to Navy."

Ah, but consider his father's anguish if that Navy football camp had led to Trey wearing Navy's colors rather than Army's black and gold? Well, we'll never know for sure how Lt. Col. William Ratliff would have signed off on those annual calls from old Army teammates and buddies.