Originally, Grant Achterkirch was planning on having his college decision finalized and announced by the beginning of November.

But then a few more offers came rolling in, and then a few more. And then a few more after that.

By mid-November, Achterkirch still hadn’t found the right fit and extended his informal deadline a little further as he continued to accept invitations to visit colleges throughout the Upper Midwest. The list of trips included stops at a pair of storied NCAA Division III programs in the University of St. John’s and Wisconsin-Whitewater, both of which have won multiple national championships in their history and have sent one player apiece to the NFL in the last three years alone. He also remained in contact with coaches from a host of Division II schools within the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference and visited several of those campuses, including the college where his father, Marc, spent four seasons playing linebacker at the University of Minnesota-Duluth.

Riding an increasing wave of interest, Achterkirch then set his sights on committing just prior to Thanksgiving weekend, but the offers just kept coming, and he kept taking visits. Through it all, he maintained an open mind and stayed devoted to seeing the entire process through until the end, even it if meant delaying his decision another couple of weeks. It’s always been his dream to play college football and he wasn’t about to make a hasty decision just to get it over with, especially one of this magnitude.

Ultimately, his patience paid off in a big way.

Little less than a week after receiving his first offer from a D-I program, Achterkirch officially committed to the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul and signed his National Letter of Intent on Dec. 17 at the Owatonna High School Commons.

“I am excited to announce my commitment to the University of St. Thomas!” Achterkirch posted on his Twitter account the night of Dec. 14. “I would like to thank my family, coaches, teammates, and all those who supported me along the journey. I am blessed to have received this opportunity and am looking forward to the next chapter!”

Achterkirch will join a St Thomas program that recently finished its first season at the Division I FCS level with a 7-2 record against fellow D-I teams. The 6-foot-2, 215-pound linebacker rang up almost 150 tackles in parts of three seasons for the Huskies and earned back-to-back all-district recognition in his final two seasons at OHS and participated in the annual Minnesota All-Star Showcase. He chose UST from a list of schools that mainly featured D-II programs such as Southwest Minnesota State, Minnesota-Duluth, Concordia-St. Paul, Augustana University and Bemidji State.

Achterkirch joins 2019 OHS graduate, Ethan Rohman (Drake University), as the second player in three years to sign with a team affiliated with the one-of-a-kind Pioneer Football League. The PFL not only has a sprawling footprint that features schools on both coasts, but is perhaps best known for being one of just two “non-scholarship” conferences in Division I football. Despite the obvious challenges associated with attempting to build a competitive roster without the aid of athletic scholarships and competing for the same national championship against teams with 63 players on full-ride, the PFL retains complete Division I FCS membership and is eligible for the postseason like every other team at its level.

From an on-field competitive standpoint, the Pioneer League is generally considered to be roughly equivalent to what can be found in the upper tier of Division II and Division I FCS. St. Thomas brought the league to 11 teams this past season and also includes Drake, the University of San Diego, Butler University, Valparaiso University, Morehead State (KY) University, Davidson College, Stetson University, the University of Dayton, Marist College and Presbyterian College.