Jake Eldridge hid his sexuality while playing football at Rutgers University, leading to stress and hospitalization
Jake Eldridge
NEED TO KNOW
- Jake Eldridge hid his sexuality while playing Rutgers football, leading to stress and hospitalization
- He says Heated Rivalry "would have made me feel a little safer” and might have changed his coming-out timeline
- Since retiring from football, he’s embraced his passions and shared his sexuality online, receiving widespread support
When Jake Eldridge played college football at Rutgers University, he hid a part of himself every time he stepped onto the field.
The Texas native constantly calculated how coaches, teammates and the locker room might react if they knew his sexual identity. The stress of keeping this secret, combined with the demands of high-level competition, eventually took a serious toll on his health.
He ended up in the hospital, where he was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, and soon made the difficult decision to retire from football, move his classes online and relocate to New York City.
Looking back, Eldridge says one TV show might have changed everything — if it had already existed.
Heated Rivalry, which follows LGBTQ+ athletes navigating professional leagues, “would have made me feel a little safer,” Eldridge tells PEOPLE exclusively over Zoom. “If I was a closeted athlete and saw how many people fell in love with the story portrayed in Heated Rivalry, I would have felt a little safer.”
Jake Eldridge
Since its release on Nov. 28, 2025, the series has inspired athletes across sports, including former hockey player Jesse Kortuem, who publicly came out as gay in January 2026.
For Eldridge, now 21, seeing stories like this might have altered how his own coming-out journey unfolded.
“That’s not to say it would erase all my hesitation about coming out,” he adds. “Every program is different, and you know best how your team will react. But it definitely shows that it’s possible. For me personally, it might have changed my timeline, though I’m truly unsure.”
Since leaving football in 2024, Eldridge has pursued his passions in beauty, cooking, fitness and content creation.
That same year, in October, he made the decision to open up about his sexuality on social media. While initially nervous, the post was met with an outpouring of love and support, and in the years since, he has continued sharing his journey online.
Recently, Eldridge reflected on the impact the show Heated Rivalry might have had on him in a TikTok post that has been viewed over 2 million times.
“When I watch Heated Rivalry, all I can think about is… how much it would have helped me,” he wrote.
Fans quickly flooded the comments with encouragement. “Glad you’re here ❤,” one person wrote. “Welcome to the cottage, Jake! 🩷,” another said in reference to a line from the show. Someone else added, “I hope this helped heal a part of your heart. I’m so sorry you had to go through this.”
Looking forward, Eldridge says he hopes the show continues to inspire athletes.
“I would love to see more and more people be out and be who they are while they're playing,” he tells PEOPLE. “At the same time, do it whenever you're comfortable. Not necessarily pressuring people to come out while they're playing, because football, whenever I was playing, was still very much not the most accepting. Most of the public stories happened after players had finished their careers.”
He adds, “Whenever you’re in it every day, it feels a lot more difficult than it seems from the outside. There’s still a lot of work to be done within the sport itself, in the facilities, and in how people react to one another.”
On advice for young athletes struggling with their identity, Eldridge is clear: “Just do it on your own time and don’t listen to the noise of other people or feel pressured to explain to anybody who you love, why you love them. Live your life for you, not others. It’s one of the hardest things to do, but once you start, it’s also one of the most rewarding.”
Read the original article on People
Category: General Sports
