Turning Unparalleled Heartbreak And Tragedy Into Success: The DJ Rumph Story

Instead of shying away from the unimaginable struggles that he’s faced, DJ Rumph has instead used his adversity to change his life for the better.

Eric Rutter | May 30, 2024

In this story:

Michigan Wolverines

Throughout a childhood that has been marred with pitfalls and obstacles— some of the most difficult situations that a human can be tasked with facing— 2027 Bellflower (Calif.) St. John Bosco LB DJ Rumph has risen to the occasion time and time again.

Simply put, he’s had no other choice.

“I knew I had to tell this story eventually, I just never thought I would have the courage to do so, but it’s time…” DJ’s mother, Jessica Layug, told Wolverine Digest.

Now, after a lifetime of hard work and perseverance, DJ is watching his unparalleled resiliency pay off. Recently, DJ earned a scholarship offer to the University of Michigan, the reigning College Football National Champions, but it is important to understand each painstaking step of his journey up to this point.

“It felt like I was in a different realm,” DJ said of his Michigan offer. “I was floating and didn’t know how to compose myself immediately. I couldn’t feel my face... It means so much to me considering all I’ve been through to get here. It’s been tough. You never want to feel like all this hard work went to nothing, so you fear day by day of not being enough. But in God’s eyes you’re always enough.”

Wow! #AGTG Beyond grateful to receive an offer from the University of Michigan!! 〽️〽️ #GoBlue @UMichFootball @boscofootball @CoachMoore @UMich #MichiganFootball @lucbrian #CoachNegro @247Sports @on3sports @rivalsdotcom @DUiagalelei @MaxPreps @Zack_Poff_MP @lynden_o @GregBiggins… pic.twitter.com/bDCm7smqWn
— Dj Lyrae Rumph ⚠️ (@DjRumph) May 22, 2024

Proving That Loss Does Not Define One’s Life

It is often said that God gives his toughest battles to his strongest soldiers, and that phrase applies so literally to DJ’s life. From the beginning, DJ has been fighting an uphill battle that began shortly after his birth at Robert E Bush Naval Hospital on Twentynine Palms Marine Base in California.

“When DJ was only two weeks old, he turned blue, and we almost lost him,” Layug said. “He had pyloric stenosis, a blockage in his stomach that prevented him from taking in any fluids. He would just projectile vomit. We rushed him to the military hospital on base, and they performed emergency surgery. The doctors told us he might not make it, but he did. He’s here now, and he has a calling.”

Dondre Ransom lifting his son, DJ, high into the air. /

According to Layug, DJ battled severe anxiety and depression as a child, and he was homeschooled for five years before he began high school. Since that time, DJ has compiled a perfect 4.0 GPA, which shows that he is not taking his second chance at life for granted.

But before DJ could even make it to high school, he suffered the worst loss that any child could ever incur. DJ’s father, Dondre Ransom, was a member of the Marines for six years before everything changed. While enlisted, Ransom would play football recreationally with other fellow Marines when time allowed. After his service ended, Ransom went to Sacramento, California in order to play semi-professional football, and he enrolled in college with the goals of becoming a walk-on at USC. Ransom had a younger brother, Deon, who was one of the top recruits in the nation at the time, and the two motivated each other to keep pursuing their dreams.

From there, Dondre was playing semi-professional football, and he suffered a hard hit that caused immediate swelling to his brain. Dondre was rushed to the hospital where doctors removed a portion of his skull in an effort to reduce the swelling.

The hospital bed from which doctors fought to save Dondre’s life. /

Unfortunately, medical intervention was unable to reverse the effects of the injury, and Dondre passed away on October 4, 2016. From that point on, Layug was forced to raise her family without a father, but the trials and tribulations for DJ and his relatives unfortunately do not end there.

“My mom, she’s a combat veteran, a military police gunner in Afghanistan,” DJ said. “She always had me on the same Army values [of] LDRSHIP— Loyalty, Duty, Respect, Selfless Service, Honor, Integrity, Personal Courage. I live by that. So, I pray I can push those values wherever I go.”

During duty, Layug suffered an injury herself which caused her to be medically evacuated out of the Middle East and into a hospital in Landstuhl, Germany for immediate treatment. Layug had a torn ACL, respiratory issues and a back ailment to battle through herself, and eventually she was transferred back to the Wounded Warrior Treatment Unit on the base of Fort Gordon, Georgia. It was at that time, when she was still recovering from the rigors of combat zone warfare, that she received news that would forever alter the lives of her family.

“When I first got the call, I wasn’t okay,” Layug recalled. “I just remember getting that call, that my husband died after a bad tackle on the field. He was lifeless. So, they continued to try to save his life in the emergency flight to the hospital, and they were successful, but it was too late; he was already brain dead, blind, and paralyzed— a vegetative state. He later passed away after being in hospice care. DJ was already without a Mom, [then] he lost his dad.”

With Layug still in recovery, DJ was taken in by his grandmother and grandfather on Layug’s side of the family. At times, DJ was also taken care of by Debra Ransom, Dondre’s mother, further underscoring how it takes a village to raise a child.

Layug described her husband as an amazing Marine and an amazing father who she married when they were around 19 and 20 years old. The two were madly in love with each other and were very optimistic for the life that they set out to build together.

A moment of happiness between Dondre, Jessica and their son, DJ. /

“Like any young couple, we had our trials, especially while we were both in the service, especially when I received my orders to deploy to Afghanistan,” Layug said. “So after his dad went down, DJ wasn’t happy.. he cried every time I called. I felt so wrong and guilty for being away as a mother, but I had to get better for them. I have videos of him crying on FaceTime calls every time we would talk about it. He just wanted his Mom or his dad.. both him and Dondre were the best of friends. He thought his dad could get through it. At DJ’s age at the time, he was eight years old, of course he was more hopeful than any adult about his dad. He would always say, ‘Mom, it’s okay, soon you and dad will be together again and happy and all better and healed with no more military stuff,’ [or] ‘Okay Mom? You’re done with your mission. Dads done with his, so he’s going to play football again. Hurry home’ [or] ‘I want to be together again, please mom. Come home now. Come get me so we can go pick Dad up.’”

These messages obviously ripped and pulled at the heartstrings of Layug as her son was too young to understand the full gravity of the situation.

Now without his father, DJ and his two brothers were taken in by his grandparents as Layug went from deployment to recovery to now losing Ransom due to a freak accident on the football field. DJ’s grandmother acted as his second Mom during that time, but she recently passed away as well. A month later, DJ’s grandfather suffered heart failure and renal failure, so Layug opted to take him into her care as an effort to get him back on his feet if possible.

“There was no way I was going to keep losing family members in my life, and I was tired of watching my kids cry,” Layug said. “Enough was enough… We have been through a lot.”

Throughout that timeframe, Layug underwent 16 months of treatment, eight hours per day of therapy to address neurological, physical, psychological, occupational, respiratory and speech therapy in order to get back on her own feet.

“They know what it is to lose in this life, so they cherish a lot of the small things,” Layug said of her family.

Jessica Layug during her tour of active duty overseas. /

Using Loss As Motivation

After experiencing such unimaginable pain on such a close, personal level, DJ is determined to make his late father proud. Layug introduced her son to football in Georgia at a bit of an older age, but he immediately took to the field and dominated much as his father and uncle have done before him.

“He didn’t know much about football, but the moment he stepped on that field he excelled,” Layug said. “This kid has played in a championship game every year. He was the only kid who played at every possible All-American Game: Under Armour 8th Grade All-American Game, FBU Adidas Freshman All-American Game. He played in three years of National Championship with FBU in 6th, 7th, and 8th grade, won a State Championship as a freshman, and was invited to the NBC National Combine for 2025. We had a rough year in 2022 and 2023, dealing with a bad situation, losing my mom, taking in my dad, and living in hotels for a year due to a bad septic leak that flooded all three floors of our home. Throughout those two years, I took him to over 15 camps and All-Star games, both in-state and out-of-state, that he was invited to. He earned 12 MVPs in one year, Gatorade Player of the Year, and so much more.”

Though on the surface it may sound as if DJ and his family had finally turned the page, their troubles and obstacles do not end there. Attending various football camps across the state and across the country is not a cheap endeavor, and his family was understandably strapped for funds after experiencing such profound hardship.

“Some camps that covered the registration cost,” DJ said. “I would just clean the sidelines, water bottles and trash and help out the cleaning crew to show my appreciation. It’s natural at this point. I offer to do it at training too. One of the coaches at a camp saw me, recognized me in front of everyone for doing it and I got a free t-shirt. But, I owed it to whoever ran the camp. So, I gave that t-shirt to a little kid at the end. I didn’t feel like I deserved it. My thought was to finish what my dad started so whatever it takes, you know?”

To be certain, doing whatever it takes is a paramount quality of Rumph’s genetic makeup.

“No one knew the tears, the long days sleeping in the truck, the long hours on the road,” Layug said. “There was one night we all cried, unable to compose ourselves. We were always on the road, facing tough situations. I couldn’t afford to fix the heater in our truck, and we were cold. It was a lot we were going through. I had to wipe all three of my kids’ eyes and promise them that it would be okay. I asked them, through tears, ‘I am sorry. I am trying, okay? I am living life for the first time just like you. Can you guys please trust Mommy? Okay? For the next months and years, I will show you how to face adversity. God is with us. I promise, okay?’”

In terms of finishing what his father started, DJ is a shining example that important lessons can be passed onto children, even at a young age. Although Ransom passed away when his son was only eight years old, DJ has done everything in his power to live in his father’s honor and to execute the same positive morals, attitude and demeanor that his father would have wanted for his child.

“No one knows all the tears we cried,” Layug said. “It was a lot. No one knew the pain. We had to hide it from the world. We hid it so much. It hurt because we couldn’t run to anyone for comfort, worrying we might be judged. And since my Mom was gone, I had no one to confide in, and that was the worst feeling, losing her— I am still not over it— and I had to toughen up for the boys and keep them busy. I was scared as a Mom trying to figure it out. I didn’t want to fail them, but DJ was my backbone. He always came in to check on me and asked if I needed help with anything. But if I asked him if he needed anything he would say, ‘no, Mom, it’s too much,’ [or] ‘I can go cut the neighbors lawn’, or when he had holes in his gloves, he would tell me that he will just put two gloves on. I cried so many nights praying for favor and mercy. But the next morning I would have to move like I never dropped a tear. I just felt like it was battle after battle. He calls me his hero, but really he was my hero. His strength was what kept me from giving up. He’s a family man, always asking to help me.”

The aforementioned ripped gloves that DJ used to win 11 MVP awards during the offseason camp circuit. /

“My mom and dad always said to exercise the freedom that they fought for,” DJ said. “My mom went through a divorce, and we didn’t have much. She didn’t like asking for help. With my dad fighting for his dream to play football and died fighting, sleeping in a truck was nothing compared to that. I just didn’t want to be too much on my mom. The long drives, especially the 9 hour drive to Naples, Florida, was like 15 hours for us because she struggles driving long distances with some of her disabilities. She would have to take multiple stops and we would sleep in gas stations. But sleeping in those parking lots, we would put our shirts up in the window so no one would see us sleeping there and moms didn’t want to get in trouble. We would be in a host hotel and act like we stayed there but we really were trying to just relax in the lounge and pool area so we didn’t look like we were struggling with money. There were times we got lucky and stayed 1 day at a nice hotel then had to sleep in the car the rest of the days. Especially after the camp was over, that same day was definitely in the truck if we checked out. I’d be so sore and didn’t sleep well, so my Mom would try to help stretch me out and work my hands in the parking lot right before check ins.”

Finally, The Tide Begins To Break

When DJ received his first scholarship offer, he didn’t share the news with anyone for hours. Instead, he locked himself in a bathroom alone and cried, truly allowing the moment to latch its teeth into his being despite the innumerable hardships he’s faced.

Fortunately for DJ, that offer from USC was only the beginning. At this point, DJ possesses offers from two Big Ten programs with Michigan being the most recent Power 4 program to recognize the 6-2, 220-pound athlete’s immense talent. Oregon is also heavily interested in the hardworking, athletic prospect, and an offer from the Ducks could be on the way as soon as next month during his visit to campus.

“Michigan, they were the Underdogs,” DJ said. “I don’t think anyone saw this coming years ago. They have a piece of that Championship blueprint. That's all amazing, but I would definitely like to know what it took to be one of those top six linebackers in the NFL. How can I best fit their program, and how can those coaches help me succeed on the field and off the field how can I represent them to the world? I’ll do what it takes to help whatever team I choose.”

Right now, DJ plans on visiting Ann Arbor during the summer, most likely in July or possibly at the end of June. After his meteoric rise in the recruiting world this offseason, DJ has a host of interested suitors, and he’s planning to take visits to Oklahoma, Oregon, USC, UCLA, Notre Dame, Texas A&M, Georgia, Alabama, Florida State, Miami or Ohio State.

“I can’t wait to see that field,” DJ exclaimed of his upcoming visit to Michigan.

But even though DJ is finally receiving the fruits of many, many years of agonizing and excruciating pain, the 2027 prospect has not lost sight of his motivation to succeed both on the football field and in life.

“I pray [my father] can see it all,” DJ said. “I just wish he can come in my dreams and root me on like all these other dads I see at the end of games. Watching all my teammates run to their dad and hug him after a great game or a win or even a loss.”

Dondre and Jessica showing the importance of family and togetherness. /

Those moments were stripped from DJ at a young age, but despite the physical distance between him and his father, the two, who were described as the best of friends, still share some unmistakable connections to this day.

“Relentlessness in the most positive way,” Layug said. “He was strong and hated hearing ‘no.’ He was disciplined. If he got one, he would go harder. Resiliency—he was a fighter. No matter how many times he lost, he would pick himself up and go at it again. And the smile. He has his dad's smile [crying]. Dondre’s car broke down while he was in college, so he rode his bike to school every morning, even though it was miles away. He’d take that long ride back home every day. When DJ is determined to do something, he will do it, and he refuses to give up. His dad had a 3.8 GPA before that [fateful] game. He was ready to transfer to USC.”

Dondre and DJ enjoying some father-son time together. /

Remembering Those Who Paved The Way On Memorial Day

Given the military background of DJ’s parents, Memorial Day is a fitting time for his story to be told. Those two individuals have fostered the growth of one of the most resilient athletes to come through the high school ranks, and it is the sacrifice that they have all made together which propels DJ to be the mature, strong and determined young man that he is today.

“His dad should be honored on this day for his service and his fight to make it to see the freedom we all fought for,” Layug said. “This country is full of opportunities. It takes one ‘yes.’ No one should settle for a ‘no’ when there are people fighting to be here, fighting for their lives in hospitals, service members overseas fighting to come home in one piece, fighting for their families, fighting to see freedom in other countries, and fighting for their rights. No one should be left behind, left out, or think they’re alone in their fight. The world needs to know that we are all in this together. After experiencing war firsthand and coming home, I realized we all share the same mission. We are all fighting to make it to see tomorrow. No one is different. I know my husband didn’t get to fulfill it in everyone’s eyes, but please know his kids are now living out that dream for him. DJ and his brothers will make it to see that field one day. It’s DJ’s honor to his dad. I pray the world allows him to pay his respects to his dad appropriately, through his work ethic, his will to dream, to believe and to follow through. One thing about my son—he won’t take any handouts. He wants to earn every chance he gets, and I know he will. This weekend, we want to honor my husband and all the other fallen service members who paid the ultimate sacrifice. These boys [are] ones of the millions that represent that freedom. My youngest’s name is Freedom Kahari— Kahari means ‘reigns’ in Tagalog.”

To call DJ’s story that of a rollercoaster simply would not be doing any justice to the mountains of adversity that he has overcome. Instead, Layug shared a note for her son amidst all of the turmoil that he has turned into motivation throughout his life.

“DJ will lead his brothers in being that light, spreading faith and purpose. Grandma and Dad are very proud of you, son. I know they are smiling down from heaven. Spread your wings, son. The road was paved for you to take with honor. Take your steps wisely, and like your dad would say, ‘Keep your chin up, eyes forward, champ! Walk with honor.’”

Layug had one final message for her child.

“I love you, son, and I am proud of you.”