Court Towns considers himself something of a homebody. So when Air Force football reached out, the decision was a rather easy one for the Palmer Ridge offensive lineman.

For the 6-foot-4, 295-pound three-star recruit, the connections with the academy involve far more than proximity and all loomed large in his decision to commit on Tuesday.

“I think the academies are undeniably kind of a scary thing to go into, and I’m going to go into it with as many advantages as I can and a great support system around me,” said Towns, who will enter his senior season at Palmer Ridge in Monument this fall.

Towns’ mother, Jen Block, is the executive director of athletics at Air Force, making her the senior government official in the athletic department. Block, the Falcons’ volleyball MVP in 1991, retired from a decorated career in the Air Force in April 2019 as a colonel. She was previously the first female to serve as athletic director at a service academy.

Towns’ father, Denny Towns, also served in the Air Force, retiring as a lieutenant colonel. He played college basketball at Louisiana (then Louisiana-Lafayette) and South Carolina-Aiken.

The kind of deep connections Towns has to Air Force can tend to draw someone closer to it or make them want to push it away. Towns said there was never any hesitation to embrace it for himself.

“It’s great football. It’s a great experience. It’s a great job afterwards,” he said. “I mean, you get to be coached by coach (Steed Lobotzke), who is one of the greatest O-line coaches in the country. The offensive line is great there. … I get to stay close to my family. It was all positives for me.”

Air Force also benefits, landing the recruit ranked by 247Sports at No. 14 in the Class of 2025 from Colorado. This comes the day after coach Troy Calhoun’s team also secured a commitment from the state’s No. 6 recruit, Broomfield cornerback Mikhail Benner.

No other in-state program has landed a member of the top 15 recruits from the Centennial State.

Towns reached 6 feet by eighth grade and has added roughly an inch every 12 months. While he has always been stoutly built — “I’ve always been well fed, let’s say that; I’ve always enjoyed my mom’s cooking” — he played a variety of sports that include track, lacrosse and baseball and has grown proportionally even as he shot up to a mass that, only a decade ago, would have been revolutionary for a service academy program.

The family athleticism speaks for itself. In addition to his collegiate athlete parents, Towns’ sister, Olivia, plays NCAA Division II basketball (last year at Western Colorado, this upcoming season at UCCS).

Towns said he will lean on a support system that includes his family and fellow Palmer Ridge alum Alec Falk, who is currently a member of the Falcons’ offensive line.

But, of course, for any of this to happen, Air Force first had to start the process. Towns said it was with great excitement that he fielded a call from Lobotzke during a school day this past year with the news Air Force was offering him a spot on the team.

“You always think you could, then a great program agrees with you that you can play college football,” he said. “It was just great, reassuring feeling.”