Raterink attended Skyline High School in Longmont, Colorado, where he participated in baseball, basketball and football.

Raterink was named the Class 4A Academic Athlete of the Year for the state of Colorado during his senior season.

Born the son of Ginger and George Raterink, J.J. attended Skyline High School in Longmont, Colorado.

He was selected as the Co-Mountain West Player of the Week during his four touchdown performance in a triple overtime victory over UNLV which also made the Cowboys Bowl eligible for the first time in 11 years.

In the 2004 Las Vegas Bowl against UCLA, Raterink caught a 22-yard touchdown on a reverse pass that helped the Cowboys upset the heavily favored Bruins 24–21.

He graduated summa cum laude in the spring of 2005 with a perfect 4.0 GPA and was a finalist to be selected as a Rhodes Scholar.

He had begun working for the Quad City Mallards hockey team as well as Enterprise Rent-A-Car, when Mike Hohensee approached Raterink about becoming a backup quarterback for the Chicago Rush in the newly re-organized Arena Football League.

[10] On September 10, 2013, Raterink was traded by the Barnstormers to the Los Angeles Kiss in exchange for Carson Coffman.

[16] On October 28, 2014, Raterink and former Los Angeles Kiss teammate Donovan Morgan were announced as the first signings by the Las Vegas Outlaws.

[23] Stats from ArenaFan:[24] Raterink joined the Northern Colorado football staff in the summer of 2020 to coach defensive backs for UNC.