We mentioned this a few times throughout the season, we thought that Collinsville was going to take a step back following winning the 2021 state championship. However, despite having to replace some serious talent, the Cardinals were right back in the mix in Class 5A this season. And senior quarterback Kaden Rush Kaden Rush 6'3" | 200 lbs | QB Collinsville | 2023 State OK kept the Cardinals in the mix this fall. Rush had the tall task of replacing a very experienced quarterback in Andrew Carney from last year’s title team. He did have a leg up coming into the year because he received some playing time last season during the regular season when Carney missed a few weeks with an injury. And the Cardinal offense didn’t miss a step as Rush performed incredibly well.

Kaden Rush Kaden Rush 6'3" | 200 lbs | QB Collinsville | 2023 State OK had a great game on the ground, especially for a quarterback. He executed the mid range game well, passing the ball 10-15 yards down field on a regular basis. This helped open up the run game a little bit. There was one play that he ran a QB Sweep for around 50 yards, showing off good field vision and juke moves. Multiple times, they ran QB Draw’s for him, to where several times he would use an explosive quick first step to gain 10-12 yards. He had multiple touchdowns in this game, in which one of them was because of a QB Iso from two yards out. Another one of his touchdowns was him hitting his open receiver from five yards out. He had a ton of impressive plays throughout the game, but I would say that the most impressive passing ones are that he fired a 40 yard bomb down the field that hit his wide receiver in the hands, but the receiver dropped it. Another one is that he took a low snap and immediately fired a 17 yard bullet to his receiver. In the closing minutes of the game, he was not fazed by the pressure of trying to lead a game-winning drive. He was cool, calm, and collected and he moved his team down the field. He did throw an interception from five yards out that would have possibly given his team the lead, but that was a great play on the defender’s part, not necessarily his fault.

We wrote this a few times already this season but we completely got Collinsville wrong at the start of the year. After winning a state championship and losing a very special senior class, we thought the Cardinals would take a step back in 2022. Nope. In fact, the Cardinals are right back in the hunt for another gold ball after going 9-1 on the season behind the emergence of senior quarterback Kaden Rush Kaden Rush 6'3" | 200 lbs | QB Collinsville | 2023 State OK . The senior standout replaced Andrew Carney, who was outstanding for the Cardinals over the last few seasons. But maybe we should have seen this coming. Because Rush filled in for Carney in a few games during their state championship run last season. Like Carney, Rush is an accurate passer but can do just as much damage in the ground game as he can with his arm.

One player that we were looking forward to seeing in person this week was Collinsville senior quarterback Kaden Rush Kaden Rush 6'3" | 200 lbs | QB Collinsville | 2023 State OK . He’s been a breakout star in Class 5A this season but he was somewhat contained on Friday night. That doesn’t take away from his performance so far this season and what he could be for the Cardinals down the road. On Friday night, Rush was 17-30 for 273 yards and a touchdown. He was also Collinsville’s leading rusher with 11 carries for 42 yards and a touchdown. Rush is definitely a candidate to finish the season with over 2,000 yards passing and over 1,000 yards rushing, depending on how far the Cardinals go in November. And the Rush to Henslick combination has been incredibly fun to watch so far.

We’ve written about Collinsville and the emergence of their senior quarterback Kaden Rush Kaden Rush 6'3" | 200 lbs | QB Collinsville | 2023 State OK a few times already this season because of his performances and leading Collinsville to a 5-0 record. And we completely got this one wrong back in July and August. We thought the Cardinals would take a step back after losing quarterback Andrew Carney. Turns out, the Cardinals have plugged in a quarterback who’s just as dynamic when it comes to throwing and running the football. Rush has thrown for over 1,100 yards and 17 touchdowns with only 3 interceptions. And he’s added nearly 500 yards on the ground. Two years ago, Carney had a season where he threw for 1,500 and ran for 1,500 yards. We mentioned how rare of an accomplishment that was. Collinsville might have found another player that could reach that later on this season. If the Cardinals make another run in November, not only could Rush potentially reach those numbers, but Collinsville could defend their title.

Defending 5A champion Collinsville has had no problems so far this season as they’re off to a 2-0 start with dominating wins over Oologah and Skiatook. They hit the road this week to face Bartlesville. The biggest question surrounding the Cardinals would be how they replace their big three of Andrew Carney, Brayden Gilkey and Oscar Hammond. So far after two games they haven’t had many problems. Emerging as a potential star in 5A football has been senior quarterback Kaden Rush Kaden Rush 6'3" | 200 lbs | QB Collinsville | 2023 State OK . The senior filled in for Carney last year when he missed time in the middle of the regular season but this is his first shot at being QB1 for the Cardinals and he’s making the most of it. In his first two games, Rush has thrown for over 500 yards and eight touchdowns while completing nearly 80 percent of his passes. He’s also taking care of the ball with no interceptions. Rush is definitely a name to watch this fall and if torches Bartlesville on Friday, the rest of Class 5A should be worried about the defending champs making another possible run to Edmond.