Cooper Rush

Originally from Charlotte, Michigan, Rush attended Lansing Catholic High School in Lansing, Michigan, with an enrollment of just over 500 students, where he became a three-year starter at quarterback for the football team.[1] He also played basketball and baseball (until his freshman year).

In 2010 and 2011, he led his team to back-to-back undefeated regular seasons. In 2011, he led his team to the state runner-up title. In the Division 5 regional championship game against Dowagiac Union High School, he set Michigan state records with 5 touchdown passes in one quarter and 8 for the game. The team would end up losing in the finals against Powers Catholic High School 26–56, even though he registered 300 passing yards and 3 touchdowns.

As a senior he received All-State, Associated Press’ Michigan Division 5/6 Player of the Year and ESPN’s Michigan Gatorade Player of the Year honors.

He finished his high school career throwing for 7,248 passing yards (455-for-734, 62 percent), 80 passing touchdowns, 1,438 rushing yards and 27 rushing touchdowns.[2] A 3-star recruit, Cooper Rush only received scholarship offers from Central Michigan and Toledo, but received preferred walk-on offers from Michigan, Michigan State, Northwestern, and Western Michigan.[3]

In his redshirt season at Central Michigan, he was named the school’s Scout Team Player of the Year. As a freshman, although he began the season as the third-string quarterback, he was named the starter by the third game, after Cody Kater was injured (collarbone fracture) and his backup Alex Niznak couldn't move the offense against the University of New Hampshire. In that contest he came in the second quarter and helped engineer a 24–21 come from behind victory, where he tallied 326 passing yards and 3 touchdowns, tying the school record for the longest in history (97 yards).[4] He would never relinquish the position or miss a start after the game.

As a sophomore, he played in the 2014 Bahamas Bowl against Western Kentucky. By the middle of the third quarter, his team had fallen behind 49–14, but scored 4 unanswered touchdowns and were down by only 7 points near the end of the fourth quarter. With one second remaining on the contest, Central Michigan had the ball on their own 25 yard line. The would-be final play started with a 45-yard Hail Mary pass from Rush to wide receiver Jesse Kroll. As Kroll was being tackled he lateraled the ball to teammate Deon Butler, who ran 20 yards before lateraling to Courtney Williams. With no space to run, Williams made a quick third lateral pass to leading receiver Titus Davis who ran the final 13 yards, scoring a touchdown that would have tied the game with a kicked extra point and sent the game into overtime, but instead Central Michigan attempted a two-point conversion for the win, which was unsuccessful.[5][6] Had the try succeeded, it would have marked the largest comeback in bowl history and tied the largest comeback in any Division I game. His seven touchdown passes set an all-time record for all bowl games.[7]

His best season came as a junior in 2015. Through the first 13 games he had 3,703 passing yards, which was a new school single-season record.[8] He completed 66.3 percent of his passes for 3,848 total passing yards, 25 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions.[9]

As a senior, his production dropped to 3,540 passing yards, 23 touchdowns, but with 16 interceptions and a low 59.8 completion percentage.[10] Against Oklahoma State University, the game sparked controversy after the officials made an incorrect call that would eventually give Central Michigan the win. Oklahoma State threw the ball away to end the game and received a penalty for intentional grounding. Under college football rules, the game would have ended and Oklahoma State would have won the game. However, the officials gave Central Michigan an untimed down, and Rush threw a 51-yard Hail Mary pass to wide receiver Jesse Kroll, who made a lateral to fellow receiver Corey Willis at the 12-yard line, running for a touchdown with no time remaining for a 30–27 win.[11][12] The team lost 55–10 to Tulsa in the 2016 Miami Beach Bowl at the end of the season.[13]

He finished his college career with 49 straight starts, 12,894 passing yards (12 yards short of Dan LeFevour school and conference record) and 90 touchdowns.[14]

College statistics

Season	GP	Passing
		Cmp	Att	Pct	Yds	TD	Int	QBR
2012	0	Redshirt
2013	11	177	312	56.7	2,349	15	15	126.2
2014	13	243	382	63.6	3,149	27	13	149.4
2015	13	324	489	66.3	3,853	25	11	144.8
2016	13	278	465	59.8	3,540	23	16	133.2
Career	50	1,022	1,648	62	12,891	90	55	139.1

Coming out of Central Michigan, Rush was projected by the majority of NFL draft experts and analysts to be a seventh round pick or a priority undrafted free agent. On December 6, 2016, it was announced that Rush had accepted his invitation to the East–West Shrine Game. On January 21, 2017, Rush performed in the East–West Shrine Game for the East and completed 11 of 17 pass attempts for 97 yards in a 10–3 loss to the West.

He received an invitation to the NFL combine and performed almost all of the required drills except for the bench press. He had an underwhelming lackluster performance and had some of the lowest marks at the combine.[15] On March 20, 2017, Rush participated at Central Michigan's pro day and chose to attempt the vertical jump, broad jump, short shuttle, and three-cone drill once again. He gave a slower time in the three-cone drill (7.28), but was able to have better results in the vertical (30"), broad (8'11"), and short shuttle (4.46). Rush was ranked the 14th best quarterback prospect in the draft by NFLDraftScout.com.[16]

Rush is married and has one child.[50]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cooper Rush.

• Career statistics and player information from Pro Football Reference
• Dallas Cowboys bio
• Central Michigan Chippewas bio