It has been a raucous road to the starting quarterback job for Cooper Rush – now regarded as one of the elite passers in the Mid-American Conference. As his junior season begins, pivotal questions linger. Is Rush the best quarterback in the conference? And what will his legacy at CMU ultimately be?

As the red-haired, 6-foot-3 Rush attempts to provide answers to both pressure-packed questions, the respect he has gained from teammates and coaches remains steady.

The team has watched Rush pay his dues and earn a place in the brightly-burning Central Michigan University football spotlight.

Rush said football at any level places immense pressure on the shoulder pads of the quarterback. It is a job that requires constant focus and acute attention to every aspect of the game both physically and mentally.

“One mistake can be the difference in the game,” Rush said. “For me, this offseason was another level of attention to detail. (As for) the team as a whole, guys are putting in extra time. That's going to make a difference."

Extra time in the film room motivated by an obsession with improvement is the mantra that earned the Charlotte native praise from conference-wide critics and opposing defenses.

“The kid can’t walk through our facility here without stopping and watching an extra 30 minutes of film,” said Offensive Coordinator Morris Watts. “He’s come so far since when he was a freshman. It’s really been something to see.”

Rush’s athletic and personal development has been a life-long process. An NFL hopeful from a young age, Rush grew up idolizing professional quarterbacks like Drew Brees and Peyton Manning.

“Both those guys are great athletic quarterbacks, just how they go about everything,” Rush said. “They make sure they know that everyone is in the right place and what the defense is doing. They’re amazing.”

Rush found himself in third-place for the starting job entering his freshman season at CMU. After starter Cody Kater went down with an injury sustained in the 2013 season opener at Michigan and Alex Niznak was benched a week later against New Hampshire, Rush got his shot.

He took the reins to CMU’s offense, leading the Chippewas on an improbable second-half comeback against New Hampshire, winning the starting job in training camp a year later and throwing 27 touchdowns and averaging 242.2 passing yards per game in 2014.

The high point of Rush’s career came on Christmas Eve last year, when he threw seven touchdowns, a college football bowl-record, and led the Chippewas’ historic comeback in the Popeyes Bahamas Bowl.

The play was the punctuation mark to his best season yet and the beginning of the the tipping point to his college football career.

Despite the growing attention he has received, Rush remains humble and blocks distractions from penetrating his psyche or letting outside “noise” affect his performance on the field.

“It’s not like he doesn’t care when he makes a mistake,” Watts said. “But he knows you can’t let it affect you the next time you are out there. He’s a gym rat. He’s always here. He wants to learn; that’s why the kids like him so much.”

The Chippewas have produced multiple standout quarterbacks such as Ryan Radcliff and Dan LeFevour over the last decade. Watts said Rush emulates similar qualities to some of the best passers he has worked with during his 30-plus year coaching career.

One example of his rising football IQ came early in fall camp this season. Watts drew several of CMU’s offensive formations on a whiteboard one day, and challenged Rush to draw out each player’s assignment.

“I put him on the board the other day. He had to come up with everybody’s routes and all his reads,” Watts said. “He went through about 30 plays like a buzz saw. Not one mistake. It was amazing.”

To convert his schematic intelligence to a successful performance on Saturdays, Rush will need help from close friend and top wide receiver Jesse Kroll this fall.

Kroll and Rush got the “experience of a lifetime” this summer, when they represented CMU football at the 2015 ESPYS in Los Angeles.

“It was an awesome time,” Rush said. “We were just trying to soak in every minute of it, seeing all the stars and actors. It was just an unbelievable trip.”

And even after meeting his childhood hero, Peyton Manning, Rush still maintained an even keel.

“Cooper is a great leader. He handles the huddle really well and everyone respects him,” Kroll said. “We have a good friendship. So when I see him in the huddle and I know the ball is coming to me, it’s like ‘Alright Coop, I’m going to go make this play for you.’”