KhiJohnn Cummings-Coleman makes a mark at wide receiver for Coon Rapids football team

Coon Rapids senior KhiJohnn Cummings-Coleman responds to various nicknames. His football coaches and teammates affectionately referred to him as "Khi" during the first day of practice, a drizzly afternoon on the main field just south of Hwy. 10 in the northwest metro. Or there's "KC2." The local TV station, CTN Coon Rapids, calls him "C Squared" because of his last name.

"Everybody knows who he is," senior quarterback Jackson Hettwer said. "As a nickname, he's Mr. CR."

That moniker stuck when Cummings-Coleman stepped into the role of star player for the varsity basketball team his sophomore year. Now, the 6-foot, 185-pound "Mr. CR" is the No. 10-ranked football recruit in Minnesota, according to 247Sports, and ready for his senior season as a wide receiver for the Cardinals.

Cummings-Coleman led the football team the past two seasons in receiving yards, racking up 406 yards as a sophomore before 962 yards on 57 catches and 11 touchdowns, plus 188 rushing yards, in his junior season.

Cardinals football coach Nick Rusin called Cummings-Coleman "an explosive athlete" whose abilities allow him to make plays anywhere on the field.

"I just think there's a different speed when you see him play on Friday night," Rusin said. "[He] just seems to have another gear that just sort of makes him go."

His speed and elusiveness — he also runs track in the spring — help Cummings-Coleman find plenty of extra yardage after the catch.

Seniors Hettwer and Mattick split time successfully at quarterback last season and are good friends with Cummings-Coleman and better players because of him. Mattick cited the first play against Prior Lake in the Class 6A playoffs last season, when he threw a bad ball but Cummings-Coleman "jumped over the defender and caught it over him."

The three have played together for years, and Mr. CR still makes plays that surprise the other two.

"It's almost every game," Hettwer said.

Still, a 28-14 victory over Buffalo on Sept. 9, 2022, was a whole different level for Cummings-Coleman.

"From the very first play of the game, he beats his corner, 30-yard gain," Hettwer said. "Very first play. You knew that game was going to be special. Just get the ball in his hands, let him do his thing."

Mattick was out that game because of a strained calf but said Cummings-Coleman's performance "was like a movie."

"Buffalo was the breakout game that everyone saw, but it was just, for us, I know it seems unbelievable to say, but this is exactly what we expected," said Coon Rapids wide receivers coach Nolan Schlinsog.

A football player for about 13 years, Cummings-Coleman is starting only his third year at receiver. He was a running back as a youth player, until his 2020 season on the Coon Rapids freshman team.

Turns out, wide receiver has worked out pretty well.

"I think my athleticism makes me more of a weapon at wide receiver than at running back," Cummings-Coleman said. "I prefer wide receiver, but I still do love running back because that's the Day 1 position."

"He's a tough kid. He's not a kid that's afraid to block. He's not afraid to get after kids," Rusin said.

When the pads come off, he switches gears.

"They might think of me as somebody that likes to be too aggressive, always angry, always a hothead," Cummings-Coleman said. "Off the field, that's not really who I am. I'm cool, calm, collected. I'm a go-with-the-flow type of guy."

Cummings-Coleman has nine college offers, in Minnesota and out of state, but starts this fall undecided on his next football home. He keeps several factors in mind, such as likely playing time, his relationships with coaches and, a big one, how he, his mom and his grandma feel about a school and program. He said he's "still trying to develop that relationship with the schools" before he makes a decision for the next four years.

"Right now, I haven't narrowed it down because I'm expected to have a way better season," Cummings-Coleman said. "And I just want to see what doors are open."

Rusin loves the prospect of Mr. CR representing the city at the next level.

"You rarely can get those kids coming through your program," Rusin said. "But we just hope he lands somewhere that's best for him."

The Cardinals played a Class 5A schedule last year before losing 20-13 to Prior Lake in the first round of the Class 6A playoffs, finishing 4-5. The program has four state tournament appearances, the latest reaching the semifinals in 2019, when the team went 8-4 in Rusin's first year as head coach. Coon Rapids hasn't finished above .500 since.

This season, Coon Rapids is all-in with a full Class 6A schedule that starts Thursday at Centennial. Cummings-Coleman is preparing with a championship mind-set, wanting to win the Prep Bowl "because we know that we are capable of doing it." He tells football fans to "expect the unexpected" from his Cardinals.

Cummings-Coleman plans to leave his mark on the Coon Rapids program. Schlinsog sees that when Cummings-Coleman pulls aside players, upperclassmen or youngsters, to talk about skills and the game.

Thursday's schedule