NATCHEZ — Ron Rushing has a mind for football.

The Cathedral head coach, who can still remember phone numbers from high school, has a photographic memory. Instinctively, Rushing draws toward the Xs and Os aspect of football.

“If I see it once, I got it,” said Rushing, who also teaches math at Cathedral.

Inspired by his father, Ronnie Rushing, and long-time Adams County Christian School football head coach Gil Morris, Rushing was molded to develop game plans and touch lives.

“That bond I had with my dad on the field really had an impact on me,” said Rushing, who was coached by his father in little league until he was 12 years old. “I knew I wanted to have that same type of impact on kids someday.”

Sunday

The midmorning drive back to Natchez after a weekend getaway is a soothing one for the Green Wave head coach, who soaks up the last few hours with his wife Kappi, sons Tate and Kyle and daughter Karly before getting back to work.

Fresh off of a bye week, Rushing benefitted from two weeks of preparation for a Resurrection Catholic team that is No. 3 in MHSAA Class 1A, two spots behind the No. 1 Green Wave. Rushing took advantage of the extra week by taking the family to watch the Alabama Crimson Tide thrash Southern Miss 52-12. By his own admittance, Rushing is an LSU fan, but he’s not discouraging his 7-year-old son Kyle from playing favorites with Alabama.

“We like Nick Saban, don’t we?” Rushing asked.

Kyle nodded.

“I like LSU too,” Kyle answered.

Rushing met with his coaches at 3 p.m. to go over film, officially kicking off game week.

Monday

Assistant coaches huddled outside Cathedral’s locker room after school. Rushing drove from the school parking lot down the hill and parked behind the locker room.

“Coaches, come meet in my office real quick,” Rushing shouted just 15 minutes before practice. “Got a few defensive adjustments to put in.”

The door closed behind the coaches as Rushing turned to one of his several white boards covering the walls.

“Get a picture of this nickel and dime operation I’ve got over here,” said Rushing, spraying down the board with Lysol and wiping it clean.

Rushing drew up Resurrection’s personnel and illustrated the proper formations to combat Resurrection’s offense, designing a linebacker and safety blitz against certain formations. After teaching math from 8 a.m. until 1 p.m. and watching tape the next two-and-a-half hours, Rushing was back to doing what he does consistently — teaching.

Once practice began, Rushing showcased hands-on coaching, both verbally instructing and gesturing the movements he wants to see from his team.

“Don’t take a step forward until you see the ball released,” instructed Rushing to members of Cathedral’s defensive backfield during a drill that forced the secondary to read routes properly. “What happens if you come up before and he runs past you?”

In practice, Rushing demands a lot from his players, mostly mentally. Senior running back Christian Jenkins remembered when he was an eighth- grader and Rushing first came in as head coach. Rushing made his presence felt immediately.

“He was so hard on us because he was trying to get us to learn his way of doing things,” Jenkins said. “We started operating like a college football program.”

One station after the next, Rushing and his team covered offense, defense and individual drills in a span of 45 minutes, as players were constantly practicing their technique in different situations. Since arriving, this has been a normal practice for Rushing, but Jenkins said the past few years have become a little more relaxed.

“Well, up until this season,” said Jenkins, correcting himself. “When he saw our potential, he started to get a little more intense again.”