Xavier Rush was leaving the TSA checkpoint inside New Orleans International Airport one Thursday last month, headed to a weekend bachelor party, when he checked his phone to find four new missed calls, from four different friends in the area. All were inquiring about the same thing: “Everyone was like, ‘Are you back by Monday? Kap’s gonna be here. Can you run routes?’”
No further details were offered in the moment—no time, no location, nothing beyond the simple fact that Colin Kaepernick was coming to New Orleans and looking to throw. Nonetheless Rush, a personal trainer and former Tulane receiver, committed on the spot, and less than 72 hours later he reported to a high school stadium on the west bank of the Mississippi River alongside a small group of fellow area pass-catchers who had been enticed by similar appeals.
“I was coming back Sunday already, but I put my schedule together to make sure I’d be available,” Rush, 29, says. “I was excited to help him continue to showcase his talents. I was also curious. Like, ‘O.K., does he still have it? Is he good as he thinks he is?’”
