2023 Fall High School Sports Preview: Aaron Kinsey hopes to carry Rogers football back to playoffs

The Rogers football team hadn’t won a game in three years until an early-season matchup at Medical Lake last season. It’s been much longer since the program has made the playoffs or had any sort of state presence – as a team or for an individual athlete.

Aaron Kinsey wants to change all that.

When asked if the playoffs are a possibility for the Pirates this season, something that happened in 2015 with a losing record but not previously before that in 39 years, Kinsey answered quickly and without hesitation.

“Yes. 100 percent. No doubt.”

The Pirates finished 4-5 overall last year with two league wins and a 26-7 win over Ellensburg in the Week 10 crossover with the Central Washington Athletic Conference. In that game, Kinsey carried 28 times for 141 yards with three touchdowns.

So, playoffs are a lofty goal. But that the Pirates are able to think about that at all this season is a testament to how the program has grown the past couple of years. And Kinsey is at the center of that growth.

Pressed on why he feels Rogers is ready for the next step, the confident Kinsey – known as “Deon” to those in his orbit – deflected praise onto the rest of the program.

“With our coaching staff, and our defense and offense schemes this year, and the amount of focus that our coaching staff has actually put into us and committed to us, yes, playoffs for sure.”

Rogers first-year head coach Ryan Cole has been ingraining “practice makes perfect” with his crew since he took over earlier this year.

“We’ve been preaching all through summer, all through camp, we have to prepare for every game like it’s a playoff game,” he said. “Because those are our goals. If we practice and prepare every week like it’s a playoff game, once we get to playoffs we won’t be surprised.”

Most high school kids have trouble thinking back to previous generations, but as Kinsey surveyed the new downtown stadium last week, he thought about the generations of Pirates football players that didn’t have that opportunity and what his legacy at the school might mean.

“To be honest, it just makes me happy to think that it’s been so long that our school has been to the playoffs, and then if we’re capable of bringing a playoff win or run to our school. So, it’s just the possibility that we can accomplish that as a team.”

He thinks about this being his last year of high school football. A lot.

“When I wake up in the morning. When I eat breakfast. When I go to sleep, at lunch. Every second of the day, to be honest.”

Rogers got off to a good start on Saturday. In a rematch with Medical Lake, which only dressed 22 for the game, the Pirates romped to a 35-0 win that was called with just more than 2 minutes left in the first half.

Kinsey, in his only offensive play of the game, took the direct snap and went 60 yards untouched for the final score of the game with just over 4 minutes left in the half.

“I saw his face though his face mask. He knew,” Cole said. “As soon as he saw that green, he hit the jets and was just calm-faced about the whole thing. When that happens there’s no catching him. You’re not gonna get him.”

Kinsey finished third in the State 2A track meet in the 100-meter dash and anchored Rogers’ third-place finish in 4x100 relay . It’s speed and athleticism like that that have his coaches salivating – and other coaches in the Greater Spokane League 2A ranks quivering.

Cole knows Kinsey is a complete package.

“He’s a special athlete, a special person,” he said. “I’d say first and foremost, it’s his character. He’s a magnet. The guys want to follow him. He’s so charismatic. He’s lovable. He jumps around a lot. Sometimes he gets under the coaches’ skin, but the guys love it. They love him.”

Even though he’s a first-year head coach, Cole has been in the system for several years as the lifting coach.

“I’ve known him since freshman year,” Kinsey said. “My sophomore year, he came on the coaching staff of varsity and we got to know each other more. Then (head coach) just was a cherry on top.”

Cole inherits a program on the rise but knows there’s much work to be done. In a program that has functioned on the margins for so long, losing Kinsey after this season will have an impact on and off the field.

“He’s definitely a guy we’re all getting behind. He’s a special leader. He’s a special player,” Cole said. “But we’re also next-man-up mentality. We know that injuries can happen, sometimes there’s life circumstances, there may be games where he’s not on the field. … But we also know Deon will be out front for us.”

Other than breaking Rogers’ postseason drought, Kinsey is hoping to attract the attention of college coaches this fall. He understands the odds may be stacked against him, but he’s undaunted.

Lineman Josh Guzik was the last Pirates player to sign a Division I football offer, at Idaho in 2019, and before that, it was Khalil Winfrey – who is now the receivers and sprint coach at Rogers – who signed for sprinting at Washington in 2016.

Winfrey was part of the last Rogers team to make the postseason.

Kinsey participated in offseason quarterback camps over the summer, concentrating on becoming more dangerous in the passing game. But even then, when asked about the camps, Kinsey deflected.

“Yeah, I went to a few camps, U-Dub, WSU, just improved my skill and technique. But the league has to watch out for my receiving corps this year. Because I’m not gonna be the only threat this year.

“I want everybody to get an offer. I don’t want to be the only guy.”

None of the GSL 2A teams was even on “others receiving votes” in most of the state preseason football polls. Cole wouldn’t put stock in that, but also said his team is on even footing with the rest.

“I wouldn’t say anyone’s down. I’d say we got better,” he said. “We scrimmaged against Clarkston – very good football team, as they always are. We scrimmaged Shadle three times over the summer. We got to scrimmage East and West Valley.

“What we learned from those is not that those teams aren’t as strong as in the past, is that we can compete with them. There’s no more ‘little brother, big brother’ anymore. We’re men-to-men, toe-to-toe staring at each other. And we’re gonna go to battle.”