One of the greatest players in the history of Texas six-man football is taking his talents to the 11-man ranks in 2024.

Sources have confirmed to Dave Campbell’s Texas Football that Grayson Rigdon — who took Strawn and Benjamin to three consecutive 1A Division II state championships in 2021-23 — will play his final high school season at Columbus in the Class 3A Division I ranks.

The three-time reigning Six-Man Player of the Year and Air Force commit, who has never lost a high school football game, is set to join the Cardinals. Rigdon will team with quarterback and Oklahoma State commit Adam Schobel. The combination of two Division I commits, including one DCTF 4-Star, has Columbus faithful dreaming of the school’s first football state championship.

Columbus was widely viewed as a top-10 team in Class 3A Division I before adding Rigdon. Columbus immediately becomes a contender for the title, with Malakoff and Franklin as the likely to an appearance at AT&T Stadium in December.

Rigdon led Benjamin to back-to-back state championships before departing the Mustangs at the end of the school year. He holds the record for most career touchdowns in state championship games (17) and is a four-time state championship game MVP, winning both offensive and defensive honors during his freshman year at Strawn.

The Rigdon family has been synonymous with six-man football, winning ten state championship medals in the past five years. Matthew Rigdon was the six-man Player of the Year in 2019 after leading Richland Springs to the Class 1A DII title. Griffin Rigdon was a senior and a key to Strawn’s state championship in 2021. The family's patriarch, Jamie, owns the remaining five state title medals as an assistant coach at Richland Springs, Strawn, and Benjamin, and will join the staff at Columbus.