A historic moment took place last week for high school girls flag football that many have been waiting for and that’s for a player to receive a Division I, Power 4 offer. Years in the making, Orange Lutheran (Calif.) junior quarterback Makena Cook became the first-ever female athlete to receive a Division I, Power 4 offer for high school […]
A historic moment took place last week for high school girls flag football that many have been waiting for and that’s for a player to receive a Division I, Power 4 offer.
Years in the making, Orange Lutheran (Calif.) junior quarterback Makena Cook became the first-ever female athlete to receive a Division I, Power 4 offer for high school girls flag football when Nebraska extended the overture over the weekend.
Many high school girls flag football coaches and players reacted with jubilation as now one major university has stepped up to the plate and Cook, who is committed to Georgia for soccer, becomes the trailblazer for the sport.
“I knew that something was brewing,” Orange Lutheran Kristen Sherman said about Cook’s offer from Nebraska. “My husband is our tackle coach and he spoke to coach (Matt) Rhule, who is a very passionate supporter of girls flag football. We got him the film and shared it with our athletic director. It’s incredibly exciting. I think it’s a monumental moment. For every girl that didn’t think that there’s a path, there is. I think this is a really big signal from Nebraska.”
What makes the offer that much more unique is the fact that for Cook, it’s not her main sport. The junior has verbally committed to the Georgia Bulldogs for soccer and is one of the top players in the state of California. Though Cook has cemented herself as one of the Golden State’s best on the girls flag football circuit as well, many view the athlete as a football-first talent.
“If anything, (Makena Cook) never been a football-first athlete,” Sherman added. “They see her and think wow what a football player but the sky is really the limit for her. She has natural arm talent and she also has charisma. She brings a different level of excitement to the game. It’s happening and happening sooner than a lot of people thought it was going to. I’m really hoping a lot of schools follow Nebraska and hope that girls flag football is sanctioned in all 50 states. I think the momentum will just continue to build.”
That natural arm talent and ability to throw the rock on par with anyone on the west coast and maybe in the nation, Cook put up some massive numbers this past season for the Lancers.
Cook ended up completing 639 of 863 (74 percent) passes for 7,083 yards and 112 touchdowns, also added 313 yards, three scores on the ground.
One of the high school coaches around the country in Tampa Robinson head coach Josh Saunders, who also coaches on one of the United States junior national teams, gave high praise to Cook and talked about the impact to girls flag football of her Division I, Power 4 offer.
“(Makena Cook) is delightful, great,” Tampa Robinson head coach Josh Saunders said to Rivals. “I think its phenomenal for her and a lot of players. We’re still very new into this process into what that offer looks like. Nobody really knows, including Nebraska, what that offer entails. Is it a full or partial scholarship? What do these offers actually look like? It’s different how it looks like for a lot of NAIA. (Players) get those offers and there’s still a lot of money they still have to pay.”
Saunders, who has been the head coach of the University of Florida’s girls flag football club team since 2017, believes that more colleges programs will be following in the footsteps of Nebraska.
“From an optics standout, it’s great,” Saunders added. “The more opportunities for females in college in the realm of flag football is great. Honestly if it’s only Nebraska, that changes things, but I expect more schools to follow (starting women’s flag football programs).”
Another nationally recognized head coach on the high school girls flag football level is Alonso’s Matt Hernandez, who also coaches on one of the United States junior national teams. Hernandez has overseen four state championship teams during his time with the Ravens and has believed this offer for Cook was something forthcoming.
“Kind of speaking to the expansion into NCAA and Division I, I know of all that has been around for a long time that this time was coming,” Hernandez said. “From a USA junior national team stand point, I coached her in 2023 as apart of the junior national team program, it was great to see her continue to develop and how much she’s on the cutting edge of the sport.”
When asked what it may lead to, Hernandez was unsure but feels the first offer signals a significant moment in time for the sport of girls flag football. As girls flag has proven to be the country’s fastest growing sport on the high school level, more and more states enter the fray, an offer like Cook’s could ignite the start of many more to come.
“I have no idea what it’s going to lead to,” Hernandez added. “20th year of coaching the sport, people always kept asking us when will it come and we’d always say five more years. You always thought about what it was going to mean. It’s pretty significant. The first one is awesome. When the second one comes, it’ll signal the expansion of that. It’s significant moment on the list of things that girls flag football has arrived.”
Anytime there’s a first, it usually isn’t the last and with the sport of girls flag football becoming an emerging one all around the country, it seems inevitable that it will be sanctioned eventually in all 50 states.
With wondering if this is the start of something bigger, it certainly looks to be as Cook’s offer could create a domino effect sooner rather than later.
How to Follow National High School Girls Flag Football
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Category: General Sports
