Before the Jacksonville Jaguars open training camp July 23, there will be football by athletes wearing the teal and black.
A lot of football, by nearly 100 boys and girls ranging from ages 8 to 17 on 11 teams that will represent the Jaguars in the NFL Flag Championships beginning on July 17 in Canton, Ohio, at the Pro Football Hall of Fame Village Sports Complex.
They qualified for the Flag Championships by winning regional tournaments in April, also sponsored by the Jaguars.
It’s the chance to test themselves against other teams flying the colors of their home NFL franchises and perhaps display their skills on TV: 12 broadcast and digital platforms, including ABC, ESPN, Disney and the NFL Network will air games from July 18-20, culminating with the championship games on July 20 that will air on ESPN, ABC, Disney the NFL Network and their streaming partners.
“It’s one of the biggest stages we can be on, ESPN at the Hall of Fame,” said Dylan Motes of Middleburg, the quarterback for the Jaguars Elite 14U team coach by veteran flag football player and coach David Price and Brian Traster that won the AFC South Division and came one step away from the AFC championship last year.
“It’s a great opportunity given us by the Jaguars,” said wide receiver Rylan Williams of St. Augustine. “We’re using their brand, and their name, and we have to rep it well.”
Jaguars gave Canton-bound teams a send-off
Motes, Williams and more than 70 other players were at the Jaguars Miller Electric Center on July 13 for a send-off sponsored by the Jags two days before the players leave for Canton and the NFL Flag Championships.
Among the activities were tours of the team’s weight room, locker room, indoor practice facility, and a meal at the team’s training table. The players also were gifted apparel and Jaguars-themed flags, which they will do their best to keep attached to their waists in Canton.
Adriel Rocha, the team’s Vice-President of Community Impact and Football Development, has been a part of the Flag programs with New Orleans and Jacksonville. He said the community outreach through grants and support from the team and the Jaguars Foundation with travel costs, apparel, equipment and organization, is twofold: it builds grassroots support and recognition of the Jaguars brand and gives kids an opportunity to play one of the fastest growing sports in the world.
Indeed, Flag Football is coming to the 2028 Olympics and the NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics has recommended that the sport be added to Division I, II and III.
“My hope is to have a player come from our market through our Flag program make to the NFL,” Rocha said. “Austin Trammel [Jaguars wide receiver] is an example that it can be done, although he came through the Houston program. We have a very good chance with [former Mandarin wide receiver] Jamie Ffrench, who is now at Texas. I’d love to see it come full circle.”
Jaguars Flag reach is getting longer
The reach of the Jaguars’ flag program is also extending past the First Coast. The Jags are sponsoring an 8U Rec team and a 10U Rec team from Charleston, S.C., and an 8U coed team from Marion County.
Nichelle Brown of Bradford County, who plays for the Jaguars Elite Girls high school team, is the nominee for national Player of the Year, along with Brysen Wright, a rising sophomore from Mandarin on the 14U Elite team.
Other Jaguars Elite teams are 12U boys and 10U girls.
Also representing the Jaguars will be the JAX Police Athletic League Storm 12U boys team; the 10U NxtGen coed team; the 12U girls Fusion and the 14U Girls Prime GP Pink.
They will begin pool play on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The Jaguars Elite High School girls team and 14U boys team will be on TV if they win their respective pools.
Flag players also high school stars
Some members of the Jaguars Elite have already established themselves on the high school level. In addition to Ffrench and Wright, Times-Union All-First Coast players Naeem Burroughs and Asher Ghioto (Bolles) are alumni of the team.
The Jaguars’ high school girls team is led by Brown, who caught 132 passes for 2,220 yards and 34 touchdowns for Bradford last year; and quarterback Izzy Murray of Ponte Vedra, who threw for 2,863 yards and 36 touchdowns.
Both were Times-Union All First-Coast players.
Murray and Williams make the Jaguars team a strong contender.
“Our strength is that we play for each other,” Murray said. “If you catch a ball, if you throw a ball, if you pull a flag, it’s not for you, it’s for the team. We put each other first.”
But the Jacksonville teams have something else going for them: the support of the Jaguars, ranging from uniforms and equipment to exhaustive social media and internet coverage when the teams are in Canton.
“Ever since Adriel Rocha has taken over, he’s put everything into the pot for us,” said Price, who was on the U.S. team that won the International Federation of American Football Flag World Championships in 2021. “Every year there’s more and more outreach as far as camps and sponsorships. They run the girls’ high school preseason tournament and it’s all thanks to him. They take care of not only the Elite teams but the prep teams, the girls programs, the local leagues. Adriel and the Jaguars are out here to grow this sport.”
Jaguars sponsored ‘Summer of Youth Football’
The NFL Flag Championships are the culmination of the Jaguars’ “Summer of Youth Football” programming, hosted by Jaguars Prep.
It offered six youth and flag football events, with more than 2,000 youth participating. Current Jaguars players and other area sports figures assisted them at camps and competitions for boys and girls, from the age of 5 to 17.
Jaguars Prep is organized to grow the game of football in Northeast Florida by “removing barriers of accessibility, encouraging health and safety, building strong character amongst participants and enhancing opportunities and resources for youth and high school football athletes.”
Among the activities that took place at Providence High School:
When do the Jaguars-affiliated flag teams play their first games?
(All games at Canton Hall of Fame Village Sports Complex)
Thursday, July 17
Jaguars Elite High School Girls vs. Texas Fury (Texans), 9 a.m.; Jaguars Elite 14U vs. Sumner Elite (Titans), 9:35 a.m.; Jaguars Elite High School Girls vs. YYFFA Penguins (Colts), 10:10 a.m.; Jaguars Elite 14U vs. Lexington East (Colts), 10:45 a.m.; Jaguars Elite High School girls vs. Texas Fury (Texans), 11:20 a.m.; Jaguars Elite 14U vs. Prime (Texans) 11:55 a.m.; Prime GP Pink 14U (Jaguars) vs. PFFL Ladies of Steel (Steelers), 4:35 p.m.; Jaguars Elite 12U vs. Legends (Steelers), 4:35 p.m.; Prime GP Pink 14U (Jaguars) vs. Conquer Orange (Broncos), 5:10 p.m.; Jaguars Elite 12U vs. Elkhart (Colts), 5:45 p.m.; Prime GP Pink (Jaguars) 14U vs. Bad Rabbits (Raiders), 6:20 p.m.; Jaguars Elite 12U vs. Ghost Riders (Dolphins), 6:55 p.m.
Friday, July 18
Jaguars Elite (10U girls) vs. YYFFA Penguins (Browns), 9 p.m.; NxtGen (Jaguars) 10U vs. Music City Playmakers (Titans), 9:35 a.m.; Marion County Juice (Jaguars) 8U vs. SWYFT West (Packers), 9:35 a.m.; Jaguars Elite (10U girls) vs. Oregon Lady Colts, 10:10 a.m.; Marion County Juice vs. Toledo Dirty Birdz (Browns), 10:45 a.m.; NxtGen (Jaguars) vs. NS Elite Vipers (Packers), 11:20 a.m.; Jaguars Elite (10U girls) vs. Thunder Monkeys (Colts), 11:20 a.m.; NxtGen (Jaguars) 10U vs. P-51 Flag (Ravens), 11:55 a.m.; Marion County Juice vs. Doggwrld (Ravens), 11:55 a.m.; Fusion (Jaguars 12U girls) vs. Conquer Thunder (Seahawks), 2 p.m.; Fusion (Jaguars 12U girls) vs. NS Elite Vipers (Cowboys), 3:10 p.m. Fushion (Jaguars 12U girls) vs. NY Knights (Ravens), 3:45 p.m.
Saturday, July 20
Jax PAL Storm (12U Rec) vs. DV Prime (Rams), 9 a.m.; GVXPress (Texans), 10:10 a.m.; 615 Select (Titans), 10:45 a.m.
Additional games will be scheduled based on the results of the above games.
How to watch NFL Flag Championships
Friday, July 18
Canton Hall of Fame Village Sports Complex, Field No. 1
10 a.m.-12 p.m.: ESPN+, NFL+, NFL on ESPN YouTube.
1-2 p.m.: ESPN2, ESPN+, NFL+
2-4 p.m.: ESPN2, ESPN+, Disney XD, NFL+
4-5 p.m.: ESPN2, ESPN+, NFL+
5-7 p.m.: ESPN+, NFL Network, NFL+, NFL on ESPN YouTube.
Canton Hall of Fame Village Sports Complex, Field No. 2
10 a.m.-12 p.m.: ESPN+, NFL Network, NFL+, NFL on ESPN YouTube.
1-6 p.m.: ESPN+, NFL+, ESPN on YouTube
Saturday, July 19
Canton Hall of Fame Village Sports Complex, Field No. 1
12-2 p.m.: ESPN, ESPN+, NFL+
2-4 p.m.: ESPN, ESPN+, Disney XD, NFL+
Canton Hall of Fame Village Sports Complex, Field No. 2
10 a.m.-12 p.m.: ESPN+, NFL Network, NFL+, ESPN on YouTube
12-4 p.m.: ESPN+, NFL+, ESPN on YouTube
5-6 p.m.: ESPN+, NFL Network, NFL+, ESPN on YouTube
Sunday, July 20
Canton Hall of Fame Village Sports Complex, Field No. 1
12-4 p.m.: ESPN, ESPN+, Disney XD, NFL+
4-6 p.m.: ABC, ESPN+, ESPN DePortes, Disney Channel, Disney+, Disney XD, NFL+
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jaguars sending 11 teams to NFL Flag Championships at Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton
Reporting by Garry Smits, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union / Florida Times-Union
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
