Flag football kicks off as USC Upstate’s newest varsity program
Lilly Rumrill was 7 years old when she began playing flag football. She was
involved in many sports – soccer, basketball, softball – but football was her favorite.
“It’s just more fun,” says Rumrill, a sophomore at Upstate. “Once you have the ball, it’s up to you to go do something.”
Rumrill is among a growing number of young athletes, many of them women, who are contributing to the popularity of flag football. Overall flag participation in the U.S. among 6- to 17-year-olds increased 50% in five years, from 2.6 million in 2019 to 3.9 million in 2024, according to a 2025 NCAA report. High school girls’ participation grew at an even faster rate, from 11,000 in 2018-19 to 69,000 in 2024-25.
In response, more colleges and universities are adding the sport to their offerings. Last spring Upstate joined them, making flag football its 18th varsity program.
Behind the numbers
One reason for the sport’s rapid rise is NFL backing, says Matt Martin, vice chancellor & director of intercollegiate athletics at USC Upstate. In the Big South Conference, five member schools, including Upstate, have received support from the NFL to help launch their programs.
Martin notes the sport is also an attractive alternative to tackle football at a time when there is growing concern about concussions and their long-term impact on young players. Many children now start with flag, even if they go on to do tackle later.
While the two games share similar objectives, flag, as the name implies, is played with two pop flags belted on players during the game. These are pulled to end a play instead of tackling. In college, the sport is played 7 on 7.
Getting started
Rumrill, a standout kicker who also played tackle football from eighth grade through her senior year of high school, reached out to Upstate when she learned about the new team. The Mooresville, North Carolina, native was the first recruit signed by head coach Noah Harris.
Harris, who played arena football in Alaska, has had a successful flag coaching career at both the high school and college level. He began his coaching career in boys’ basketball before leading a flag program at a Fairbanks high school in 2014.
He then headed up the program at Southwestern College in Kansas, where he coached for three seasons before joining Upstate.
“I mean, who would have thought that’s what I would be doing 12 years later, coaching at the collegiate level?” Harris says. “This will be the third program I started.”
Practices began this fall with 20 women recruited from across the U.S. Because conference play for the Big South teams is still a year away, Upstate flag will be an independent program in the meantime, playing Conference Carolinas and DI schools beginning this spring.
Team players
At the core of Harris’ coaching philosophy are two values: work ethic and coachability. And that goes beyond the field: “When I see your GPA, what you do in the classroom, that tells me your work ethic,” he says.
During practices, he focuses on footwork and technique. He notes previous teams have ribbed him for his “specific, down-to-the-minute practice plan.”
“I’m about 30% drills, about 50% scrimmaging, and then about 20% on the conditioning end,” Harris says.
Kennedi Hayes, a junior and quarterback who followed Harris from Southwestern, appreciates his approach.
“His goal is to always put us in a position of success,” says Hayes. “Often, he has us perform drills with cutting and breaking on the ball for both defense and offense.”
Vivianna Solis, the team’s grad assistant, also met Harris at Southwestern. She started playing flag her sophomore year of college, the same year Harris began coaching there.
Now on the other side of the field with Harris, Solis says the coach gives her a lot of flexibility in practice, from working with the quarterbacks to ensuring the players know the fundamentals.
Equally important as developing skills is building camaraderie. Many players have become fast friends already and say support and encouragement have become the norm. Solis is encouraged by what she sees. “During practice, we have a lot of leadership, a lot of talking, which is nice, and a lot of personalities that come out,” she says. “Without chemistry, talent can only go so far.”
Giving back
Team members are excited to be a part of building something new. This past summer, Rumrill and Hayes assisted at the Carolina Panthers-sponsored Spartan Showcase for high school athletes, which was held at County University Stadium.
Hayes calls it an honor to help the next generation of athletes while playing for a DI school. “To compete in flag football from the age of 11 to 20 and watching it grow exponentially, is magical, (and) to be able to inspire younger girls to join this sport is exciting,” she says.
Rumrill feels the same. “I love it, because obviously there wasn’t opportunities till a few years ago,” she says. She’s inspired by “having all these little girls able to come watch our games and giving them a way to come up to the pathway, too.”
