Nebraska Moves Women's Flag Football Start to Spring 2027
The first Power 4 women's flag football team will be starting earlier than expected. The University of Nebraska's varsity women's flag football team will begin competing in the 2027 spring season, according to Mitch Sherman of The Athletic. Nebraska previously announced it would play at the varsity level beginning with the 2027-28 academic year.
Sherman noted that 15 scholarship players have already enrolled for the fall semester, with the goal of playing a 16-game schedule in the spring. Nebraska will start the season on the road. The Huskers named Liz Sowers as head coach in February 2026, just three weeks after launching the program.
Nebraska has lined up plenty of star power for the first season. Incoming freshman Ariana Akey was named the MaxPreps Player of the Year for the 2025-26 school year. A quartet of players joins the Sowers sisters from the NAIA's Ottawa University (KS): Anna Anderson (WR/DB), Jaida Bayron (WR/DB/QB), Kailey Verhoeven (QB), and Marley Spielberg (WR/DB). Also joining Nebraska will be highly regarded WR Rylen Bourguet from Arizona State's club team.
A pair of top junior college transfers from Florida Gateway College will make the trek to Lincoln: London Jenkins (WR/LB) and Nichelle Brown (WR/LB). The duo helped Florida Gateway win a fourth-straight national championship this past spring. Jenkins is also a member of the US Flag Football National Team.
Nebraska remains the only school from a Power 4 conference (ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, and SEC) to add a varsity women's flag football team. That may not be the case much longer, as the Big 12 has been exploring the addition of flag football as soon as 2028.
For the 2025 spring season, 15 NCAA Division I schools are expected to compete at the varsity level: Alabama State, Cal Poly, Eastern Michigan, Fairleigh Dickinson (NJ), Long Island (NY), Manhattan (NY), Maryland Eastern Shore, Mercyhurst (PA), Mississippi Valley State, Mount St. Mary's (MD), Nebraska, Norfolk State (VA), North Alabama, South Carolina Upstate, and Texas at Arlington. That number is likely to change in the run-up to the season, due to timeline shuffles and the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) finalizing the teams that will compete in its inaugural season.