DuJuan Harris Launches Brooksville Under the Lights Flag Football for Pre-K–8

DuJuan Harris, a 2006 Central High graduate and former NFL running back, is launching Brooksville Under the Lights Flag Football to bring Under Armour–backed 6-on-6 flag football to Hernando County youth. Harris will serve as the league’s commissioner and is pitching the program as both a safe after-school outlet and a structured training environment that can strengthen local athletic pathways.

The winter season opens with an introductory day on February 7 and games beginning February 14. Practices and games are scheduled on Saturdays between 5:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. at Central High. Registration was open until February 1. The league will offer divisions for pre-kindergarten through eighth grade, include high school divisions, and field both co-ed and all-girl divisions.

Harris frames the program as a community intervention. “In this area I see a lot of kids get in trouble and they just need more to do. I’m trying to provide them with more to do,” Harris said. He plans to pair on-field play with certified training and pregame exercise routines aimed at injury prevention. “It’s going to be football but there’s also going to be training incorporated with it as well. Just trying to build some stronger athletes and hopefully get some more pros out there,” Harris said. He added a local-development imperative: “We all can count on one hand or two hands how many people came out of here and we just need to raise that number.” Harris also said he hopes participants “feel overall stronger. Their coordination, their skillset is a little higher. I want them to actually benefit from some physical gains from this as well.”

Brooksville Under the Lights joins a national expansion in youth flag football that has attracted corporate and investor attention. Under the Lights, founded in 2015 and backed by Under Armour, is now part of the Unrivaled Sports platform created by Josh Harris and David Blitzer, which has received investment from The Chernin Group. Unrivaled describes a network spanning venues and programs and has highlighted community work, saying it has hosted 50-plus free instructional clinics in underserved areas and welcomed scholarship teams to tournaments.

National leaders see wider implications for youth development and the sport’s growth. “With flag football’s inclusion at LA28, we have a unique opportunity to shape the future of the sport at the youth level over the next four years and beyond,” Andy Campion said. Amanda Shank, Unrivaled’s EVP of business development, said, “One of our goals at Unrivaled is for the flag football vertical to stand alongside what we have built in baseball. We think it has that potential.” Industry figures point to broad participation: 2.4 million kids under 17 now play organized flag football across the country.

For Hernando County families, the program offers structured weekend activity, technician-led warmups meant to reduce injuries, and an explicit push to expand opportunity for local athletes. Brooksville Under the Lights will be a space where athletic skill-building, evening activity, and community connection meet. Residents should watch Central High and Brooksville Under the Lights announcements for registration and program details as the intro day and first games approach.