From a distance, it looks like college kids in sweat clothes tossing a football around on a campus green space.

Draw closer, and it鈥檚 apparent this is no sandlot game.

A coach is explaining routes he wants receivers to run on a play he calls 鈥淏ingo.鈥� Then he tells his quarterbacks to make quicker decisions. Next he demonstrates how a receiver in motion sets up as a blocker next to the center and the running back takes a handoff and heads for a hole that should open on the left side.

The women Jaison Jones is coaching listen intently and ask lots of questions. More than half showed up at Midland University from faraway places to continue playing the growing sport of flag football at the 1,600-student school in a town of 26,000 nestled in the farmland of eastern Nebraska.

Allison Maulfair and Spencer Mauk were teammates at their high school in Bradenton, Florida, a state where a nation-high 7,700 girls at 278 schools play varsity flag football.

Jones recruited them at summer showcase, and after Maulfair and Mauk made the 1,500-mile (2414 kilometers) drive to Fremont for a visit, they decided it was where they wanted to be.

鈥淚鈥檓 just really passionate about this sport,鈥� Maulfair said. 鈥淚 fell in love with it my freshman year of high school and haven鈥檛 stopped loving it. It doesn鈥檛 matter where I鈥檓 at. It just matters playing the game with great people, really.鈥�

E鈥檒eseana Patterson figured she was done with flag football after she quarterbacked her Las Vegas high school team to a state championship in 2019. Her plan was to stay home, help her mom and take classes at UNLV.

On a lark, she went to a showcase in Vegas and ended up impressing Jones. She took a virtual campus tour and knew she wanted to be part of what was happening at Midland, as did four other players she competed against in high school.

鈥淥nce my mom saw someone wanted me to play the sport I love, she was like, 鈥楪o,鈥欌�� Patterson said. 鈥淚 took the chance and came out here. I鈥檇 never heard of Midland University. I heard of Nebraska, I heard of Omaha. Not Fremont.鈥�

Women鈥檚 flag football is in its first year of competition in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. The NAIA entered a partnership with the NFL and Reigning Champs Experiences, which operates flag football programs across the country.

It鈥檚 classified as an emerging sport, meaning there鈥檚 no NAIA-sponsored championship. Championship status is achieved once there are 40 programs, a threshold flag football could reach in two or three years.

The National Junior College Athletic Association recently announced a similar partnership with the NFL and Reigning Champs and intend to start games in spring 2022.

The sport is played seven on seven on a field 80 yards (73 meters) long and 40 yards wide. There are four 12-minute quarters. It鈥檚 20 yards instead of 10 for a first down. All players are eligible receivers. Players are 鈥渢ackled鈥� when a defender pulls one of the three flags attached to the ball carrier鈥檚 belt.

Midland and 12 other small schools received US$15,000 in seed money from the NFL. That鈥檚 about half of what it costs per year to operate a program, according to the NAIA, but doesn鈥檛 include cost of scholarships.

Midland offers 33 sports and more than 70 percent of its students are athletes. The Warriors have 14 flag football players, and all pay more in tuition than they receive in scholarship aid. Athletic director Dave Gillespie said he expects a strong return on investment.

鈥淵ou鈥檙e talking about kids who love playing the sport and probably didn鈥檛 think they would have the opportunity to combine it with getting a college degree,鈥� Gillespie said. 鈥淚 think that鈥檚 a strong pull.鈥�

The 40-year-old Jones, the Midland coach, played small-college football in Kansas and is defensive coordinator for an Omaha women鈥檚 semipro tackle football team in the summer. His day job is general manager for a pest control company. 鈥淭he sport is going to flourish more than what people think,鈥� Jones said. 鈥淚 was in Tampa for a showcase about a month ago and there were about 1,500 girls there. You come back to the Midwest and people question you, like, 鈥楪irls play flag football in college? Is that a thing?鈥欌��

In addition to Florida and Nevada, Jones recruited two players from Alaska. Four Nebraskans also are on the team.

鈥淭here鈥檚 still work to be done, a lot of work getting girls to come in,鈥� Jones said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a continuous grind to get the program where I want it to be and to have a winning program.鈥�

Florida has by far the most girls playing flag football, followed by Nevada (1,900) and California (660), according to the most recent participation numbers provided to the National Federation of State High School Associations. From 2013-18, high school participation increased 27 percent, to more than 11,000.

Midland is 4-7 after a 34-13 home loss to Ottawa University of Kansas last Friday, a better showing than the 39-0 loss to the Braves a week earlier.

Ottawa is 7-1 and among the best of the new programs. Only one of the Braves鈥� 21 players is from Kansas, and their coaches are former San Francisco 49ers assistant Katy Sowers and her sister, head coach Liz Sowers.

The competitiveness of games varies. Ottawa beat Milligan (Tennessee) 84-0 but lost 26-25 to Keiser (Florida). Midland has won 88-0 and lost 52-0.

Midland receiver-linebacker Casey Thompson, who grew up 30 miles away in Omaha, played basketball two years at Midland before she decided to try football for the first time this spring.

鈥淵ou have some players who are high-level players,鈥� she said, 鈥渁nd then there鈥檚 the other ones who aren鈥檛 quite up there.鈥�

Thompson said she couldn鈥檛 imagine doing what many of her teammates did 鈥� move across the country to attend a small college, sight unseen in most cases, and play flag football.

Maulfair, the receiver and cornerback from Florida, said the pull of the sport was too strong. Her parents and siblings weren鈥檛 going to hold her back.

鈥淭hey didn鈥檛 know where I was going to go,鈥� Maulfair said, 鈥渂ut once they found out I was going to commit, they were stoked.鈥�