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High School Football
Join us in spreading the word about the benefits of participating in high school football.
High School Football
Join us in spreading the word about the benefits of participating in high school football.
Joe Carter watched his World Series-winning walkoff homerun float over the Skydome fence in 1993.
But before that, he threw touchdown passes in a Oklahoma state championship game.
“If I had played baseball all year long, I wouldn’t have been a professional baseball player because I would have burned out,” says Carter.
Carter dominated high school football, basketball and track on top of baseball. That’s why he’s a 2026 NFHS Hall-of-Famer—and a true legend of sport.
“I will take an athlete who played two or three sports over an athlete who just played one sport because those guys know how to take advantage of a situation and know how to adjust,” says Carter.
The greats of many sports played high school football, too.
Be sure to use the hashtag #ThisIsHSFootball whenever you share stories and photos about football on social media!
The second week of September is the peak of the high school football season, with 7,246 games across the country.
From the very first practice to the last game of the season, high school football prepares players for LIFE.
In 2021, we partnered with the NFL to launch the #ThisIsHSFootball campaign. Our mission was to promote the benefits of playing and increase participation.
More student-athletes played 11-player high school football in 2025-26 than in any year since 2016-17. That's 1,043,716 student-athletes out under the Friday night lights, an increase of 14,128 over the previous season. Now let’s keep that momentum going.
Through this initiative, we aim to:
With your help, we can spread the word about the benefits of participating in high school football and celebrate this essential team sport for decades to come. No matter if you’re a coach, administrator, state association representative or even a fan, we can all help continue to increase participation numbers by using these tools to introduce more students—and their parent(s)/guardian(s)—to the game! Please share our messages on social media by clicking the share buttons wherever you see them. And be sure to use the hashtag #ThisIsHSFootball when creating your own content!
Promote the value of participating in football
Restore confidence in player protection
Improve the perception of football
