Headed to the Pro Bowl: Central flag football players selected for NFL showcase game

Four members of Central-Phenix Citys legendary 2024 flag football team are headed to the NFLs Pro Bowl.

Head coach Mitchell Holt, assistant coach Troy Jackson and players Gerritt Griggs and Natalyn Lumpkin will go down to Orlando, Fla., for the Pro Bowl Games and compete in the inaugural NFL Flag High School Girls Showcase.

The showcase is an all-star game featuring flag football players from across the country, and it will kick off at noon Feb.

2 with the NFL airing the game live on ESPN during Postseason NFL Countdown.

The trip rewards Central-Phenix City after its dominant season in which the Red Devils went a perfect 19-0, won the Class 6A-7A flag football state championship and were named USA Todays national champion.

Its a once in a lifetime thing, said Central-Phenix City head coach Mitchell Holt.

Weve had a couple of those things happen this year.

You can win another state championship and not get the other accolades that come along with it, especially at the national level.

Natalyn and Gerritt are both very deserving of it.

On a team full of stars, Griggs and Lumpkin shined brightest.

Griggs quarterbacked the Red Devils and threw for 3,283 yards, 82 touchdowns and just three interceptions.

She added 13 more touchdowns on the ground and caught two touchdowns, giving her a whopping 97 touchdowns in her senior season.

Lumpkin was Griggs go-to target with a state-leading 255 points scored.

She pulled in 33 touchdown receptions with 1,296 receiving yards.

On defense, she intercepted seven passes and returned three for touchdowns and was named the Opelika-Auburn News Flag Football Player of the Year.

Also coaching the duo in softball, Holt has coached them for eight seasons five in softball and three in flag football.

Holt said its their competitiveness that has allowed them to be in this position.

Ive never had to question their effort or desire to get better, Holt said.

And thats hard to do.

Even on tough days, its hard for adults to give their best.

When we got them, they were 12-year-old kids, and they just go about their business every day, and you know what youre going to get out of them.

Theyre consistent, and when you combine that mindset and that competitiveness with tremendous athletes, you get two elite players, and thats exactly what they are.

The two 15-player rosters that will compete at the Pro Bowl Games are compiled of seniors on teams who made USA Todays final top 25 ranking.

Most schools had either two or three players selected to compete in Pro Bowl Games.

Griggs and Lumpkin will play under Holt and Jackson for the NFC team as Griggs is the teams quarterback and Lumpkin will play as a defensive back.

A sport that is rapidly growing in popularity in Alabama, there arent many better representatives for flag football than Griggs and Lumpkin.

Griggs is an Alabama softball signee who still decided to take her athletic talents to the football field when she could have just focused on softball.

Meanwhile, flag football has become Lumpkins primary sport as she holds college offers to play flag football at the next level.

Now representing Central-Phenix City at the NFL Pro Bowl Games, Griggs and Lumpkin have become state legends in their role growing the sport.

You start to hear parents talk about their kid wants to play flag football, Holt said.

Just a few years ago, it wasnt really an option.

It wasnt on the radar, and I think Gerritt, Natalyn and our entire team understand theyre laying the foundation for a sport here at Central and all the kids across the state.

Theyll be looked back as, not necessarily the pioneers, but the ones that came first.

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