JACKSONVILLE – With the 2024 football season around the corner, the Jacksonville Jaguars are helping the communities around the First Coast build momentum toward kickoff at all levels of the game in Play Football Month.
With events beginning next week, Play Football Month includes clinics, camps, helmet donations, donated game tickets, recognitions and other unique football activations from the Jaguars.
In advance of the 2024 high school football season, the Jaguars Foundation has donated nearly 200 football helmets to local youth and school programs, including LSA Chargers (youth tackle), Duval Jags (youth tackle), Fleming Island Dreadnaughts (youth tackle), and 20 middle and high school athletes who were part of NFL FLAG teams. The latest donation, sponsored by Gatorade, featured 30 new helmets for Riverside High School in Jacksonville.
The Jaguars also hosted a High School Media Day, sponsored by Baker Sporting Goods, at EverBank Stadium August 1, spotlighting players and coaches from over 75 area high schools in Duval, Nassau, St. Johns, Baker and Clay Counties, plus dozens of counties in the surrounding area and in South Georgia. The athletes had interview time on radio, television and with local writers, and an opportunity for photos in the home stadium of the Jaguars.
Coinciding with Play Football Month, the Jaguars will kick off the Whataburger Game of the Week, Coach of the Week and Player of the week promotions throughout the 2024 high school football season. Over 11 weeks, each award will be announced on television and online at Action News and Action Sports Jax. The Whataburger Coach of the Week receives a $1,500 grant from the Jaguars, while the coach and Player of the Week receive Jaguars and Whataburger merchandise and Jaguars game tickets, plus gameday recognition at the end of the year.
The Whataburger Game of the Week schedule includes:
- 8/23 - Bradford at Baker County
- 8/30 - Bolles at Trinity Christian
- 9/6 - Bartram at Ware County
- 9/13 - Episcopal at Providence
- 9/20 - Nease at St. Augustine
- 9/27 - Riverside at Raines
- 10/4 - Beachside at Tocoi Creek
- 10/11 - Fernandina Beach at Yulee
- 10/18 - Ribault at Baldwin
- 10/25 - Fleming Island at Middleburg
- 10/31 - Jackson at First Coast
In addition, the Jaguars are donating over 4,000 tickets for the 2024 preseason home games against the Kansas City Chiefs (August 10) and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (August 17) to area youth and high school football and cheerleading programs.
For the August 10 "Play Football" Chiefs-Jaguars preseason matchup, players from Choctaw High School and Niceville High School girls flag football teams will serve as flag bearers during the National Anthem. Choctaw won the overall Nike Summer Tournament, while Niceville won the tug-of-war competition at the Nike Girls Flag Football tournament.
Three St. Johns County schools starting Girls Flag Football programs in 2024, Tocoi Creek, Ponte Vedra and Bartram Trail, will be honored during the Chiefs-Jaguars game. In addition, the 9U Boys NFL Flag Champions, the "Immortals," will be recognized for their title won at the NFL FLAG Championships in Canton, Ohio. Jaguars Legends, and their children who are middle and high school athletes, will line "The Shadows" route as the Jaguars make their way from the locker room to the field for introductions before the opening kickoff.
For the August 17 game against the Buccaneers, players from Mandarin High School and Raines High School (both in Jacksonville) will serve as flag bearers during the National Anthem. Raines won the lineman challenge competition at the Nike 11-On tournament hosted by the Jaguars. Mandarin was the overall winner at the Nike 11-On tournament. Three athletes from each school will compete in an obstacle course race during halftime.
Also during the game, Florida Gateway College (Lake City, Fla.) will be recognized for back-to-back junior college national championships.
The Florida Times-Union SUPER 11, consisting of the top 11 varsity football athletes in Northeast Florida will line "The Shadows" as the Jaguars are introduced before kickoff, and will be honored in-game.
Finally, ahead Buccaneers-Jaguars game, Ralph Graham Jr., the NFL FLAG Coach of the Year for 18U Girls, will perform the "First Duuuval."
To kick off Play Football Month, the Jaguars Foundation donated nearly 200 new helmets to area youth football programs. This included 30 helmets that were donated by Gatorade to Riverside High School on the Westside.
