The Incredible Story of the Michigan Woman Pursuing an NFL Playing Career

Many sports hold to the idea that you haven't seen everything that is possible within the sport no matter how many games you've watched. Football is no different.

It seems year after year, someone comes up with a miraculous play or invents a new scheme that keeps coaches up at night. The game is constantly evolving and enjoying historic firsts.

With the surge in interest in women's sports over the past few years, it's quite possible that we aren't far away from the first woman playing in the NFL. One Michigan woman made it her life goal to be the first to do so, and she's come remarkably close.

Antoinette "Toni" Harris, born in Detroit, played football throughout her youth and eventually joined the Redford Union High School team. At 5-foot-7 and 165 pounds, she lined up at safety. However, the athletic director removed her from the team, allowing her to make just one start at homecoming.

That didn't stand in the way of her pursuit to reach the next level, as she fought to return to the team in Redford. She landed with the East Los Angeles College program. From there, she earned six scholarship offers from four-year universities, the first from Bethany College in Kansas. Most of her offers were from NAIA programs, which is a separate entity from the NCAA. Her lone Division-II offer was from Adams State in Colorado.

Harris committed to Central Methodist University (Missouri) in 2019, graduating with a degree in criminal justice. In doing so, she became the first woman to accept a scholarship to play college football at a non-specialist position.

Harris battled adversities beyond trying to break into the world of men's football. She endured the adoption system in her youth and was also diagnosed with Stage 1 ovarian cancer at 18 years old after struggling with ovarian cysts from the age of 9.

While she went into remission in 2015, her college football career didn't quite go as planned.

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However, she continued to play football in a women's professional league, the WNFC. for the LA Legends.

While she hasn't taken the field in the NFL as a player, she has had other opportunities with the league.

She appeared in a Toyota ad during Super Bowl LIII, was invited to the 2024 NFL Draft in Detroit as a media influencer, and served as an honorary captain for the Detroit Lions in 2023.

Today, she attends the USC Masters Criminal Justice program and continues to stay involved in football, whether by hosting camps, commentating play-by-play or participating in media events.

Harris will celebrate her 28th birthday in late July. While her NFL playing dreams may not come to fruition, her impact on the game is astounding. Female players such as Sam Morgan and Haley Van Voorhis have followed in her footsteps to bring the reality of women playing American football to reality.