ARLINGTON, TX -- Over the years that Dak Prescott has ascended from a fourth-round NFL Draft pick to the league's highest-paid quarterback, plenty of people have asked him if he ever expected to be the franchise quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys. And, honestly, if he hadn’t grown up watching Donovan McNabb play for the Philadelphia Eagles, the answer is probably no. But he believed in himself because he had a role model that looked like him.

Prescott is a Girl Dad now, with one baby daughter and a second on the way in May. They inspired him to attend the Dallas Cowboys’ launch of their High School Girls Flag Football League. He thanked the girls from 32 Dallas-Fort Worth area high schools in attendance on Saturday for being pioneers for his daughters and the next generation of women.

“My daughters are going to turn on the TV or come up to the Star for the championship, and they’re going to watch you,” Prescott said. “They’re going to say, ‘Man, I want to be like her.’ Think about that.”

This spring, 86 total high school campuses across Texas (54 from DFW, 13 in Austin, 19 in El Paso) will participate in girls’ flag football powered by the Dallas Cowboys. The organization held a Media Day and Jersey Reveal at AT&T Stadium to kick off a regular season beginning in March and lasting through a championship game at the Ford Center in Frisco in May. The girls witnessed a Nike jersey reveal for their school in the Dallas Cowboys locker room, rotated the same photography stations that the NFL players do in May, and even tossed the pigskin with Prescott. 

The league is the massive step in a broader effort by the Cowboys to make girls’ flag football a UIL-sanctioned sport. Fourteen other state high school athletic associations that have done so currently. Girls flag football is also set for introduction in the 2028 Olympics.

“Our goal is to get flag football for women sanctioned in the state of Texas,” Dallas Cowboys Co-Owner and Chief Brand Officer Charlotte Jones said.

The day had all the glitz and glam of an NFL production, even prompting Prescott to joke with the girls as he tossed them the football about how cool it was they got to do a Media Day. He didn’t do one until he signed his first contract. Dallas Hillcrest athletic director Kelan Jones gathered his girls in a huddle after they took a team photo with Prescott and asked if they expected all this. Everyone shook their heads with a laugh. 

Girls in attendance from schools like DeSoto, Duncanville and Cedar Hill have always loved football and been part of championship teams in some capacity, whether as cheerleaders, band members or student trainers. Now, they get the opportunity to play themselves. 

“I believe that girls are equally deserving of the opportunity to play in sports,” Kelan Jones said. “If UIL does make it a sanctioned event, I think it will be huge for Texas. Flag football is played across America, so why not make it a UIL sanctioned event? It gives them an opportunity to play for a state championship.”

At the end of his speech, Prescott shouted his signature snap count cadence. It was fitting for a day celebrating what the future of football can be.

“Here we gooooooo!”