College football has experienced its fair share of history-making moments this season. At Colorado, the Buffaloes sold out season tickets for the first time ever. And last week, Missouri’s Harrison Mevis booted the longest field goal in SEC history.
The sport has also seen some wild things this year, like a D-II offensive lineman throwing a touchdown or a Georgia receiver catching a pass of a defender’s foot.
But in terms of real progress and historical significance in the sport, all those moments — while cool and awesome — pale in comparison to what a 5-foot-6 junior did for Division III Shenandoah University.
Meet Haley Van Voorhis, who on Saturday became the first woman — ever — to play in an NCAA college football game at a position other than kicker or punter.
The native of The Plains, Virginia, made her debut in the first quarter of the Hornets’ 48-7 win against Juanita College. She blitzed on a third down, notching a QB hurry and hit, doing her part to force an incomplete pass.
History is made: Shenandoah safety #10 Haley Van Voorhis becomes the first female non-kicker to appear in a college football game at the NCAA or NAIA levels for #D3FB @SUhornetsFB.
The junior hurried the QB on the play: pic.twitter.com/0mW8K6WeDG
— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) September 23, 2023
According to ESPN, Van Voorhis spent the last two seasons playing on Shenandoah’s JV team. She also participates on the Hornets’ track and field team, running sprints and relays. And according to her bio on the Shenandoah athletics’ website, she was also a two-time MVP of her high school basketball team at Christchurch School.
Van Voorhis is the latest to notch a first for women in college football. Back in 2020, Vanderbilt’s Sarah Fuller became the first women to score points in a Power Five football. And we’ve seen other women play as kickers and punters at the college level. But at safety? The position that Troy Polamalu and Ed Reed played? That’s new. And fantastic.
In 2014, Shelby Osborne became the first woman to make a college football roster as a non-kicker at NAIA Campbellsville, but she never played in a game.
Women playing football is likely something we’ll see more of in the future. In 2018, according a study by the National Football League, 2,404 girls played high school tackle football, compared with just about 500 girls playing in 2008. For the folks doing math at home, that’s a five-fold increase in a decade. Young women are playing football across the country. In 2021, Chapel Hill’s Brooklyn Harker suited up at safety for her high school team, becoming the first to do so at that program.
In 2021, as her high school career was coming to an end, Van Voorhis told The Washington Post:
“I’ve been playing football as long as I can remember. There’s just something about it that I really love.”
The fact that Van Voorhis can pursue that passion at the college level is an awesome thing that should be widely applauded.
