Bailey Travis commits to Manhattan University in flag football pipeline boost
Bailey Travis is headed to Manhattan University, a move that puts a Horizon High School flag football standout into one of the sport’s newest college openings. Travis, listed as a wide receiver and defensive back, signed as Manhattan continues building out women’s flag football.
What Manhattan saw in Travis is the kind of versatility that has become valuable as the sport grows. FieldLevel identifies her as a 2026 high school athlete from Windermere, Florida and lists her across multiple spots, including wide receiver and linebacker, as well as defensive back and linebacker. That kind of two-way profile fits a game that prizes speed, route running, space awareness and the ability to switch roles without dropping production.
The commitment also lands at a key moment for Manhattan. The school’s athletics site now has a women’s flag football page, and Manhattan Athletics announced Frank Jennaco as the program’s inaugural women’s flag football head coach on Jan. 29, 2026. The Quadrangle reported on Feb. 3, 2026 that Manhattan was adding women’s flag football for the 2026-27 school year, putting Travis among the first wave of players tied to the program’s launch.
That matters because girls’ flag football is moving from a novelty to a real college pathway. A 2026 recruiting guide says there are 350-plus college programs for women’s flag football, and collegiate flag-football coverage describes the sport as expanding rapidly as schools add varsity teams. Every signing like Travis’s gives the pipeline more weight, especially for high school athletes who are looking for a sport with a clear next stop.
For local programs, the message is direct. High school flag football is producing athletes with enough polish to attract college attention, and recruiters are no longer treating the sport as an afterthought. Travis’s listing across several positions shows the kind of adaptable player college staffs are targeting as rosters take shape and programs decide how to build depth.
At Manhattan, Travis is joining a program in its first phase, not one that is already set in its ways. That gives her commitment extra value: she is not just extending her own career, she is becoming part of the foundation for a team that will need versatile players to establish itself quickly.