McClatchy star QB Daisy Throckmorton signs to play college flag football in CA
Flag football is a big deal across the country, growing by the day, and Daisy Throckmorton has been in the thick of the sport’s meteoric rise in Sacramento and beyond.
The McClatchy High School senior, Sacramento Bee Flag Football Player of the Year in 2025 and MaxPreps California Player of the Year has not played her last competitive game at quarterback.
The multi-sport honors student has signed a letter of intent to play at Cal Poly on the Central Coast for the school’s NCAA Division I club team that is competing this spring in flag tournaments against Southern California junior colleges. Cal Poly will officially start its first season during the upcoming academic year.
“I am super excited to have this opportunity,” said Throckmorton, who will major in architectural engineering. “It’s been my goal since I found out that they had a program. There are so many amazing players that I can’t wait to play with, and I’m really looking forward to being on campus and getting to work.”
Other four-year colleges in California that are now offering women’s Division I flag football are Saint Mary’s in Moraga of the greater Bay Area, and Cal Baptist in Southern California. Sacramento State is also considering adding the sport, Hornets president Luke Wood and athletic director Mark Orr told The Bee.
Flag football is the fastest growing high school sport in the country. The governing body California Interscholastic Federation in fall 2025 said that 19,921 girls played flag football in state high schools, up 84% from the previous year.
Few if any of those nearly 20,000 were quite as prolific and exceptional as Throckmorton, an A student and a star basketball player for McClatchy.
Throckmorton in 2025 passed for a remarkable 7,934 yards and 112 touchdowns and rushed for 1,149 and 11 scores in leading McClatchy to the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division I championship, capping a 24-5 season.
Throckmorton was also the first female player to take quarterback snaps in a varsity tackle football game for McClatchy, which opened in the Sacramento City Unified School District in 1938.
For her two-year McClatchy career, the 5-foot-11 Throckmorton passed for 16,559 yards and 230 touchdowns as the Lions produced a 51-7 record. Throckmorton’s accolades and academic standing led to an invitation to the NFL FLAG High School Girls Showcase at the Pro Bowl in the Bay Area, a lead-up to the Super Bowl at Levi’s Stadium. She showcased her skills in front of Hall of Fame great Jerry Rice, among others.
Throckmorton averaged 16.6 points, 7.7 rebounds and 3.1 assists as a third-year varsity starter for the storied McClatchy basketball program, including playing hurt.
