Fairview football's Chris Hughes set to take on new challenge as Nashville Nighthawks head coach

Chris Hughes is a busy man, coaching three football teams this spring.

His newest assignment is coaching the Nashville Nighthawks in the first year of the American Flag Football League.

That’s in addition to his regular duties as Fairview’s football coach and girls flag football coach.

“Morning workouts with my tackle football team in Fairview every day of the week,” Hughes said. “We (had) our first high school girls flag game (Sunday) at Page.”

As if that wasn’t enough, the Nighthawks scrimmaged the Boston Brigade on Saturday at East Nashville and on Sunday at Lipscomb Academy.

“My wife’s a football widow, right now,” Hughes said. “But other than that, I love it. We seem to make it work; we’re just kind of flying through. I’m trying not to neglect anything because all three teams are very important to me.”

Las Vegas (Lucky Sevens) and Dallas (Ocelots) will also field teams in the new professional men’s flag football league.

Nashville will play its home games at the Vanderbilt Soccer-Lacrosse Complex.

“Man, I think it’s going to be killer,” Hughes said. “I think we’re going to have good attendance, and I think the game is going to be real exciting. There are a ton of great athletes out here, super fast and super skilled.”

The Nighthawks formed their team through tryouts that began with over 100 players. Three cuts narrowed the roster to 12 signees and three practice players.

“Every team has marquee players, so it will be interesting to see,” Hughes said.

The AFFL will use a seven-player format that is similar to high school and college passing leagues.

The league began play in 2017 with a tournament format but will switch to a league setup this year.

“We’re allowed a little bit of contact, but you won’t see the killer shots on people like you do in real football,” Hughes said. “You have to be more finesse, so strength and speed is in the tackle football game, but in this one it’s finesse and speed.”

Nighthawks wide receiver-linebacker Jerodis Williams played with Minnesota and Denver during the NFL preseason after a college career as a running back for Furman from 2009-11.

During his last game as a senior at Furman, he scored on a 77-yard touchdown run in a 54-32 loss at Florida.

“Easily the best memory is putting Florida on upset alert,” Williams said of that November finale. “It was a blast there.”

His TD narrowed the deficit to 37-32 with 30 seconds left in the third quarter, but that was as close as Furman came. The Football Subdivision Championship team stunned Florida by taking a 22-7 lead after the first quarter.

Williams, 32, is a software engineering consultant in Nashville, but his love of the game drew him to the Nighthawks.

“I love competing at pretty much anything I can,” Williams said.

He believes the Nighthawks will be an entertaining team.

“You’re going to see a lot of really fast, quick, high-jumping athletes,” Williams said. “They do a lot of diving catches, big competition for the ball up in the air.”

American Flag Football League president/chief operating officer Brian Michael Cooper said “it was a no-brainer” to select Nashville as one of the cities for the first year of league play.

“Nashville is a fantastic city,” Cooper said. “It’s been a rising superstar in sports for years. The Titans are about to build a new stadium now that’s hopefully going to host the Super Bowl here in the next decade.

“There’s obviously talk about having an MLB team here. I think the city is prime to have one. The Predators are fantastic. I think we are going to have a lot of fun in Nashville.”

The Nighthawks open their season with a doubleheader April 27 at Las Vegas. Nashville will face Boston at 2:30 p.m. and Las Vegas at 7:30 p.m.

Nashville’s home opener will be May 18 with a 1 p.m. game against Dallas and a 7:30 p.m. game against Boston.

Boston coach Matt Bailey was impressed by the Nighthawks at this weekend’s scrimmages.

“They’ve got some really electric players with high-end speed and quickness,” Bailey said. “All around, hard to defend.”

The former flag football quarterback is also optimistic about the Brigade’s future, and the league in general.

“Oh, we’re gonna win, 100% full confidence,” Bailey said. “Our team is fantastic. (The league) is going to be a really good show. You’ve got to come out and watch.”

Nighthawks schedule

April 27

Boston vs. Nashville at Las Vegas, 2:30 p.m.

Nashville at Las Vegas, 7:30 p.m.

May 4

Las Vegas vs. Nashville at Dallas, 2:30 p.m.

Nashville at Dallas, 7: 30 p.m.

May 11

Dallas vs. Nashville at Boston, 2:30 p.m.

Nashville at Boston, 7:30 p.m.

May 18

Dallas at Nashville, 1 p.m.

Boston at Nashville, 7:30 p.m.

May 25

Nashville at Las Vegas, 1 p.m.

Dallas vs. Nashville at Las Vegas, 6 p.m.

June 1

Nashville vs. Las Vegas at Boston, 2:30 p.m.

Nashville vs. Dallas at Boston, 6 p.m.

June 8

Nashville vs. Boston at Dallas, 2:30 p.m.

Nashville vs. Las Vegas at Dallas, 6 p.m.

June 15

Boston at Nashville, 1 p.m.

Las Vegas at Nashville, 7:30 p.m.

Tickets can be purchased here.