In late April, just before the NFL draft, more than 100 people showed up for a scouting combine at Alcorn State University.

Like others across the country they were there to chase their dreams of playing professional football next season, with one big difference — most of them were still in elementary and middle school.

The Indie Pro Football League (IPFL), which has plans to launch this summer, is a national pro league that offers young players a chance to get paid while they play. Although there is an adult league for those 18 and over, the IPFL is primarily for players ages 8-17. All players will be paid on a per-game basis regardless of age.

The combine at Alcorn State was the first of about a half-dozen scheduled around the country. The league plans to hold a draft in June and begin its inaugural season a couple weeks later.

“They are professional football players. Even though they are children, they are professional and they will get paid to play,” said Dr. Kaeita Rankin, a Fayette native and the owner of the IPFL’s Mississippi Tsunami.

According to the IPFL’s web site, players ages 8-17 will be paid between $125 and $625 per game, depending on the age group. Bonuses will be awarded to teams who reach the postseason. Salaries are to be dispersed with 50% paid up front and the other 50% placed in an escrow that earns interest. Players can access the escrow account on their 17th birthday.

Players in the adult league are paid $2,500 per game, plus postseason bonuses. The adult league is for post-high school players who are not on a college team.

The league also claims to have created programs to help players “to advance in financial literacy, moral values, and personal character.”

Rankin said the idea behind the IPFL is to give low-income families an opportunity to play high-level football without going into debt to do it.

“Which do you choose? If you’re a parent, I don’t have a lot of money, live in a poverty-stricken area, I make $7 an hour. Am I going to put my son in an AAU league where we’re going to spend $3,000 this summer? Or am I going to go over here where he can get paid to play and there’s money that’s put up in a trust?” Rankin said. “They don’t have to pay for uniforms, there’s no registration fees for games, and if you have to go more than 20, 30 miles we’ll provide transportation. Which would you choose?”

The creation of the IPFL was announced by Georgia businessman Shedrick R. Perro in 2017, but didn’t really start to move forward until about three years ago.

The team owners — or “barons” as the IPFL calls them — are all former NFL players with the exception of Rankin, who is also the only female owner. Barons include Marshawn Lynch, Warren Sapp, Andre Rison and Ray Rice, among others. Former Atlanta Falcons running back Jamal Anderson is listed as the league’s commissioner.

The IPFL plans to have as many as 40 teams, split into regional leagues of about 10 teams, with each franchise competing in five age divisions. Travel and equipment expenses will be paid by the IPFL.

Rankin said having former NFL stars as faces of the league gives it some credibility.

“(Perro) really wanted these football guys that had played professional football to really buy into it. I was the first woman to own a team,” she said. “There are going to be 40 (teams) in 20 states. All of the other guys are former football players.”

The Mississippi Tsunami, Rankin said, will draw players from across the state. The combines at Alcorn State and other places are designed to identify the top prospects, and then an NFL-style draft will be held in mid-June.

Players can register for a tryout through the league’s website indieprofootball.com, or by calling coach David Jones at 601-702-1521.

The Tsunami will be coached by Jones, who has guided the Port Gibson Titans youth program for a number of years. He acknowledged the IPFL’s idea to pay young players is unique, but won’t change his basic job of coaching and teaching the game of football.

“I was surprised when they said they were going to be paying. I was like, ‘You’re going to be paying a 7-year-old!?’ That is mind-blowing,” Jones said. “We don’t want it to be all about money. I want it to be about football and having fun, and getting the experience of playing people in other states.”

Like all professional leagues, team roles and egos among players become a bigger concern when money is involved. Rankin believes the league’s salary structure of paying everyone the same should help curb that. Jones said part of his job will be dealing with it on the ground level to make sure it doesn’t become an issue.

“We’re definitely going to have to have meetings all the time with the parents,” Jones said. “We’re going to have guidelines on do’s and don’ts. They’re going to have a no-tolerance on a lot of stuff. I’ve got a book that I’ve got to go over to learn the do’s and don’ts.”

Besides laying down the ground rules, Rankin said part of her job leading up to the season is to explain what the IPFL is and how it works. For parents and coaches who have worked in a traditional system that is largely based around volunteerism, the IPFL model is a revolutionary concept.

“They don’t think it’s real. It sounds too good to be true. How can this ever happen? How can you pay a kid to play? They don’t believe it. That’s the No. 1 reaction I have from people who are not business people,” Rankin said. “For business people, they ask a lot of the logistics questions and I try to answer. All the football players get it, and that’s why they’re owners of the teams.”

For the young players and their families, Rankin added, it’s an opportunity to invest in their future. She said many young football players come from poor families and sports is often seen as an avenue to escape trouble. If it takes a few hundred dollars a game to help them do that, she said, she’s all for it.

“There’s so many kids. Everywhere I look around there’s gun violence and they’re catching cases. It’s always something,” Rankin said. “Most of the kids are Black boys. (Perro) told them you can come catch a football or you can catch a case. We’re trying to keep these kids out of trouble, and we want to make sure we give them money. We can’t pay the parents, but at least we want to stop pulling so much money from their pockets to put them in these leagues. That’s the whole premise behind it.”