Destanie “D-Train” Yarbrough Retires and Leaves a Legacy That Can’t Be Tackled

There are players who change games.There are players who change seasons. And then there are players who change the sport itself.

Destanie “D-Train” Yarbrough belongs firmly in that last category.

One of the most dominant players in the history of professional tackle football, a four-time WNFC champion, a walking highlight reel, and the undisputed mother of the stiff arm, Yarbrough has officially announced her retirement from football. And with it, an era comes to a close, not just for the Texas Elite Spartans, but for the game as a whole.

Built for Contact. Born for Impact.

If football has ever looked like a runaway train clearing everything off the tracks, chances are Destanie Yarbrough was carrying the ball.

Nicknamed “D-Train” for a reason, Yarbrough played the game with rare violence and precision, a fullback and running back who punished defenders, erased angles, and finished runs with authority. Her stiff arm wasn’t a move; it was a signature. A warning. A reminder that football is a contact sport and she mastered it.

Across 21 years of tackle football, Yarbrough stacked accomplishments that read less like a résumé and more like a record book:

• 4 WNFC Championships

• WNFC 4X All-Pro

• 106 career touchdowns

• 6,284 career rushing yards

• 9.5 yards per carry over her career

Before the Spotlight, There Was the Grind

Long before championships and MVP trophies, Destanie Yarbrough was already breaking barriers.

In Clovis, California, she became the first female tackle football player in Clovis Unified School District. Football wasn’t just a sport, it was freedom. That freedom fueled a career that would stretch across leagues, states, and generations.

Dominance Across Leagues and the Jump That Changed Everything

Yarbrough’s résumé includes play in early leagues like the IWFL, WFA, and ultimately the Women’s National Football Conference (WNFC), the premier professional women’s tackle football league in the world.

When Destanie Yarbrough made the jump to the WNFC in 2021, it signaled something bigger than a roster move. It marked a moment. The best players in the world were converging on the WNFC. The level of play was headed to new heights, and women’s professional football was building something we had never seen before.

Yarbrough didn’t just join the WNFC, she validated it.

A Spartan Icon

Destanie joined the Texas Elite Spartans in 2021 and immediately became part of the backbone of a dynasty. Her impact in Spartans BLUE:

• IX Cup National Champion: 2021, 2022, 2023, 2025

• 2024 Texas Elite Spartans Team MVP

• 2025 WNFC Western Conference Playoffs MVP

• 2025 WNFC IX Cup Championship MVP

• 2025 Texas Elite Spartans Game Changer Award

Four championships. Countless tone-setting runs. And a leadership presence that elevated everyone around her.  She wasn’t just a star, she was a standard.

More Than a Player

Yarbrough’s impact extended well beyond the field. In 2022, she made history again as the first female football coach in Fresno’s Central Valley, serving as varsity and junior varsity running backs coach while also contributing as a strength and conditioning coach.

She also represented the game at the highest level as a selectee of the 2022 USA Women’s National Football Team, but was unable to participate due to a season ending knee injury.

From trailblazing athlete to trailblazing coach, Destanie has always understood that legacy is built by who comes next.

The Train May Stop. The Impact Never Will

Retirement doesn’t erase dominance. It cements it. Destanie Yarbrough leaves the game as one of the most dominant ball carriers to ever step between the lines.

A player who made defenders hesitate, fans rise, and young girls believe that football could belong to them too.

Thank you, D-Train.

The tracks you laid will carry this game forward for generations.