We’re in the middle of the college 15s season, of course, but we’re also in the middle of figuring out who will be pushing for a major college 7s championship.

This being an Olympic year, and the first Olympic Games in 92 summers that rugby will be an event, Rugby 7s is elbowing out some room on many teams’ calendars. And we’ve got three big tournaments to finish off the spring, so let’s have a look:

ACRC 7s, Virginia Beach, Va. This is like a warmup tournament for the series of three. It’s also the most open of the three, because, basically, if you want to play, you can play.

(Go here: http://www.urugby.com/2016-urugby-sevens-acrc-sevens-va-beach)

At this early stage, then, we don’t know all of the teams set to participate, but Kutztown, St. Bonaventure, Delaware, and St. Joseph’s all should be there, and we expect to see more.

In fact, the ACRC 7s is a great way for some programs to perhaps garner some at-large interest from USA Rugby. USA Rugby’s event will be May 27-29 at Wakemed Soccer Part in Cary, NC. We’ll discuss them last because that list of names is most fun to talk about.

The CRC invitational is back at PPL Park in Chester, Pa. June 4-5, and has expanded to 24 teams. With the additional use of the satellite fields unveiled last year, they can afford to do that and not have fans stuck there for 13 hours. 

We know 21 of the 24 teams:

Cal, Dartmouth, Arizona, Navy, Penn State, University of Notre Dame, Drexel, Temple, Life, Virginia Tech, UCLA, St. Joseph’s, Kutztown, Army, Boston College, Michigan, Indiana, Clemson, South Carolina, Arkansas State, and Utah. Winners of all six cups (Cal 3, Dartmouth 2, and Utah), and all past runners-up (Kutztown 2, Cal, Army, Arizona, and Life) are in the invitational, which is nice. As usual, and as usual the top end of the tournament is much stronger than the bottom end, although this is a pretty solid field as more teams are working harder to be better at 7s.

The winners of the Big 10, ACC, and SEC tournaments will also be invited. It’s highly likely that Indiana will win the Big 10, leaving the CRC to make a late invitation to someone else. 

USA Rugby’s event will have 20 or 24 teams (we’re not sure right now; kind of depends how many good teams there are). It’s also not clear which teams might play in both the USA tournament (May 27-29) and the CRC. It would seem to make sense for the likes of USC or Clemson, but they also have to show competitively that they should be there.

As for who will be in Cary among the Men’s DI teams, here’s what we think and know:

Defending champions Lindenwood will be back even if they don’t find any 7s tournaments to fit in around their DIA schedule. The 2015 plate winners, St. Mary’s, are in the same boat. You could say the same about Davenport, who finished 2nd in 2015, but we are not sure give that their best 7s player has graduated.

Central Washington, West Virginia, and St. Bonaventure have all qualified. Notre Dame College hasn’t, but has done enough, we think, to warrant an at-large invitation. AIC will likely win qualification in their home tournament, and we also think that James Madison, Bowling Green, Florida International, and Stony Brook will qualify.

Oklahoma has probably done enough to get invited, since they lost the Big XII qualifier in overtime. The West Coast 7s, played way back in October, was also a qualifier. Cal won it, and they are a CRC team all the way. But 2nd was Arizona State, and Plate Winners San Diego State lost only once, to Arizona State, so both should get a serious look. Gonzaga finished 2nd in the NCRC 7s, and it might be nice to get them in, but we’re not sure.

Other teams that have a shot based on expected future success: UC Davis, Delaware, Middle Tennessee State, Wisconsin, and possibly Cal Poly or Sacramento State. Don’t be surprised to see someone from the MAC, like Cincinnati, or WMU, emerge, or another Big 10 team. The SEC, with South Carolina, Tennessee, Mississippi State, and Alabama, is deep at 7s teams. And don't count the likes of Air Force. They just need to find the right tournament.