College Men

Top 150 DII College Players of 2022: Prop and Hooker

We're back with our Top 150 players in Men's D2 college rugby for the fall of 2022.

We scoured the conferences looking for players who stood out in their play throughout the season, and we're posting them by position throughout the next several days.

If we missed someone, or you're worried we're going to miss someone, please do email us here>>

Our first installment has the props and hookers, of which we've got 23, in alphabetical order.

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Top D1A Games to Look Forward to in the Next Two Months

Well that was quick, wasn't it.

We were on a break, right? Seemed like it was just a month ago ... OK it was a month ago ... still ... the break between the CRAA Fall Classic and ... umm ... now seems to have gone quickly.

Now we're looking ahead to the second half of the D1A season, with some conferences having finished their regular seasons (Rugby East, Navy were champs; Big 10, Indiana were champs; Rocky Mountain, BYU were champs), some are just starting (PAC, California, Red River), and one just keeps going (Mid-South). 

There are also two teams, Central Washington and Grand Canyon, playing an independent schedule.

Harvard Men's Rugby Seeking Full-Time Head Rugby Coach

Big Ten Names All-Conference Selections

The Big Ten Rugby Conference has named its all-conference selections as well as the conference MVP.

Indiana naturally pulled in much of the recognition after winning the conference championship.

Indiana Edges Ohio State to Win Big Ten

IU center/wing Peyton Wall was named conference MVP.

"I’m honored to be awarded this prestigious award," said Wall. "I want to thank my coaches Luke and Nick for helping not only me but our team to be the best we can be. I really want to thank the backline for stepping up when two of our players went and played for the US 7s team."

Indiana Head Coach Luke Gross was named Coach of the Year after joining the program this fall.

Big Ten First-Team All-Conference

D2 Playoffs Shake Up Expectations

As we say at Goff Rugby Report all the time, ranking D2 college rugby teams is difficult because most teams don't play outside their conference until the playoffs start.

So you can certainly have the potential for upsets that aren't really upsets—teams ranked (or seeded) lower than others but were strong all along. But you also have the potential for upsets where there's an objective underdog and overdog.

This weekend in the NCR D2 men's championships as the Round of 16 and Quarterfinals were held Friday and Sunday.

D2 Playoff Scores

Big Ten Finals Day Roundup: Shining in the Snow

The Big Ten Universities held their championship weekend at the University of Notre Dame on Saturday.

All eight teams were in action plying for 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th respectively. 

Championship Game

Indiana held off Ohio State in the final-details here>> but there was more action through the cold, snowy Saturday.

Indiana Edges Ohio State to Win Big Ten

In a tense, dramatic final worthy of the name Indiana eked by Ohio State to win the Big Ten Conference final Saturday night in South Bend, Ind.

Played at the University of Notre Dame, which hosted four games for placement from 1st to 8th in the conference, the final capped off an entertaining day of rugby.

Indiana took the conference title, Ohio State is second.

Full placement:
1st. Indiana
2nd. Ohio State
3rd. Notre Dame
4th. Illinois
5th. Wisconsin
6th. Michigan State
7th. Michigan
8th. Purdue

In cold, snowy conditions Indiana started the game playing some expansive rugby. They worked it wide left and then wide right before No. 8 Zach Marsh charged over for a nicely-constructed try.

Around Top-of-Conference D2 College Games

Here's a quick look at where we are in Men's D2 College rugby.

Northern Iowa and Marquette will meet up in the Great Midwest Conference final after both won semifinals in convincing fashion Saturday.

UNI has seen their halfback combination of David Randall and Jentry Staack come together very nicely and their communication and ability to read defenses have produced points. This week was no different as Northern Iowa defeated Wisconsin-Whitewater to the tune of 62-10.

Marquette's defense was the star of the show against Loyola, with Marquette taking a 36-0 decision from the Chicago-based team. Loyola will play Whitewater next week for third.

Southern Conference

North Carolina State moved to 4-0 with a 50-12 defeat of Appalachian State Saturday. The Wolfpack was led by Jonathan Perry, who was player of the game.

Stadium Game Highlights Big 10 Weekend

Indiana defeated Wisconsin Saturday to move to 2-0 in their Big 10 East schedule.

For IU, the win, secured their top spot in the Big 10 East. But bigger than that, it was their first on-campus game in close to three years, and played at Memorial Stadium, the school's football stadium.

IU were without two of their top players in Will Chevalier and Noah Brown, who are with the USA 7s program in their preseason camp. 

Still IU won 69-21; the second East Division game in which the Hoosiers have scored 69 points. But it was having a large number of fans (not large in terms of the stadium, but certainly in terms of the rugby team) in the stadium that made it special.

"It was unreal," said wing Peyton Wall. "We had over 400 people there. Every try there was an eruption. It was amazing. We are trying to figure out if we can do it every year."

Saturday D1 College Rundown

Here's a rundown of some of the DIA and DIAA games around the nation.

Big 10

Two of the top teams in the Big 10 faced off with Indiana vs Ohio State.

This was a rematch of last fall’s conference final, which was won in a tight game by Ohio State. This time around Indiana took the matchup 30-17. 

Indiana took an early lead with a Sam Storey penalty goal and added another before backing that up with a try from scrumhalf Jack Reis.

Ohio State went down a man with a yellow card but still was able to put Indiana under pressure—so much so that they got a penalty try on a collapsed maul and made it 13-7.

IU received a yellow card for that penalty try but Ohio State got one soon thereafter. Even so the Buckeyes added a penalty goal from Taylor Gleeson to make it 13-10 at halftime.

Big Ten latest: Who Has a Road to the Semis?

Indiana, Ohio State, and Notre Dame all won this weekend in Big Ten action, with those three teams now a total of 8-1 in conference play.

Notre Dame has the only conference loss among those three, losing their opener to Ohio State 39-14—a game the Irish would certainly have wished was a little later in the fall.

Indiana won comfortably over a rebuilding Illinois side 69-15. New Head Coach Luke Gross has been installing a new system and this was probably a good game for his side to test it out, as they could rely on their athleticism to make up for errors.

And there were errors.

"We are starting to play our attack and defense systems," said Gross. "But penalties and turnovers are killing us."

Ohio State Hosts Notre Dame in Fall Opener

We're just into the Labor Day Weekend and already some college teams are in for a big test.

Few games turn as many heads this early as Notre Dame at Ohio State. This is actually a Big 10 conference game, as Notre Dame has joined the Big 10 Conference, and while the Big 10 season is relatively short (three regular-season games before the semifinals), most of the teams pack other contests into their falls, so there's not a lot of room.

The Big 10 is split into a Western Division with Indiana, Illinois, Purdue, and Wisconsin, while the Eastern Division includes Notre Dame, Ohio State, Michigan, and Michigan State. (And yes, we noticed that South Bend, Ind. is West of both Bloomington and Lafayette.) 

For Notre Dame this is an intense start for sure.

California Conference Announces DIA Expansion, Addition of DIAA Division

Santa Clara, Calif.—The California Conference has announced a significant expansion for the 2022-23 competitive cycle.

Teams from both the University of California Santa Cruz and Long Beach State University will join the D1A competition. Additionally, Stanford University, Chico State University, San Jose State University, Sacramento State University, Fresno State University and University of Nevada, Reno will join the California Conference as a D1AA division. 

The realignment of collegiate rugby in California provides a strong framework for growing rugby. It also provides opportunities for promotion and relegation matches, which will begin following the 2023-24 campaign.

Luke Gross Signs on as Men's Rugby Head Coach at Indiana University

The University of Indiana men's rugby program has confirmed that Luke Gross as their new Head Coach.

IU played last season under interim Head Coach Eddie Abel, who had stated that he did not expect to be a long-term coaching solution for the program. Indiana finished runner-up in the Big 10 and then competed in both the R7CC and May Madness 7s under 7s Coach David Fee.

But the move was afoot to make the coaching position at Indiana a full-time position, and IU rugby alumnus and current backer, Mark Cuban, has reportedly agreed to help fund that. 

University of Illinois Seeking new Head Coach

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Men’s Rugby Club is seeking a new Head Coach.

This is a D1A program in the Big 10. 

Requirements include World Rugby L2 certification, equivalent USA Rugby certification (L300), or a plan to achieve that within 6 months. Two years or more years of coaching experience preferred but not absolutely necessary.
Benefits include:
1) A competitive, highly motivated, well coached team that will field 3 full sides this fall;
2) Support from volunteer assistant coaches and an alumni foundation;
3) A $5k/semester contract for services payable as a lump sum at the conclusion of the contract;
4) Potential to build a long-term relationship with the team via future spring and fall contracts.