The Top Freshmen In D1A

One of the notable comments from Jack Clark's podcast interview with Goff Rugby Report Editor Alex Goff was his statement that high school rugby has gotten significantly better over the last several years.

That has translated into some impressive showings by freshmen in college rugby

Goff Rugby Report has accumulated a list of 68 80 freshmen who have played especially well in DIA rugby. There are some well-regarded freshmen we did not inclulde here because they missed significant time due to injury, or didn't have a large amount of playing time on their 1st side. Those players might well emerge as influential players in the coming years.

Notable in this list are players who grabbed starting jobs and didn't let go. They included Miles McCormick at Saint Mary's, Max Schumacher at Cal, and Will Chevalier at Indiana.

In a very competitive field, we have selected McCormick as our Freshman of the Year. To take over as a No. 8 for a national championship contender is a pretty tough job, because it's not just about skills; it's about being able to handle the physicality.

"I have loved it at Saint Mary’s," McCormick told Goff Rugby Report. "I is such a great opportunity to be around such high rugby IQs, guys like Ronan Murphy and Eddie King. Tim O'Brien is an unreal coach. I am learning so much."

As for handing the physical nature of the game, McCormick has adjusted nicely.

"The key for me is always go out and physically dominate," he said. "My big thing is, I won’t be out-physicaled. It's my favorite part of the game. I grew up working on the power step and I try to work on it every day."

McCormick leads our Freshman 15 (pun intended). This was a difficult squad to pick. Several others—Jason Scheepers at Arkansas State, Inoke Waqavesi at Saint Mary's, Dalton Musselman at Penn State, Michael Puckett at Cal, Nicholas Hudson at Northeaster, and David Ige at Arkansas State, to name a few—could have earned a spot.

Here's our top 15:

And here's our larger list of GRR Top Freshman of D1A: 

Update: We stupidly missed the Rocky Mountain Conference. Why we did this we don't really know, but below is the updated list with top freshmen from the Rocky Mountain Conference.

Rocky Mountain Conference Names Top Freshmen