The 2020 Major League Rugby Collegiate Draft was the first of its kind within MLR. The inaugural draft consisted of 2 rounds of 12 picks each with a total of 24 draftees. With the exception of the Toronto Arrows, every team from the 2021 MLR season participated in the inaugural draft.

For the 2020 Draft, only collegiate athletes from US schools were eligible, which is the reason why the Toronto Arrows did not participate. As MLR’s sole Canadian team, the Arrows prided themselves on helping to grow rugby in Canada specifically, as well as North America generally. With Canadian schools not participating or eligible for the 2020 draft, the Arrows did not feel it was beneficial for them to participate. The Arrows never selected an American draftee in their history in Major League Rugby.

The draft order for the 2020 season was determined by the inverse standings from the truncated 2020 season, which lasted only 5 rounds before being cancelled due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. The Dallas Jackals and LA Giltinis, expansion teams expected to join MLR for the 2021 season, were inserted as the 1st & 2nd pick of each round, respectively.

The below table shows the complete 2020 MLR Collegiate Draft Class, including their draft number, name, position, and school:

Round	Overall Pick #	Team	Player Name	Position	College	Notes
1	1		Conner Mooneyham	Wing	Life	First ever 1st overall pick in MLR History
1	2		Brian Nault	Prop	Central Washington	Pick acquired via trade with LA
1	3		Derek Ellingson	Center / Wing	Saint Mary’s	Pick acquired via trade with Houston
1	4		Lui Sitama	Utility Back	American International
1	5		Aaron Matthews	Center	Saint Mary’s
1	6		Justin Johnson	Flanker	Life
1	7		John Powers	Wing / Fullback	Iona
1	8		Michael Matarazzo	No. 8 / Lock	Notre Dame
1	9		Tommy Clark	Flanker / Lock	American International	Pick acquired via trade with NY
1	10		Andrew Guerra	Flanker	Notre Dame College
1	11		Casey Renaud	Lock	Kutztown
1	12		Patrick Madden	Fly-half / Center	Cal Poly
2	13		Levi van Lanen	Center	Wisconsin-Whitewater
2	14		Watson Filikitonga	Center	Iona
2	15		Danny Giannascoli	Fly-half / Fullback	Loyola Maryland	Pick acquired via trade with Houston
2	16		Mason Koch	Hooker	Dartmouth
2	17		Nick Taylor	Center / Fly-half	Lindenwood
2	18		Spencer Krueger	Prop	Ohio State
2	19		Elijah Hayes	Prop	Iowa Central
2	20		John Scotti	Wing / Center	Arkansas State
2	21		Bronson Teles	No. 8 / Lock	Arizona	Pick acquired via trade with NY
2	22		Stephan McLeish	Hooker / Flanker	Lindenwood
2	23		Matt Gordon	Lock / No. 8	Mary Washington
2	24		Cole Zarcone	Wing	Central Washington

With the first ever 1st overall pick and the first of their 4 picks in the 2020 draft, the Dallas Jackals selected Conner Mooneyham. Unfortunately, due to the lingering effects of COVID-19 the Jackals were forced to defer their entry into the league until 2022. Mooneyham ended up playing with the Austin Gilgronis in 2021, 9th overall Tommy Clark played with the Seattle Seawolves, 13th overall Levi van Lanen did not play in MLR, and 21st overall Bronson Teles played with the Houston Sabercats.

The below tables shows how many picks each MLR team had during the 2021 draft, and which Colleges had the most draftees selected:

Number of Draft Picks (By Team) and Draftee Colleges

Team	Draft Picks
	4
	4
	2
	2
	2
	2
	2
	2
	2
	2
	0
	0
	0

College	Logo	Number of Draftees
American International		2
Central Washington		2
Iona		2
Life		2
Lindenwood		2
St. Mary’s		2
Arizona		1
Arkansas State		1
Cal Poly		1
Dartmouth		1
Iowa Central		1
Kutztown		1
Loyola Maryland		1
Mary Washington		1
Notre Dame		1
Notre Dame College		1
Ohio State		1
Wisconsin-Whitewater		1