The 2024 Major League Rugby Collegiate Draft was held on August 28th, 2024 and was the 5th draft in MLR history. It followed the now-standard format of the 2022 & 2023 drafts, consisting of 3 rounds of 12 picks each, with 36 picks in total. This is down from the 39 picks (3×13) made in the drafts from 2021-2023.
As with 2023, the draft order was determined by the reverse finishing order during the 2024 season, including placements earned during the 2024 Championship Series. In situations where teams were eliminated at the same stage of the Championship Series, the lower ranked team during the regular season picked before the higher ranked.
The below table highlights the current draft picks that each MLR team has for the 2024 draft:
Current Draft Pick Landscape – 2024 Collegiate Draft
Draft Order accurate as of 28th August, 2024, Draft Day
There was some confusion regarding NOLA Gold‘s 3rd Rd Pick in 2024. On 11th August 2023, the Gold traded their 2024 3rd Rd Pick to the Utah Warriors as part of a deal for the Gold to acquire Utah‘s 1st Rd pick in 2023 (used to select Cian Darling). On 9th February 2024, the Gold trade another 2024 3rd Rd pick labelled as theirs to the New England Free Jacks as part of the deal to acquire Taniela Filimone. With the Gold not acquiring a second 2024 3rd Rd pick prior to this, it was unclear where NOLA’s second 3rd Rd pick came from, but this was cleared up when MLR published the initial draft order on 8th August 2024, and the Utah Warriors still hold the NOLA Gold 3rd Rd Pick, 30th overall, and the New England Free Jacks acquired NOLA‘s 3rd Rd pick in the following draft, 2025.
As with previous drafts, teams are free to trade draft picks like other trade assets, and any traded picks have been specified in the ‘Notes’ column. The below table shows the complete 2024 MLR Collegiate Draft Class, including their draft number, name, position, and school:
Complete 2024 MLR Collegiate Draft
Rd | Overall Pick # | Team | Player Name | Position | College | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | Erich Storti | Center | St. Mary’s College | ||
1 | 2 | Neil Trainor | Hooker | Queen’s University | Pick Acquired via Trade with LA Highest Drafted Canadian in MLR History | |
1 | 3 | Calvin Ihrig | Flanker | Lindenwood University | ||
1 | 4 | Kaipono Kayoshi | Flanker | St. Mary’s College | Pick Acquired via Trade with Utah | |
1 | 5 | Jeron Pantor | Fullback | Life University | Pick Acquired via Trade with DC | |
1 | 6 | Aidan King | Flanker | Penn State | ||
1 | 7 | Inoke Waqavesi | Fly-half | St. Mary’s College | ||
1 | 8 | Alex Aguero | Flanker | UC Berkeley | ||
1 | 9 | Darius Law | Center | Life University | ||
1 | 10 | Peyton Wall | Center | Indiana University | ||
1 | 11 | Calvin Liulamaga | Center | Central Washington | ||
1 | 12 | Ray Santiago | Lock | Rensselaer Polytechnic | Pick Acquired via Trade with Anthem, via trade with New England | |
2 | 13 | EJ Freeman | Center | University of Arizona | ||
2 | 14 | Matt Carrion | Flanker | Life University | Pick Acquired via Trade with LA | |
2 | 15 | Aidan Ridgway | Scrumhalf | Arkansas State | Pick Acquired via Trade with Miami | |
2 | 16 | Ammon Tielu Sagala | Wing | Brigham Young | Pick Traded to NE Jan 17, 2024. Utah still used it. Unclear. | |
2 | 17 | Aaron Juma | Flanker | Wheeling University | ||
2 | 18 | Dalton Musselman | Fly-half | Penn State | ||
2 | 19 | Hunter Chuhlansteff | Prop | St. Mary’s College | ||
2 | 20 | Jake Negrete | Wing | St. Mary’s College | ||
2 | 21 | Josh Schwartz | Hooker | Queen’s University of Charlotte | Pick Acquired via Trade with Dallas | |
2 | 22 | Jake Kinneeveauk | Lock | University of Utah | ||
2 | 23 | Connor Williams | Prop | University of Ottawa | ||
2 | 24 | LeDonn Mathis | Lock / Flanker | Lindenwood University | Pick Acquired via Trade with New England | |
3 | 25 | Ashawnty Staples | Wing | Notre Dame College | ||
3 | 26 | Patrick Beattie | Prop | Cal State – Long Beach | ||
3 | 27 | Lautaro Soto Ansay | Center | Lindenwood University | ||
3 | 28 | Cole Semu | Center | Brigham Young | ||
3 | 29 | Sebastian Schefermann | Fullback / Center | Mary Washington | ||
3 | 30 | Nicholas Andiarena | Flanker | Adrian College | Pick Acquired via Trade with NOLA | |
3 | 31 | Daniel Bray | Prop | UC – Santa Barbara | ||
3 | 32 | Caleb Tomasin | Scrumhalf | UC – Berkeley | ||
3 | 33 | Lleyton Delzell | Flanker | St. Mary’s College | Pick Acquired via Trade with Dallas | |
3 | 34 | Alex Hernandez | Prop | Marian University | ||
3 | 35 | Jamie Armstrong | Fly-half / Fullback | University of Ottawa | ||
3 | 36 | Emanuel Lai | Scrumhalf | Santa Clara University |
The below tables show how many picks each MLR team had during the 2024 draft, and which Colleges had the most draftees selected:
Number of Draft Picks Per Team & Number of Successful Draftees by School
Team | Draft Picks |
---|---|
6 | |
4 | |
4 | |
3 | |
3 | |
3 | |
3 | |
3 | |
2 | |
2 | |
2 | |
1 |
Draft picks during the
2024 MLR Draft, the
2nd most in league
History behind the
Dallas Jackals in 2022,
who had 7.
3 of the 36 successful draftees are from Canadian school, all 3 in Ontario and 2 from the University of Ottawa GeeGees. It marks the first time since Canadian schools were eligible that there has not been a draftee from British Columbia.