An Overview of the MLR Collegiate Draft

The Major League Rugby Collegiate Draft was introduced in 2020 to provide a pathway for the best college/university-level rugby players from across the USA (and later Canada) to professional rugby. Each MLR club receives 1 pick per round based on reverse order of where they finished during the previous season (bottom team would pick first in each round, Champions would pick last in each round, etc.) with rare exceptions that are explained on the specific pages for each draft. Any expansion clubs that are in place prior to the Draft would automatically select 1st in each round.

The MLR Draft functions similar to other drafts in North American Sports. MLR teams are free to trade draft picks as they would any other assets (players, salary cap considerations, international slots, etc.) which usually results in a flurry of Trade Wire activity as the draft closes in.

The below table shows a breakdown of each MLR club’s draft history, including how many drafts each team has participated in, which rounds did each team pick in and how many times, whether the team has ever had a 1st overall pick, etc. This table is sorted alphabetically and numbers in red represent inactive MLR teams.

MLR Collegiate Draft – Breakdown

TeamNumber of Drafts with Picks1st Overall Picks1st Round Picks2nd Round Picks3rd Round PicksTotal Draft PicksMost Capped DrafteeHighest Scoring Draftee
225139
202215
203216
4045413Noah BrownNoah Brown
000000
5388521Sam Golla
5043411Emmanuel Albert
201315Watson Filikitonga
212125Rick Rose
7059721
NOLA rugby50102214
Old Glory DC7159519
4054514
100033
303137
5055414
7069520Tavite Lopeti
302248Owain Ruttan
6069722
The ‘Most Capped Draftee’ and ‘Highest Scoring Draftee’ only count players drafted by each team, and only count caps and/or points scored with that team.
Draft Year1st overall PickDrafting TeamRookie of the YearTeam
2020Connor MooneyhamAndrew GuerraNOLA rugby
2021Eric NaposkiTavite Lopeti
2022Sam GollaSam Golla
2023Rick RoseJunior Gafa
2024Erich StortiPeyton Wall
2025Will ShermanCampbell Robb
2026Logan BallingerOld Glory DCTBDTBD

MLR Collegiate Draftee Schools – All Time

The below table shows a list of every US & Canadian college that has had at least one player drafted by an MLR team across all iterations of the Major League Rugby Collegiate Draft, sorted from most to fewest and broken down by year.

#College NameLogo1st Overalls2020202120222023202420252026Total MLR Draftees
1Lindenwood0265432123
2Life2230334217
3St. Mary’s1211161214
4Central Washington0202313011
5UC – Berkeley1003122210
6Kutztown013300007
7Penn State004002107
8Victoria 002310107
9Arizona010121106
10Arkansas State012101016
11UCLA201120206
12Brigham Young000032005
13St. Bonaventure100130015
14American International021000104
15Dartmouth010110104
16Queens – Charlotte001201004
17British Columbia001200003
18Indiana000021003
19Mary Washington010001013
20Notre Dame College011001003
21Ottawa 001002003
22Santa Clara000021003
23Thomas More001200003
24Trinity Western 000120003
25Walsh000000213
26Bishop’s 000110002
27Brown000010012
28Cal Poly010000012
29Iona020000002
30Iowa Central010100002
31Memphis002000002
32Mount St. Mary’s000000112
33Ohio State010100002
34San Diego000110002
35West Point000200002
36Western Michigan002000002
37Adrian College000001001
38Alabama001000001
39Brock000000101
40Cal State – Long Beach000001001
41Davenport001000001
42Fairfield000010001
43Fresno State000010001
44Grand Canyon001000001
45Guelph000000101
46Hofstra000010001
47Iowa State000100001
48Louisville001000001
49Loyola Maryland010000001
50Marian000001001
51McGill 000010001
52Missouri S&T000010001
53Northern Colorado001000001
54Notre Dame010000001
55Queen’s 000001001
56Rensselaer Poly000001001
57Sam Houston State001000001
58South Florida000000101
59Tennessee000100001
60Texas A&M000100001
61Trent 001000001
62UC – Santa Barbara000001001
63UC – Santa Cruz000010001
64UMass Lowell000100001
65Utah000001001
66Vermont000000101
67Wheeling000001001
68Wisconsin-Whitewater010000001
Lindenwood has dominated the MLR Collegiate Draft since 2021, and even had 2 draftees in 2020, tying for first. Despite this dominance they are yet to have a player drafted 1st overall. 2024 marked the first draft where Lindenwood did not have the most (or tied for the most) draftees. that honor went to St. Mary’s College, with 6 players selected.