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
113126N/AN/A
202215
202327Noah BrownNoah Brown
000000N/AN/A
5388521Sam Golla
404239Emmanuel Albert
201315Watson Filikitonga
212125Rick RoseN/A
5046313
NOLA rugby50102214
Old Glory DC5037313
4054514
100033N/AN/A
303137
5055414
5047314Tavite Lopeti
302248Owain Ruttan
5058619
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 StortiTBDTBD

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 Overalls20202021202220232024Total MLR Draftees
1Lindenwood02654320
2Life12303311
3St. Mary’s12111611
4Central Washington0202318
5Kutztown0133007
6Victoria 0023106
7Penn State0040026
8UC – Berkeley1003126
9Arizona0101215
10Arkansas State0121015
11Brigham Young0000325
12Queens – Charlotte0012014
13St. Bonaventure1001304
14UCLA1011204
15American International0210003
16British Columbia0012003
17Dartmouth0101103
18Indiana0000213
19Notre Dame College0110013
20Ottawa 0010023
21Santa Clara0000213
22Thomas More0012003
23Trinity Western 0001203
24Bishop’s 0001102
25Iona0200002
26Iowa Central0101002
27Mary Washington0100012
28Memphis0020002
29Ohio State0101002
30San Diego0001102
31West Point0002002
32Western Michigan0020002
33Adrian College0000011
34Alabama0010001
35Brown0000101
36Cal Poly0100001
37Cal State – Long Beach0000011
38Davenport0010001
39Fairfield0000101
40Fresno State0000101
41Grand Canyon0010001
42Hofstra0000101
43Iowa State0001001
44Louisville0010001
45Loyola Maryland0100001
46Marian0000011
47McGill 0000101
48Missouri S&T0000101
49Northern Colorado0010001
50Notre Dame0100001
51Queen’s 0000011
52Rensselaer Poly0000011
53Sam Houston State0010001
54Tennessee0001001
55Texas A&M0001001
56Trent 0010001
57UC – Santa Barbara0000011
58UC – Santa Cruz0000101
59UMass Lowell0001001
60Utah0000011
61Wheeling0000011
62Wisconsin-Whitewater0100001
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.