Until someone knocks them off their Rocky Top, the Tennessee Volunteers – undefeated national champs last year – are the team to beat. That challenger may well come from inside the Southeastern Collegiate Rugby Conference, which leads DIAA with three programs in the preseason rankings and has produced the last three national champions.
All-Americans Brendan O’Neill and Roman Funkhouser have graduated, but five of Tennessee’s nine All-SCRC selections from last season are back, including Player of the Year finalist Nathan Rawls at hooker. Flanker Niko Zaharias and lock Bailey Black also return to the Vol pack. The backline has plenty of talent in the cupboard, too, with scrumhalf Zach O’Reilly and fullback Vincent Keller back in orange. Tennessee won’t have to wait long to be tested, with a top-five, neutral-site clash with Louisville Sept. 4 in Hendersonville, TN.
Last year’s runner-up, Bowling Green, was decimated by graduation, with the front row, the second row and most of the back row moving on, along with both starting wings and All-American fullback Joey Apel. Luckily, the Falcons welcome back Player of the Year Phil Tracey for his final go-around. Scrumhalf Griffin Wilson is back, as is junior flyhalf Jake Caple. BGSU has a pair of promising incoming props in Michael Levy from Leesburg, VA and Julian Pringle from Holidaysburg, PA, and Hank Miller is a talented incoming back rower from Pittsburgh. Returning hooker Gino Carlisle saw considerable time on the A-side last year, and he’ll take the role full-time. In the second row, Fletcher Luthman also saw some time last year and will become a starter, and newcomer Ricky Williams is expected to contribute quickly.
Texas A&M has endured significant turnover from last season, with head coach Tui Osborne moving on to coach the Fiji U20s and All-American scrumhalf Neal Menon transferring to Army. They do welcome a decorated new skipper in Jake Mizell. The native Texan has been head coach at his alma mater, Arkansas State, and an assistant at Iowa Central and Army. His brother, Zac, is the head coach at Penn State. All-American prop Jake Foster returns, and lock Joey Garcia looks poised for a big senior season under a set-piece focused coach. Jace Hernandez, the towering center, will be making the move to flyhalf this season, and big Dylan Dominey returns to the back row.
2023 and 2024 national champion Kentucky returns quite a bit of its roster from last fall, the Wildcats falling to rival Tennessee in the conference final. Both of their incredibly athletic All-American back rowers return, in Gage Curry and Everett Marett. The Wildcats open their campaign with a huge bout against top-10 DI program Marian at Kuntz Stadium in Indianapolis, the hometown of head coach Sam Enari.
Louisville also returns a lot from last year’s squad, including All-American center JB Meier, Jack Eberle, who just spent a week at Rugbytown 7s with the All-Americans, and speedster Amarreon McCutcheon, who spent the summer playing 7s for the Chicago Lions. Incoming freshman Beckett Robinson is a USA U18 from Fort Hunt, VA. He played in the Old Glory DC Academy, and arrived on campus having spent the summer training in New Zealand.
Boston College graduated two All-Americans in Patrick McMahon and Bobby Voth, both of whom have ended up at DI Brown as grad transfers. But the cupboard is never bare at BC, where there’s a healthy pipeline of private-school prep talent. The Eagles open with a DI Fairfield Sept. 5, before welcoming Harvard to DIAA in their Liberty Conference opener the following week.
Virginia Tech is one of the largest club teams in the country, having to cut their roster to 75. They’re also fully student run – a recipe that saw the Hokies to back-to-back national titles in 2021 and 2022. Cooper Patterson is big-time returner, who will be needed as VT moves from the MARC to the Southern Conference, where they’ll be pitted against NC State, North Carolina, UNC-Charlotte and Virginia. The step up in competition should steel the Hokies well heading into the postseason.
Dennis Munter has taken over as the head coach in Baton Rouge, where LSU looks like a contender for the SCRC title. Last year, the Tigers went 3-1-1 in league play, tying the then two-time defending national champs in Kentucky. The lone loss came by 10 points to Tennessee. The Bayou Bengals had the eventual national champions on the ropes with a two-score lead late in the second half. That, plus an ambitious spring XVs campaign, and the expected return of all-conference hooker Evan Couillard and all-SCRC backs Tyler Anclade and Tim McGoldrick, mean LSU won’t be sneaking up on anyone this fall.
West Chester also has a new coach, with Bjorn Haglid leaving and Ehren Murphy coming in. The Golden Rams return speedster Dio Ruiz from their defending MARC championship squad, providing some needed continuity. WCU already has a preseason scrimmage with DI Kutztown in the books, which should have them well prepared for their conference opener Sept. 12 against Temple.
New conference, new coach, and a whole lot to look forward to for the Kansas Jayhawks. With longtime assistant Jason Williams taking over as head coach, the Jayhawks are the favorite to win the newly-minted Great Plains Conference, a league full of historic rivals. Fullback Jonah Dolphino is a quick, heady playmaker, scrumhalf Owen Cichello brings loads of experience and a steady hand, and Jordan Sexton, who can line up in the back row or back line, is a big, aggressive unit.
Written by Pat Clifton
