369 players and 45 coaches representing 120 colleges from Division I to DIII will compete in the Men’s College All-Star Championships Saturday and Sunday at Silverbacks Park in Atlanta, GA. Eight regional teams are split into two pools of four in the All-Star competition, while six teams split into pools of three make up the Rising Stars division.
Pool play is Saturday, with the champions being crowned Sunday. For the All-Stars, the group stage is purely for seeding, with all eight teams moving onto Sunday’s quarterfinals. For the Rising Stars, only the top two from each pool advance to Sunday’s semifinals, while the third-place teams face off for fifth place.
The Great Lakes Thunderbirds are defending both the All-Star and Rising Star titles, having gone a combined 10-0 in 2024. Their All-Star lineup is dominated by players from Big Rivers powerhouses Thomas More, Wheeling, Aquinas and Marian, alongside standouts from Division I-AA Western Michigan and Louisville.
Wheeling’s Joseph Iye is back for the Thunderbirds, as are Thomas More lock Lorenzo Lelli and 6’4” Saint wing Manuel Zubiri. The Great Lakes’ Rising Stars roster boasts players from 10 different programs and all divisions. Franciscan freshman phenom Joe Moleski will line up in the halfbacks, and John Carroll wing Cole Hudak has a nose for the try zone.
Paired with the Great Lakes in Pool B of the All-Star competition are Tri-State Foundry, Mid-Atlantic Sharks, and New England Independents (White).
Tri-State’s All-Star roster includes players from 11 different programs, primarily from the Liberty Conference, and eight more schools are represented by the Rising Stars. RPI lock Ray Santiago is a big part of The Foundry’s engine room, and St. Bonaventure back row Davitt Barrett is making his third All-Star appearance.
Mid-Atlantic fell in the quarterfinals last year, 17-0 to Tri-State, and cast a wide net reloading. The Sharks boast players from more teams than any other, with 18 programs represented on the All-Star roster, followed by five more on the Rising Stars lineup.
No squad boasts more DIII players than the Mid-Atlantic, with eight DIII programs represented on the roster. There’s a good blend between divisions, too. Four-time DII All-American RJ Beach (IUP) will lend a steady hand at scrumhalf, and prop Connor Hohman from DI-AA St. Joe’s adds some skilled size up front.
New England enters two teams in the All-Star competition each year, the Independents (Red) winning it all in 2022 and 2023. But last year, the Independents went a combined 0-6 in pool play and 1-8 overall. The cupboards appear restocked for the Red squad, with Holy Cross All-American Jackson Evarts lining up at flyhalf and St. Bonaventure bowling ball Manu Taula at center.
Grouped in Pool A of the All-Stars are the 2024 runners-up Midwest Barbarians, New England Independents (White), Pacific Coast Grizzlies, and the Southeast Bears.
The Midwest’s All-Star roster features players from 15 different programs across all divisions, including Division I Principia and Iowa Central, DI-AA national champion Kentucky, DII runner-up Northern Iowa and DIII champ Wayne State.
Triton tandem Koen Webb and Takudzwa Musingwini will handle much of the backline distribution for the Barbarians. Kentucky flanker Holden Hahn will be a lynchpin in the forwards, as will Wayne State prop Trent Draper.
Led by Southern Nazarene head coach Aric Gilliland, the Pacific Coast Grizzlies feature 27 players from 11 different programs. Champs in 2021, the Grizzlies are led by a pair of Cal Poly Humboldt veterans in the tight five in lock Logan McDaniel and prop Logan Zampa. SNU hooker Luis Camacho is a livewire, and Denver wing Anthony Rice can score from distance.
The Southeast Bears went undefeated in pool play last fall, before falling in the quarterfinals. Looking to go a step or two further Sunday are standouts from 11 different programs, with six more schools being represented on the Rising Stars roster.
Tennessee No. 8 Matthew Beacom is a load off the back of the scrum, and Belmont Abbey’s Ollie Fussell is one of the top centers around. Duke’s River Hanson recently came to rugby from the Blue Devil gridiron team, and he’s tough to bring down.
Stadium matches throughout the weekend will be streamed live on The Rugby Network, accessible with a TRN+ Ticket. The outer fields will be streamed live on NCR’s YouTube channel.
