Recognizing the top performer of the 2024 season.
June 11, 2024 by Josh Katz in Awards with 0 comments
Each year, Ultiworld presents our annual College Awards. Our staff evaluates the individual performances of players from throughout the season, talking to folks around college ultimate, watching film, and look at statistics, voting upon the awards to decide those to be honored. The regular season and the college Series are both considered, with extra emphasis for performances in the competitive and high-stakes environment at Nationals.
After announcing the finalists in our First-Team All-American, we are proud to present Player of the Year, our most prestigious award. Our Player of the Year winner is the best performer of the 2024 college season, and the highest vote-getter for All-American honors. The winner is not eligible for consideration in any of our other individual awards. The runner-ups are the second and third most vote-getters.
- All-American First Team
- Player of the Year
- All-American Second Team
- Offensive Player of the Year Award
- Defensive Player of the Year Award
- Breakout Player of the Year Award
- Rookie of the Year Award
- Coaches of the Year Award
D-III Men’s 2024 Player Of The Year
Will Brandt (St. Olaf)
After four dominant seasons as St. Olaf’s talisman, Will Brandt caps an incredible D-III career with his first POTY award. Following a second runner-up finish in 2022 and a first runner-up finish in 2023, Brandt finished his ascension to the top of our polls in 2024, earning this well-deserved award as part of a truly outstanding season for him and the Berzerkers.
Sometimes it’s hard to find the words to sufficiently describe Brandt’s talents. He’s a do-it-all player on offense, more than comfortable operating in the backfield, coming under for the disc before unleashing one of his patented hammers, or terrorizing opponents in the deep space.
Top 10? For sure. 🔥🔥@ZerksUltimate’s Will Brandt with the lay out grab on #SCTop10, coming in at #7. #USAUCollegeChamps | #USAUltimate pic.twitter.com/bkSRmxhii9
— USA Ultimate (@USAUltimate) May 20, 2024
The depth of his bag of tricks is astounding, and it truly feels like he’s a threat to do something never seen before every single time he touches the disc. An 8G/26A/8T stat line at Nationals only begins to describe the impact he has on each game, as it often felt like opponents were selling out to stop Brandt and daring his teammates to beat them. Not that it mattered, of course, as Brandt was largely unstoppable (and his teammates were more than capable on their own).
While Brandt’s offensive capabilities have been recognized plenty already,1 his defense is arguably just as commendable, and the only reason why he’s never garnered any consideration for DPOTY is because he’s rarely had to play it. That being said, Brandt’s four blocks at Nationals undersell his impact on that side of the disc, and his defensive prowess is chief among the many reasons St. Olaf’s opponents struggled to earn breaks all season.
For all of this season, Will Brandt has been a force to be reckoned with. As much as this award is supposed to reflect the 2024 season, Brandt winning this POTY award feels just as much a recognition of Brandt’s dominance over the division for his entire career (not that he isn’t a worthy winner based on his play this year). A leader off the field and a two-way force on it, no one is more deserving of this award than Brandt, and it would be a surprise to few if he continues to rack up the hardware with a Donovan award. But for now, he’ll have to accept his first POTY award. Congratulations, Will Brandt!
POTY Co-Runners Up:
- Danny Klein (Williams)
- Charles Tantum (Williams)
