The 2025 season starts this weekend!
April 23, 2025 by Alex Rubin in Preview
The 2025 Ultimate Frisbee Association (UFA) season begins this week. An exciting offseason that included re-alignment, player movement, and new league-wide sponsors sets up one of the most interesting seasons in recent memory. If you’re itching to watch every minute of action, the first game will begin on Thursday, April 24 when the New York Empire face off against the Oakland Spiders. The season will end with the league’s annual Championship Weekend showcase, set to be held in Madison, Wisconsin on August 22-23.
Key Storylines
Re-Alignment
One of the biggest offseason stories was the addition of the Las Vegas Bighorns as the league’s newest expansion team. With the Dallas Legion contracting, the UFA took the opportunity to realign the divisions such that each has an identical six teams. The East and Central divisions remain unchanged, so the real shakeups are in the West and South. Vegas’ introduction to the West pushed Los Angeles and San Diego to join Atlanta, Carolina, Austin, and Houston in the new South division1, creating a logistical compilation with the South Division now spread over three time zones.
The UFA designed the schedule with more cross-division play than in years past to reduce the travel burden (the South Division teams will only make a full cross-country trip every two years) and invite local rivalries to continue across division lines: Las Vegas will play Los Angeles, Philadelphia will play Pittsburgh, and Colorado will visit both Texas teams to rekindle a rivalry that exists in USA Ultimate’s college and club divisions but hasn’t yet seen the UFA field. The imbalanced schedules could impact playoff seeding, but the teams with tougher schedules will be better battle-tested ahead of a competitive playoff series. With many teams scheduled for their first matchups against new opponents this summer, scouting and game planning will be more of a guessing game than seasons past. This season seems less predictable than any since the post-COVID restart, and each week will feature games that could impact the playoff picture.
What Does the Rush Reboot Mean for the East?
Neutral fans are in for a treat this year, as the East Division seems to be lining up a classic four-teams-for-three-spots conundrum. Which teams will be sitting in the playoff chairs when the music stops is anyone’s guess. New York and DC have been the standard-setters in the division since 2019, but New York is coming off of their first divisional playoff loss in recent memory and DC’s roster does not currently list Team USA handler Jonny Malks, who moved to Seattle and may take this season off. Boston broke through to the playoffs last season, but still has not played with the kind of consistency to consider them a mainstay program just yet. Toronto hasn’t sniffed the playoffs since 2018, but just signed nearly two full lines of difference-making playmakers from across Europe and Canada to announce themselves as playoff contenders.
With just twelve games on the schedule, every matchup matters. After years of New York dominance, this season is shaping up to be one of the most interesting since the league’s founding. Which players are available for key road trips and how many players teams bring to double-header weekends could have an outsized impact during a season in which the difference between making and missing the playoffs will likely come down to a single game, and perhaps even pivotal points within them.
Who Won the Central Arms Race?
The Minnesota Wind Chill won the 2024 UFA Championship. And like a certainn famous basketball player from their city might say, the Chicago Union took that personally. Though Chicago has taken a competitive backstep in the years since their 2022 title game appearance, they haven’t lost the competitive spirit in their rivalry games against Minnesota.
This year, Chicago re-signed many players from that 2022 core who had taken a year or two away. Pawel Janas, Nate Goff, Paul Arters, Tim Schoch, and Kyle Rutledge lead the list of returners. The Union also added the club teammates of these Chicago Machine players: William Wettengel and Xavier Payne from Indianapolis, Vic Luo from Madison, and Daan De Marrée from Beligan club Mooncatchers.
Not to be outdone, Minnesota added James Pollard (from Philadelphia) and Justin Burnett (from Atlanta) to their defense. Picking a favorite between these two proud franchises is a fool’s errand. No matter what happens in the regular season, pencil in these two for the Central Division title game and get your popcorn ready; if history does in fact repeat itself, that game is sure to be a show.
Friday Night Frisbee is Back
The UFA is returning a fan favorite this season: Friday Night Frisbee. Fans can watch every game on watchufa.tv, but one game during each week of the regular season will be broadcast for free on the UFA’s YouTube channel. Last season, the league shared just a few games for free as part of the Super Series. This year, fans can count on a marquee game every week without paying for a subscription. Evan “the voice of ultimate” Lepler will once again be the lead play-by-play broadcaster for every FNF game.
The expansion Bighorns will be the first team in the spotlight, facing off against the New York Empire in Week 1. Other matchups to look forward to include Week 6’s matchup between Atlanta and Minnesota, Week 7’s classic between New York and Washington DC, Week 11’s divisional showdown between Minnesota and Chicago, and Week 12’s West equivalent with Colorado and Salt Lake.
A few of the league’s best games will not be free though, so you’ll need a watchufa.tv subscription to watch Atlanta play Salt Lake on opening weekend or Carolina play DC on May 10, as well as key divisional games that will impact playoff races towards the end of the season.
Believable Bouncebacks
The race for the playoffs in each division should be fascinating. Generally speaking, there’s a lot of optimism around the league–many teams took legitimate steps this offseason to be more competitive after a year or two of subpar results. Looking at the landscape of the league, each division has more playoff-caliber teams than playoff spots available.
The Colorado Summit missed the playoffs for the first time in their short history last season, but expect to make it back this year, challenging Salt Lake, Seattle, and Oakland for the West’s playoff positions. The Chicago Union are bringing back much of the roster that got them to the 2022 title game in an effort to get back to Championship Weekend–of course they’ll need to go through defending champion Minnesota to get there. The Toronto Rush have not been competitive in half a decade, but are turning over half their roster in an effort to make the playoffs once again–with New York, Boston, and DC also looking incredibly strong in the East. The Austin Sol last made Championship Weekend in 2023 and are likely encouraged by the roster turnover in Carolina and Atlanta, but they’ll need to contend with San Diego for a playoff spot in the South too.
All of the teams detailed above are looking to rekindle success of the past, and there are plenty more teams around the league plotting paths to victory of their own. New York surely thinks it has all of the tools necessary to make it back to Championship Weekend after losing to Boston in the East playoffs last season. Detroit won a game last season to snap their historic losing streak and likewise must believe they have the ability to replicate at least that feat. Oregon, Houston, and Las Vegas likewise might not be in a position to challenge for the playoffs, but they have enough talent on their rosters to challenge playoff teams if they play their best.
With the amount of talent surging into the league, more teams got better than got worse over this offseason. By August, some of the spring’s optimism may prove to be misplaced, but for now–while every team is 0-0–there’s reason for the entire league to envision success and believe in their ability to achieve their goals.
Youth Wave
When the league was established in 2012, the established ultimate community looked on with skepticism, but the Gen-Z kids who were in Elementary and Middle School at the time latched on to the idea of professional ultimate and grew up playing with goals of making a UFA roster. Now that many of those kids are young adults, a new generation of talent is sweeping through the sport, and prioritizing the UFA as they do so.
Case in point: Just seven of the 24 members of this summer’s U24 US Men’s National Team are not rostered in the UFA this season (and three of them have played in the UFA previously). Nine of the twelve male-matching players on the U24 mixed team have played in the UFA during their so-far short careers, including five this season. The players on these teams also are not just bit players, but truly some of the stars of the league. Will Brandt, Tobias Brooks, Zeppelin Raunig, Raekwon Adkins, Paul Krenik, and William Wettengel are just a few of the star players who will take the field for Team USA in addition to their UFA teams.
Sure, the players involved might miss a few games of UFA action,2 but the trade-off is undoubtedly worth it to keep the top talent of each successive generation playing professionally.
Another New Frisbee!
In January, the UFA announced a one-of-a-kind, three-year deal with Prodigy Disc, a prominent disc golf manufacturer, to be the league’s official disc provider. For most of its history, the UFA used the Discraft Ultrastar, the disc most often used in USA Ultimate play, and the official disc of the Premier Ultimate League and the Western Ultimate League. Last season, the UFA took over production of the Aria Uno and licensed the name Frisbee from Wham-O to make the Professional Ultimate Frisbee. This year, Prodigy will manufacture the Professional Ultimate Frisbee, which should feel similar to the Aria mold used last season.
This is not the first time a disc golf company became involved in professional ultimate. Of course, Discraft sells disc golf discs in addition to the Ultrastar, but more famously Innova provided the now-defunct Major League Ultimate with the Pulsar from 2013-2016. While the Pulsar was incredibly unpopular, last season’s debut of the Professional Ultimate Frisbee did not lead to any protests, as the Aria disc was commonly used before the UFA took over production of the disc.
Players to Watch
Marques Brownlee – Perhaps no player in the world has managed a bigger glow up over the past few years as Brownlee. Always a stellar athlete, Brownlee’s ability to guard all seven positions as a defender and his steady offensive playmaking earned him a spot on the United State World Games team. It also thrusts him into a bigger spotlight on the Empire-especially with franchise lynchpins like the Drost brothers, Elliott Chartock, and Charles Weinberg not on the roster this season.
Connor McHale – The British lefty and 2024 European Player of the Year runner-up is gearing up to play his first UFA season, singing with the Toronto Rush over the offseason. It’s easy to get excited about many of the Rush imports, but McHale’s powerful backhand is sure to stand out on the big UFA field. With some American experience under his belt (McHale played the 2023 club season with Chicago Machine), he has a bit of a leg up over some of the other new players on the Rush and will surely be an impact player for the team pushing into playoff contention.
Will Brandt – The 2024 UFA Finals MVP firmly established himself as one of the faces of the Wind Chill with his outstanding throwing performance in the playoffs last season. Now graduated from St. Olaf (who he led to a 2024 D-III College Championship too), Brandt will have the ability to play the entire season for the Wind Chill without any conflicts for college events, meaning he’ll be able to integrate with the offense and build chemistry with his teammates even sooner than he has in the past. With a tough title defense ahead, his added availability and natural development (Brandt just turned 23-he’s got plenty of time) are sure to enhance Minnesota’s chances of repeating.
Daan De Marrée – The two-time reigning European Player of the Year will play his first UFA season this year. If his performance for Chicago Machine during last club season is any indication, we should have high expectations for the Chicago Union’s newest star. De Marrée reminds me a bit of Jack Williams–in street clothes he might not look like one of the best athletes in the world, but on the ultimate field there is little he cannot do. A talented thrower, timely cutter, and tenacious defender, it would be no shock to see De Marrée in the MVP conversation come August.
Hayden Austin-Knab – Last season was Hayden Austin-Knab’s first truly full UFA season. He’s been playing with the Hustle since 2019, but never played more than six games before 2024. With time to build chemistry with his teammates and full commitment to the UFA schedule, Austin-Knab shined to the tune of 15 assists and 28 goals. Entering 2025, the Hustle are integrating a few new offensive players, and Austin-Knab’s versatility and leadership will be integral to their success. As he enters the prime of his career, Austin-Knab is primed for a breakout season just as Atlanta is (once again) knocking on Championship Weekend’s door.
Jacob Fairfax – Since joining the Flyers in 2017, Jacob Fairfax has been one of the league’s most consistent players. With Anders Juengst and Henry Fisher moving on this season, there’s going to be even more space in the Flyers cutting set for Fairfax to operate. Still in his prime as an athlete, Fairfax is more likely to get open than not, and he is an underrated thrower. His combinations with Allan Laviolette in the midfield area to connect the Flyers backfield with their talented finishers should form the base of the Flyers offense this season.
Quinn Finer – The Summit took a step back last season, missing the playoffs for the first time in their short history. This year, they’re expected to leap back into Championship Weekend contention, and Quinn Finer’s steady downfield presence and shot selection will prove pivotal if they succeed. A classic hybrid, Finer functions as the pivot between an athletic cutting group and a handler core that centers around Alex Atkins, with former star Jonathan Nethercutt taking this season off. Finer’s throwing ability is rare for an athlete so dominant downfield, and his productivity downfield will be a big reason for Colorado’s success.
Jacob Miller – With Jordan Kerr and Will Selfridge taking a lot of Salt Lake’s award consideration, Miller has quietly become one of the most efficient players in the league. As Salt Lake goes through a small transition this offseason (no Grant Lindsley or Joel Clutton on the roster, and lots of young new faces from local college programs), players like Miller who can put up double-digit assists and goals while keeping their turnovers to a number countable on one hand become really valuable. Miller is a great release valve, able to get open easily and keep the disc moving with the UFA’s fast stall count. While he might not have the gravity and star-power of some of his teammates, Miller’s function on the Shred offense is key to their success and will be a big part in their push to make it back to Championship Weekend.
Division Previews
East Division
Already considered the toughest division in the league, the East Division will see at least one playoff-caliber team sitting home in August, as the New York Empire, Boston Glory, DC Breeze, and Toronto Rush all look–at least on paper–like they could play their way well into August.
As is typical, the New York Empire were at the center of the UFA offseason player transfer portal with Max Sheppard, Calvin Brown, Everest Shapiro, Gavin May, Ben Simmons, Oliver Fay, Jacob Cowan, and Ethan Lieman all gearing up for their first season in pinstripes. “We’re a new team,” John Randolph said. “As long as I’ve been on the team every year some things change, but this year more than any in the past we are new.”
The Empire will rely on some continuity, as Jack Williams, Ben Jagt, Antoine Davis, Marques Brownlee, and Randolph headline a strong group of returning players. But the process of forming this year’s team and getting this group ready to play has looked different than previous years.
“People do have different areas of expertise that we can’t predict,” Randolph said. “Each person is very good at one thing and very bad at some other things, so we’re constantly trying to find a balance of how much top down structure we impose versus trying to maximize our players skill set in the moment and making a more adaptable system, especially on offense. We’re still finding that balance.”
That’s already most of a game day roster–making the top 20 any given week will be a tough ask for some of the league’s most talented role players. While all of those players have made a name for themselves elsewhere, it was rookie Sam McCrory who stood out in the Empire’s streamed preseason game against the Philadelphia Phoenix. New York will once again have no shortage of talent–even with franchise legends Mike and Ryan Drost retiring and offensive centerpieces like Elliott Chartock and Charles Weinberg gone from this year’s roster, the Empire still have a cupboard full of players ready to step up and write their own chapters in New York’s long book of success.
The DC Breeze represented the East at last season’s Championship Weekend. For a franchise typically very steady, they also enter a season of transition. Jonny Malks and Troy Holland, leaders of the offense and defense respectively, both moved away from the DC area and aren’t on any UFA rosters at the moment. Elliot Bonnet, their French sensation from last season, also will not be stateside this spring.
While the rest of the roster is remarkably consistent, replacing those two won’t be easy. Christian Boxley is returning after taking last season off–he should slot into the offense with ease given his familiarity with the system–and the Breeze’s marquee offseason addition is 2024 Callahan Award winner Aidan Downey, formerly of the Atlanta Hustle. While neither player is a one-for-one replacement, they each bring a unique skill set that opponents will need to game plan for. Combined with the natural development of younger players like Jacques Nissen, Andrew Roy, AJ Merriman, and Alexandre Fall, the Breeze are in great shape to return to Championship Weekend.
Last season’s East Division upstarts are back in full force. The Boston Glory re-signed all of their major contributors from last season: Jeff Babbitt, Tannor Johnson-Go, Ben Sadok, and Orion Cable are all back to lead the offense. Brendan McCann, Luke Webb, and Gus Haflin are all back on defense. Without losing any major contributors, the Glory added three instant-starters in 2024 UFA Rookie of the Year Tobe Decraene, who played for Montreal last season, and Calvin Stoughton, formerly of Colorado, and Sebastian Rossi, from the Italian National Team. Decreane and Stoughton starred for local club team Boston DiG last season as two-way threats, and will bring value to the Glory wherever the coaching staff decides to deploy them. Rossi is a talented thrower who should thrive on the big UFA field.
Decraene is not the only European player who will impact the East Division title race, as the Toronto Rush signed Arvīds Kārkliņš, Toms Ābeltiņš, and Tom Blasman of Belgian club team Mooncatchers (1st place in Europe), Connor McHale from English team Clapham (2nd place in Europe), and Simone Gasperini of Italian team BFD La Fotta (4th place in Europe). This impressive set of European imports also enticed a number of returning Canadian stars to rejoin the team after at least a season away; Mark Lloyd, Ty Barbieri, Mike Mackenzie, James Lewis, and Wilkie Lewis will all return to the Rush after sitting out the 2024 season. Always a competitive team with standout youngsters like Luc Comire, Phil Turner, and Oscar Stonehouse on the team, suddenly Toronto feels right in the thick of the playoff picture.
It will no doubt be a challenge to integrate so many new pieces all at once, both to the team and to the UFA ruleset, but the Rush announced these signings in January so they’ve had plenty of time to come up with a development plan. With one of the easier schedules in the division (three games against Montreal, and a cross-division game against Pittsburgh), the Rush will almost certainly have a say in who represents the East at Championship Weekend.
Rounding out the division is the Philadelphia Phoenix and Montreal Royal. Both teams see major contributors from seasons past head to other teams. The Phoenix need to find a way to replace franchise icon James Pollard while Montreal loses Rookie of the Year Tobe Decraene. While those are the headlines, each team retains a competitive core.
Philadelphia’s Paul Owens, Eric Nardelli, and Sean Mott are incapable of rolling over and will certainly make life hard on opponents. Scott Heyman is poised for a breakout year in the UFA now that his college career is behind him and he is more present for pre- and early-season practices and games. After a breakout campaign for New York PoNY in the club division last season, Heyman is poised to make a similarly large impact in the UFA this time around, after putting up a double-double in just six games last season.
Montreal brings back Jeremy Hill (returning after an ACL repair), Jakob Brissette, Kevin Quinlan, and Quentin Bonnaud, who should all have significant offensive roles. Kuochuan Ponzio and Christophe Tremblay-Joncas are both talented defenders, but the Royal will need some of their lesser-known players to step up and become household names if they’re going to make a splash in this tough division. Like Philadelphia, Montreal is a challenging opponent, but they may have trouble matching the depth of the top teams in the division.
Central Division
The battle between Chicago and Minnesota will define this division. In addition to bringing in plenty of local talent, the Chicago Union raided some of the best players from division rivals to consolidate talent and knock off the defending champions. Minnesota won last year’s championship, brings back most of their major contributors, and add two stellar two-way talents in James Pollard and Justin Burnett, yet this still feels like Chicago’s division to lose.
World-class talent like Daan De Marrée and Nate Goff change the shape of the field when they step on the line. Paul Arters and Pawel Janas open up more options on offense while William Wettengel, Simon Dastrup, Tim Schoch, Jace Bruner, and Dylan Nice should add defensive punch. It’s nearly too much talent to have, but Chicago does not want to take any chances that they’ll miss Championship Weekend.
Chicago’s roster is not just filled with talented players, but the team also has a wealth of experience. “We only have three players who have never played in the UFA before,” Sjogren said, alluding to the two Belgian players and Jeff Gao, who has years of experience playing with Chicago Machine. Beyond just their years in the league, most of the roster also has legitimate experience carrying a team. Many Chicago players spent past seasons as key players on their teams, so it will be an adjustment for them needing to fight for a spot on the gameday roster.
“There’s players who when they signed they were probably thinking, ‘oh, I’ll be making all of these rosters,’ but when the time comes to actually set a 20 [person gameday roster] for the road Minnesota game or the home Atlanta game, you lose your spots pretty fast,” Sjogren said. “It’s going to be interesting to see how that all shakes out. We will definitely have to manage that as a team, because a lot of these players haven’t ever missed a roster before. I’ve never not been on the gameday roster for any of my seventy or so UFA games by now.3”
The Minnesota Wind Chill will not just cede the division to Chicago though. “I see all the stuff Pawel says–I sometimes fire back at him too,” Pollard said. “Talent doesn’t mean anything if you can’t put it together.”
A full season with Will Brandt will improve the team’s offensive chemistry (he has not played more than 7 games in a season while also competing in the college division). Young players like Paul Krenik, Thomas Shope, Leo Sovell-Fernandez, and Noah Hanson will all improve with another season of experience under their belts. The Wind Chill have one of the most committed cores in the league with Josh Klane, Brandon Matis, Brian Vohnoutka, and Dylan DeClerck all back after playing a combined 37 seasons. Downfield dynamos Quinn Snider and Matt Rehder will both return despite traveling to Minnesota for games and practices. While Chicago loaded up on talent expecting a Championship run, Minnesota doubled down on what worked for the team last season. The battle between the two of them will be a treat to watch for neutral fans across the country.
“They had their celebration, and now it’s back to work,” Pollard said. “We want to do even better than last year.”
The Madison Radicals and Pittsburgh Thunderbirds should both be in the mix for the playoffs, though both will likely struggle to displace Chicago or Minnesota atop the division. Madison brings back many of their major contributors and returns Ian McCosky after a few years in Minnesota. All-Rookie selections Pieran Robert and Gabe Vordick should continue to improve, and Breese Stevens Field remains one of the most intimidating venues for visiting teams. While Madison still has a few more steps to go for championship contention, they’ll still be a fun team to watch and have legitimate playoff potential this season.
Pittsburgh will put the Ewing Theory to test after seeing franchise legend Max Sheppard depart for–ironically–New York. Mainstays like Jonathan Mast, Anson Reppermund, and Chris Graber will keep the team’s floor relatively high while Anil Driehuys and Alex Mullen add a dose of youthful excitement. While they won’t be anyone’s Championship Weekend favorite, the arrow is pointing in the right direction for Pittsburgh; it would not be a surprise to see them give Chicago or Minnesota a challenge in a first-round playoff game.
Moving down the projected standings, it’s clear the Indianapolis AlleyCats and Detroit Mechanix will both struggle to find wins this season. The AlleyCats see franchise cornerstones like Cam Brock, Travis Carpenter, and Rick Gross move on. The next generation of talent meant to take their mantle–Xavier Payne and William Wettengel–are rostered with Chicago this season. In short, there are a lot of unknowns coming out of Indy and that will lead to plenty of opportunities for younger players to show off their skills. It may be a few years before Indy makes the playoffs again, so first impressions we see this season might pay dividends down the road.
The story isn’t too different in Detroit. Joe Cubbitt is back after taking last season off, and Jacob Felton’s rookie campaign gives the fans in western Michigan a star player to root for. Detroit won their first game in ages last season, and they’ll have plenty of changes to repeat that historic feat again this season to start to build a culture more accustomed to competitive play.
South Division
The South Division underwent the most changes of any in this round of realignment, but the division is likely to come down to the same two teams who have been at or near the top of the standings since the post-COVID restart: The Carolina Flyers and Atlanta Hustle.
The Carolina Flyers need to replace some key offensive pieces: Sol Yanuck, Ben Snell, Anders Juengst, Henry Fisher are all taking this season off while Tobias Brooks signed with Colorado. “Enormous losses, just in name,” Allan Laviolette said, “just a lot of mainstay people who were contributing over the last half-decade to the program’s success all needing to take steps back.” But, as expected from a resource-rich team, the Flyers are stocking up with young talent ready to step in the spotlight.
“One of the nice things about the Triangle,” Laviolette added, “is there’s a plethora of people who have, for their college team, for their club team, whatever it may be, been someone who’s able to take the reigns and help build where there was maybe a little less structure before, so it has felt really nice to see the team come together. I think everyone recognizes the shift in personnel so people are gladly stepping into much larger roles than they might have had years before to help bear the weight.”
Rutledge Smith, Xander Wilcox, and Christian Belus are all first- or second-year Flyers poised to make a big impact. Likewise, Michael Avila steps in for longtime Head Coach Mike DeNardis. Avila coached many current Flyers as part of the Triangle YCC teams and is well regarded around the area, but he has big shoes to fill following DeNardis’s decade in charge.
“Mike Avila is doing a great job,” Laviolette said. “It’s hard to follow up someone who coached in the area for as long as DeNardis did, but he came in very excited about the opportunity, very willing to learn the ins and outs of the team, and as he’s gained a little more footing on where we are as a group, he’s been able to push his coaching style in and through the existing structures.”
For the fifth straight year, the Atlanta Hustle have a roster capable of pushing towards Championship Weekend. A shakeup on offense brings in free agents Cam Brock, Alec Wilson Holliday, and Sean Connole to replace the retiring Matt Smith and Bobby Ley. Jeremy Langdon, Austin Taylor and Brett Hulsmeyer are all back to reprise their roles atop the offensive leaderboards, with crafty handlers like Lukas McClamrock, Adam Miller, and Christian Olsen as a capable supporting cast.
While the offense should be a strong suit, defense remains a priority as well. The Hustle will also need to replace the contributions of Justin Burnett, who is playing this season with Minnesota. Bradley Seuntjens, Michael Fairley, and Jakeem Polk will lead a D-line that should feature plenty of young stars looking to make their mark in the UFA. The Hustle have plenty of under-23 talent with UFA experience and a sudden opportunity to earn significant playing time. The Hustle have walked right up to the Championship Weekend door each of the last four seasons. They once again have the pieces in place to walk through it this time around and make their first final four appearance; with transitions all over the division, this may be their best chance.
For the past three years, the Austin Sol have been a thorn in the side of the South Division, highlighted by their 2023 Championship Weekend appearance. This season, they’ll need to adapt their game to compete for a playoff spot with mainstays like Zach Slayton (now playing for Colorado), Oliver Fay (now playing for New York), Evan Swiatek, and Duncan Fitzgerald moving on from the Sol roster. The void created by their departures leaves plenty of opportunity for young players like Mark Henke and Jackson Potts to step up and support stars like Kyle Henke and Joey Wylie. Austin also no longer has its handful of automatic wins (read: games against Dallas) on the calendar, so they’ll need to survive tougher out-of-division games against the likes of Colorado and Madison to retain their playoff position.
In their first season in the South Division, the San Diego Growlers are aiming to take Austin’s spot in the playoffs. The Growlers quietly built a really competitive team with many of SoCal’s best players commuting down to San Diego to play there rather than in LA. Perennial All-UFA selection Travis Dunn now shares a lineup with KJ Koo, Khalif El-Salaam, and Matt Miller. Of all the teams moved around in the division realignment, the Growlers might have ended up in the best spot. San Diego has experience competing in Texas from Dallas and Austin’s brief stint in the West Division, and the team also has many cross-division games against familiar west coast foes still on the schedule. What was once a three-team playoff race that essentially determined seeding suddenly has a fourth team now that San Diego is ready to crash the South’s playoff party.
The division’s other west coast entrant, the Los Angeles Aviators, will deal with a lot of roster turnover this season. Welcoming a slew of new opponents would be challenging enough without also introducing a new head coach and turning over more than half of their starting O-line from last season. With nothing to lose and a lot to prove, the Aviators could be a very exciting team to watch this season, but their wins may be few and far between.
After a few years of only winning games against now-defunct Dallas, the Houston Havoc reloaded with intriguing signings in an effort to be more competitive in their new-look division. Texas legends like Chase Cunningham and Dalton Smith signed on to join Ben Lewis, Matt Bennett, Connor Ughetta, and Jimmy Zuraw as Havoc mainstays. That’s a good foundation to build from; surrounding them with the young players and the good coaching staff already in Houston should lead to significant growth in the Havoc’s third season.
West Division
The West Division once again feels up for grabs, with four teams each making a case as the best team in the division.
The Seattle Cascades were the West’s representative at Championship Weekend last season, but they’ll be hard pressed to make a return trip now that there’s a big target on their backs. Lukas Ambrose announced himself as one of the most exciting players in the league last season, leading the league with 34 blocks (including the playoffs)–12 more than second place finisher and league MVP Jeff Babbitt. Garrett Martin, Marc Munoz, and Spencer Lofink steady a balanced offense that also features the playmaking of young star Zeppelin Raunig. While franchise icon Khalif El-Salaam departed to San Diego, Conor Belfield is joining the team for his rookie campaign and should make an instant impact as another standout defender who is comfortable throwing the disc on the counterattack. All of the pieces are in place for Seattle to turn last season’s division championship into a trend…but Seattle has yet to show enough year-to-year consistency to even pencil them in to the top spot in the standings. This will be a big prove-it year for Seattle as the franchise looks to cement its footing as a premier UFA program.
For most of last season, it looked like the Salt Lake Shred were cruising to a home Championship Weekend appearance. After a crushing loss in the divisional championship game, the Shred enter a transition period. Sean Connole and Grant Lindsley–mainstays in the Salt Lake backfield–are both moving on, leaving some holes in the offense to fill. With Jordan Kerr, Will Selfridge, and Jacob Miller all around, the offense has a high floor. Whether the team hits its ceiling might determine if the Shred make it back to Championship Weekend. Intriguing young prospects like Oscar Brown and Grayson Rettberg dot the roster alongside rookies Sam Pew and Nathan De Morgan, leaving a lot of exciting unknown floating around Salt Lake. While the rest of the division will present a legitimate challenge–as will cross-division games with Minnesota and Atlanta–expect Salt Lake to be right back in the thick of the Championship Weekend conversation come August, but I wouldn’t expect them to look identical to the team that finished last season.
Gearing up to crash the playoff picture are the Colorado Summit. It bears repeating that Colorado did in fact miss the playoffs last season. As they push for a more consistent week-to-week performance, the team brings in quality free agent pickups like Zach Slayton (from Austin), Keenan Laurence (from Oakland), and Sam Van Duesen (from Pittsburgh). All three of those players should quickly make an impact, and their versatility to play on O- or D- lines gives the Colorado coaching staff a lot to work with.
“I think it’s going to be a big bounceback year for us,” Atkins said. “I’m pretty confident in that.”
The other headline addition in Colorado is former Flyer Tobias Brooks. Brooks may not join the team until late June after he finishes the college and U24 seasons, but he has a spot waiting on the Summit offense when his schedule clears. Brooks is a gifted disc mover and a strong athlete. His presence alone changes the shape of the field, and he immediately improves the Summit’s ceiling. Like Salt Lake, we might need to wait until later in the season to get a good read on this Colorado team, but by that point it would be no shock to see them in playoff position.
This season the Oakland Spiders are likewise gearing up with key veteran additions to stir up the playoff picture. Adam Rees and Leo Gordon lead a handful of Revolver teammates making the jump to the UFA. Dexter Clyburn returns to the team after a season away. Seamus Robinson will suit up for the Spiders after playing for LA in previous seasons. Losing goal-scorer Jake Thorne and Chris Lung certainly hurts, but the talent the Spiders are bringing in is more than enough to make up for their loss.
With a new coaching staff–former Revolver player Caleb Merriam and Berkeley High School coach Joseph Ricks take over for now-Las Vegas Assistant Coach Dan Silverstein–at the helm, Oakland has a lot of flexibility entering the season, and the coaching staff’s ability to harness the team’s potential will make or break a season that could end up in first place or out of the playoffs.
Both the Oregon Steel and Las Vegas Bighorns have reasons to be optimistic entering the season, but they will also need to define success beyond counting wins this season.
Oregon is turning over a new page with a new name and a solid group of incoming players. Lucas Coniaris was named a captain despite not playing for the team. He brings U24 National Team experience and a lot of UFA-know-how from his time in Indianapolis. David Barram and Ben Thoennes were bright spots last year. Their continued development and the creation of a new team culture could help Oregon soar into a new future.
Las Vegas signed a handful of former UFA starters (Joel Clutton, Stephen Poulos, Ryan Hiser, and Jaime Perez are some of the Bighorns featuring other jerseys in their official team pictures), but largely is a roster of unknowns. While they’ll be a challenge for opponents to scout, they also need to face the reality that they’re building a team from scratch in an ultimate and literal desert. Like Oregon, if the Bighorns can foster a positive team identity and build a fun fan experience, that will count more than any wins they earn on the field to give the expansion team a strong start.
