These elite offensive players helped keep the points flowing for their teams.
June 17, 2025 by Alex Rubin, Emmet Holton and Graham Gordon in Awards
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.
Our awards continue with the Offensive Player of the Year, recognizing the individual, and two runners-up, who we felt had the most impactful and productive seasons helping their teams score. They set up goals, finished off points, and produced yardage at consistently high levels against the top defenders.
- All-American First Team
- Player of the Year
- All-American Second Team
- Defensive Player of the Year Award
- Offensive Player of the Year Award
- Rookie of the Year Award
- Breakout Player of the Year Award
- Coaches of the Year Award
- Full Awards Voting Breakdown
D-I Men’s 2025 Offensive Player Of The Year
Tobias Brooks (Colorado)
No other team’s offense was driven by their star player quite as much as Mamabird’s was by Tobias Brooks. His style is one of the most inimitable of any handler at any level of play, and it’s precisely this uniqueness that allows him to have such a high impact. Obviously, his throwing bag is endless. Whether it be a blading forehand huck that somehow manages to keep its intended shape for 50 yards, a hammer perfectly floated to the opposite sideline, or a touchy break around backhand into wide open space for a filling cutter, he’s got every look.
Unlike many lifelong ultimate players, Brooks was an accomplished youth athlete in other sports, namely basketball, and you can see it in how he moves the frisbee field. He bounces around effortlessly to get open in the reset space regardless of the defense, clearing downfield when needed, but always managing to get back to the disc to bail his fellow handlers out of a tricky situation. Ultimately, it was clear that he’d always have the keys to the car on any Colorado possession, especially when he crossed over and had to make some magic happen with a less disc-skilled group. All-around excellent and unstoppable in just his second year, Brooks will continue to bring success to Colorado for the rest of his college career.
– Graham Gordon
First Runner-Up
Ethan Lieman (UMass)
There are few cutters in the division who play as big as Ethan Lieman. Yes, this feels strange to type while Lieman stands a diminutive five and a half feet or so, but his powerful jumping ability, innate sense of timing, and fearless attitude make physical size irrelevant. Whether bounding through open space or turning on the burners to chase down a long huck, there was very little action in the UMass offense that Lieman was not involved in. In addition to regular initiation, his bailoutability was also a crucial component to a UMass offense that was among the division’s best despite injuries to other key players. Other players’ availability is neither here nor there – Lieman took his opportunity and became a standout player not just on his team, but for the entire division.
– Alex Rubin
Second Runner-Up
Elijah Diamond (Western Washington)
No player in the men’s division better embodied the notion of a five-tool player than Diamond this season. The stats tell a pretty good story, as his 17 goals and 28 assists marked the best and second best tallies in their respective categories. Beyond the gaudy numbers however, was one of the most polished offensive performances of recent memory. Strong downfield athleticism allowed for an even stronger arsenal of break throws and precise away shots to unlock the field for his top heavy DIRT team. Equally comfortable going every other in a small ball set as he was breaking away for a game-clinching deep reception on Michigan’s top defender, Diamond’s excellence at getting the disc into the end zone was one of the best shows on turf this year.
– Emmet Holton
