An elite men's division staple event is back with a strong field - and, for the first time, a women's division!
January 27, 2026 by Josh Katz in Preview, Video
Ultiworld’s 2026 college coverage is presented by Spin Ultimate; all opinions are those of the author(s). Find out how Spin can get you, and your team, looking your best this season.
Florida Warm Up, once again, is on the move, departing Gainesville after just one year for Apopka, Florida, just outside of Orlando. With the new field site comes a much-expanded tournament, as 55 teams (a whopping 43 for the Men’s Division tournament and 12 for the newly-formed Women’s half) from across the continent will make the trip south and/or east, many in search of an escape from the frigid cold. Thanks to Warm Up’s unique three-day match play format and giant team list, there’s ample opportunity for teams to get high quality reps and viewers to catch some excellent interregional matchups.
Follow along on the Florida Warm Up 2026 Event Page for livestreams and updates throughout the weekend.
How To Watch
We’ve got you covered for all the exciting action this weekend. You will need an Ultiworld Standard or All-Access subscription to be able to watch games from the Florida Warm Up 2026. Or get access for your entire team and coaching staff with a 2026 College Team Pack!
The event begins January 30th, LIVE on Ultiworld.com. All broadcasted games will be available on-demand for viewing immediately following the live broadcasts.
Full Broadcast Schedule
Tournament Preview
- Full Tournament Schedule
- Weather: Sunny and chilly, highs ranging from mid 60s Friday to mid 40s on Sunday
- Top 25 teams: 11 (men’s D1), 4 (men’s D3), 1 (women’s D1)
Contending Class Takes the Field
For as much as actually winning Warm Up matters (this is the 2026 debut for all but one team [BYU] in the field, after all), there are two clear favorites for the title heading into the weekend. Carleton CUT kick off their title defense with a roster not too dissimilar from last year’s squad. Cullen Baker, Daniel Chen, and Leo Xiao may have moved on, but CUT bring back the lion’s share of production. There’s almost too many stars to name: Declan Miller, Nathan De Morgan, Thomas Shope, Axel Olson, Ellis Newhouse, Charlie Bitler, and Ryan duSaire are a whole line’s worth of potential All-Americans. And if that’s not enough, they add a pair of highly touted rookies in Sarek Mallareddy and Joel Simon.
UMass Zoodisc have been mainstays among the division’s upper-most tier for the last three years, but a precious title has so far eluded them. With an upperclassmen heavy roster featuring Wyatt Kellman, Ethan Lieman, Gavin Abrahamsson, and Caelan McSweeney, the clock is ticking on Zoo’s title chances. Is rookie Samuel McCrory the missing piece to get them over the hump? Or perhaps the reintroduction of Jonah Stang-Osborne is the answer?
What’s New in New England?
It feels like the story for New England is the same every spring: one elite team at the very top of the region, and a whole jumbled mess thereafter. Many of the region’s typical second tier are heading to Florida this weekend, giving us a first look at how the New England shuffle will play out this season.
Brown Brownian Motion are not the machine they were in the Nissen-Gordon years, but they’ve rebuilt well and seem poised to re-stake their claim as New England’s number two. Jason Tapper, Nolan McCloskey, Teo Huson, and rookie Owen Erdman are a solid core, and if you squint at the rest of the roster, a Nationals contender begins to appear.
In Declan Kervick and Casey Thornton, Vermont Chill have a top end duo that compares favorably to just about any other side in the region. And with another excellent recruiting class, led by Minnesota youth product Walter Hipps, there’s ample depth to put together the supporting cast.
Northeastern Huskies and Tufts E-Men each have the unenviable task of trying to replace a superstar1 if they’re going to remain in New England’s highest class. For Northeastern, picking up Seth Fisher-Olvera from WashU is a good start, and we’ll see if any of their rookies can have an immediate outsized impact. And Tufts will likely use the likes of Tucker Livingston, Ram Sundaram, and others to recreate Graff in aggregate.
Changing of the Guard in the Southeast?
Georgia Jojah have been the class of the Southeast for nearly a decade, winning Regionals in each of the last seven years and often in convincing fashion. But last year, a new challenger emerged, and this year, they seem poised to usurp Jojah’s throne.
That challenger, of course, is Georgia Tech Tribe, who came as close as anyone has to taking down Jojah last spring and have only gotten better in the offseason. Many words have already been written about the Grossberg brothers, so we’ll keep things brief here. Just know that Adam and Sam are each capable of taking over a game and doing something special at any point, so make sure to watch Tribe whenever they’re on stream. Warm Up also marks the official Georgia Tech debut for Stef McCall, the five star recruit from the Bay Area who already got rave reviews during his unofficial debut at Classic City Classic in the fall. And it just got reported that Michael Poe (of USA U24 fame) is joining the team this year.
Georgia Jojah won’t cede control of the Southeast without a fight, but it’s fair to say this is the weakest roster we’ve seen for UGA in a long time. The mainstays of their early 2020s excellence – Aidan Downey, Adam Miller, Hayden Austin-Knab – are long gone, and Scotty Whitley is out for the year due to injury. Jack Krugler is a great player, but he’s going to need some help from somewhere. Can someone else step up in Whitley’s place to preserve Georgia’s Southeast dynasty for another season?
Back-to-Back BYU
There’s no rest for the weary in Provo, as BYU CHI are in action for the second straight weekend. After some hiccups in Santa Barbara, CHI are eager to prove themselves as a bonafide top 10 team as they take on a grueling eight games in two days schedule. They’ve got some strong vets like Simon Dastrup and some exciting young players (Everett Saunders and Mitchell Burt) but, in an unusual twist for BYU, need to polish their play.
Notables
Michigan MagnUM’s mantra lately has been to focus on development in the regular season at the expense of maximizing rankings points, a viable strategy when you have Aaron Bartlett and play in the Great Lakes. But this year, a potential challenger in the Great Lakes has emerged in the newly D-I Davenport Panthers. Could MagnUM be forced into playing the rankings game this year in hopes of earning a safety net second bid? Their approach this weekend will probably give us an answer.
Texas TUFF and WashU Contra have been the clear second fiddles to Colorado Mamabird in the South Central, but the pair appear to be going in opposite directions this year. TUFF picked up Cullen Baker on a graduate transfer from Carleton, and seeing him alongside Xavier Fuzat and Aaron Barcio should boost TUFF back into quarters contention at minimum. Their matchup with BYU to close out Friday should tell us a lot about both teams. Contra, meanwhile, graduated just about all of their key players from last year’s team, and subsequently fell out of our preseason rankings. They get an early chance to prove us wrong when they kick off their season against Vermont.
Bigger Field Site, More Divisions!
As of 2026, Florida Warm Up is no longer a solely D-I tournament! With the expansion to 43 teams for the Men’s Division, four teams from the D-III ranks – Middlebury Pranksters, Ave Maria Gyrenes, Oklahoma Christian Eagles, and Berry Bucks – will get to test themselves against the top teams in D-I. Middlebury, in particular, will be a fascinating watch: D-III’s title favorites drew a slate of mostly Regionals caliber opponents in match play, giving them an excellent chance to prove once and for all where the best D-III teams fit into the overall collegiate landscape.
And for the first time ever, Florida Warm Up is hosting a Women’s Division tournament! Though it pales in comparison in both size and stature to the Men’s side, it still features a few teams that have genuine Nationals aspirations. Notably among that group are Southeast duo Florida FUEL and Georgia Tech Wreck, each of whom we’ll see on stream on Saturday.
Peter Boerth and Oscar Graff, respectively ↩
