Recognizing the top seven performers of the 2026 season.
June 8, 2026 by Edward Stephens, Alex Rubin and Aidan Thomas 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 All-American teams recognize the top performers across the division. While in the past Player of the Year has been awarded first, this year we open our Awards with our First Team All-Americans, displaying the top seven players who had the best seasons. Listed in (reverse) alphabetical order, the First Team now serves as a finalist list for the Player of the Year Award, which will be announced live tomorrow on Deep Look.
- All-American First Team
- Player of the Year Coming Soon
- All-American Second Team Coming Soon
- Defensive Player of the Year Award Coming Soon
- Offensive Player of the Year Award Coming Soon
- Rookie of the Year Award Coming Soon
- Breakout Player of the Year Award Coming Soon
- Coaches of the Year Award Coming Soon
- Full Awards Voting Breakdown Coming Soon
D-I Men’s All-American First Team
Gavin Abrahamsson (Massachusetts)
It was, admittedly, hard to discern which of Zoodisc’s many chefs had the greatest impact on their 2026 championship. With apologies to about eight other players, we give the honor to to their Callahan nominee. Abrahamsson was the most constant, most powerful, most determined force behind their run, by turns workmanlike and jaw-dropping – and he always gave the team exactly what they needed for the moment, even marshaling whole break-converting drives from behind the disc.
Tobias Brooks (Colorado)
The college world has at least one more year of Tobias Brooks to look forward to, as the Mamabird superstar exploded on the Nationals stage this year with a 10-assist performance in semifinals, putting the cap on a season in which he was the backfield engine for a Colorado offense looking to get the disc to Callahan nominee Zeke Thoreson or powerful hybrid Elliot Hawkns.
Nate De Morgan (Carleton)
Nate De Morgan is now two for two on All-American nominations, and this time he makes his way onto the First Team. CUT’s two-way superstar has quickly become one of the most talented and most reliable players in all of college thanks to his defensive intelligence, relentless intensity, and most importantly, his rocket-powered backhands.
Elijah Diamond (Western Washington)
We have seen clutch performances at Nationals before – every season gives us one or two – but to be this good this reliably up against elimination for a second consecutive year elevates Diamond’s performance to the stuff of myth. No player in the game was more likely to skip past an entire defense into the clear air of the end zone for a deep score, and when he wasn’t doing the scoring himself, he was orchestrating it for the rest of his overperforming DiRT side to the tune of 13 goals and 12 assists. You might say he had Nationals in a chokehold.
Declan Miller (Carleton)
Miller came to Carleton with CUT on the heels of missing two of the previous three national tournaments and not making bracket since 2018. They promptly made Nationals all four years, bracket in three of four seasons, and made two finals appearances, winning one. At the core of it all was Miller, whose well-rounded game saw him dominate wherever Carleton needed him. From relentless handler defense to big layouts on downfield cutters to an ability to every other and get open against the best defenders in college, Miller did it all, and he did it while playing almost every single point for CUT down the stretch, powered by his seemingly unending motor.
Anton Orme (Cal Poly SLO)
Orme played almost every point he was able to over the past two Nationals, still showing out and bringing SLOCORE to a quarterfinals appearance despite some health limitations. Orme drew every team’s best defenders and frequently forced a series of rotations through his relentless pursuit of receiving the disc and precise distribution to SLO’s weapons in the cutting space.
Zeke Thoreson (Colorado)
Arguably the most overpowered player of the regular season, Thoreson spent the spring wringing every last ounce of O-line potential from his already prodigious quantities of raw speed, precision cutting, and unearthly midair body control. His emergence as a high-quality deep thrower and the evergreen defensive chops made him keystone two-way maestro when Mamabird stacked their D-lines.
