The best players in the game right now

October 14, 2026 by Ultiworld in Opinion

There’s no shortage of talent in the USA Ultimate Club men’s division. We look a lot at team success, and often see familiar names and faces in those discussions. But who are the best individual players? Who brings the most value to winning a championship? Figuring out which stars shine the brightest is more art than science, but perhaps there’s democratic power in numbers.

So who are the best players in the division right now? To try to clear away as much of the white noise created by circumstance as possible and get to the heart of each individual’s value and contribution, we asked a diverse group of twelve members of our coverage team, as well as an anonymous group of elite players, to weigh in on the following prompt:

If you were starting a club team today with the singular goal of winning a theoretical Club Championship this October, how would you rank the players within the division? You aren’t building a team of all of your selections, so don’t worry about how the players complement each other. Consider each pick the first pick of a team, drafting in order, only you can’t pick the players you’ve already ranked above. All players who were on a 2026 USA Ultimate Club men’s division roster of a team that reached regionals are eligible to be drafted. With regards to injuries an absences, we will include all rostered players unless there is confirmation a player will not be competing, or would not be able to compete, at Nationals.

In order to improve how representative our rankings are of the opinions of our voters, we have iterated until arriving at this process. We each listed out our top 35 players to iron out some of the gradations on the fringes and then combined our lists to create a composite ranking. In addition, we included the ballots of a few anonymous elite players and coaches from different teams and regions. We used a weighted scoring system for votes, with Participants’ Ballots accounting for roughly 30% of the composite rankings, and Subscriber Ballots about 13%.¹

The Scoring System (Methodology)

There are three voting groups whose ballots are incorporated: Ultiworld Staff, Participants (Players and coaches from nationally competitive teams), and Ultiworld Subscribers. Staff ballots account for 60% of the final composite score, while Participant ballots take up 30%, and Subscribers make up 10%.¹

All staff ranked between 25 and 35 eligible players, and went through multiple rounds of revisions, and make their ballots visible to the public. Subscribers and Participants were asked to rank a minimum of 15 and maximum of 35. These ballots are anonymous to readers.

This year, we changed to a normalized scoring system to account for the variance in ballot volume by group. We converted raw point totals into a Grade (0-100). This represents the percentage of total possible points a player could have received from that specific voting group. A player who was the unanimous #1 choice of every Subscriber, for example, would receive a Subscriber Grade of 100. This keeps us from getting 500 subscriber ballots that overwhelm the other opinions in the mix.

We’ll start with our top 10, and discussion about that group. Then we’ll reveal the entire top 25, followed by the complete ballots, and additional conversations about the rankings.

Staff Voters

Aidan Thomas (Staff Writer)
Alex Rubin (Senior Staff Writer)
Calvin Ciorba (Staff Writer)
Charlie Eisenhood (Editor-in-Chief)
Edward Stephens (Senior Staff Writer)
Josh Katz (Senior Staff Writer)
Keith Raynor (Senior Editor)
Nate Knowles (Contributor)
Patrick Stegemoeller (Senior Staff Writer)
TJ Lee (Staff Writer)

The Top 10

Player	Composite Score	Aidan Thomas	Alex Rubin	Calvin Ciorba	Charlie Eisenhood	Edward Stephens	Josh Katz	Keith Raynor	Nate Knowles	Patrick Stegemoeller	TJ Lee	Participants'	Staff
Daan De Marrée (Machine)	95.09	1	1	2	1	2	3	1	2	1	1	1	1
John Randolph (PoNY)	82.28	2	2	3	4	1	1	2	1	4	5	3	4
Mac Hecht (Revolver)	80.35	4	4	4	5	4	7	12	6	6	2	2	2
Christian Boxley (Truck Stop)	75.41	6	5	5	3	5	4	4	5	5	6	5	6
Tobe Decraene (DiG)	74.34	3	7	1	7	8	6	5	8	15	3	4	3
Michael Ing (Revolver)	70.05	9	3	7	2	9	2	3	3	2	11	9	7
Raphy Hayes (Rhino Slam!)	65.96	8	8	6	6	3	8	7	4	3	4	16	11
Henry Ing (Rhino Slam!)	57.06	18	6	13	9	UR	14	6	10	7	UR	6	5
Mica Glass (Rhino Slam!)	54.12	5	13	19	12	13	11	9	18	13	7	14	16
Declan Miller (PoNY)	49.08	14	10	10	14	UR	UR	10	9	31	13	8	8

[Editor: There may be some sorting issues with the table that cannot be altered at the time. Our apologies for the inconvenience.]

This year, our staff held live roundtables in our Discord. These are available for subscribers to listen to, including below in the subscriber portion of this article. The conversations below are modified versions of those transcripts.

Is the De Marrée Consensus Wrong?

Daan De Marrée (Machine) is No. 1 overall — the clearest No. 1 mathematically in any of the divisions — but he was not a unanimous selection, with John Randolph (PoNY) and Tobe Decraene (DiG) also getting staff votes for the top spot. Is De Marrée the obvious best player in the division, or is there more to it?

Keith Raynor
I’m going to go to some of the folks who selected someone other than Daan De Marrée first. Edward, do you want to make the case that there is a player superior to Daan De Marrée in the men’s club division?

Edward Stephens
I think so. As always, this is year-specific for me. I’m really lasered in on what I feel like I’m seeing from players this year, and Daan De Marrée hasn’t really taken any kind of step back. I had him as my number two, but I don’t think anybody’s playing better ultimate right now than John Randolph. He is the complete package. He is everything we ever thought he could be, and more. Right now, he’s completely dialed in, and over the course of the season, he has made an argument too powerful to ignore. That’s all I have to say.

Nate Knowles
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it’s definitely 100% still a valid take that John Randolph is the best player in the world, and I think it’s kind of hard to deny. Daan De Marrée is still very good, but I’m with Edward on the fact that Daan De Marrée hasn’t really taken a step back — while John Randolph, he’s the whole package. I think his defensive skills really pushed him up above Daan De Marrée for me. Just seeing him absolutely clamp some people, man — it’s been incredible this season.

Keith Raynor
JR is a great defender, I’ll give you that. Josh Katz had John Randolph first as well. Calvin Ciorba had Tobe Decraene. I don’t think they’re here to speak on that. But who wants to make the Daan De Marrée case — which I guess is an easy case to make based on the consensus?

Aidan Thomas
I’m not going to dispute that John Randolph is also an absolutely fantastic player. I had him number two. I looked at it like it could be 1A and 1B. But Daan De Marrée — I know you’re not supposed to take into account last year when you’re looking at a tiebreaker, but what he did at Nationals last year is going to stick in my brain until I see him do something else like that at Nationals. The 20-20 stat line with no turns is just insane. So if I’m drafting somebody first overall to lead my team, I’m going to take the guy that did that last year at Nationals and hasn’t taken a step back. I think everyone who picked John Randolph said Daan hasn’t taken a step back, so I’m going to make the easy case that the guy that went 20-20 at Nationals last year and didn’t take a step back is the guy I want first on my squad.

Keith Raynor
And you can take last year into account for this exercise, should you choose. Edward likes to limit it to what he saw last week only, but I, in fact, often look at the breadth of a player’s career when doing this exercise.

Patrick Stegemoeller
I would go so far as to say that last year’s Nationals, for most players, is the greatest indication of the value they will likely have at Nationals this year. Obviously, there are instances where someone is injured, or someone hits a tipping point in age and takes a step back, or someone takes a huge step forward this year. But Daan De Marrée was the best player at U.S. Nationals last year, which is the best tournament in the world. He was probably the best player at Worlds this year, just routinely getting two to five feet of separation in two steps on basically every defender.

So again, we’re splitting hairs here up at the top. JR has certainly gotten better from an already very, very high spot, but I think Daan De Marrée is more well-rounded. He’s taller, and at the end of the day, sometimes that can make a difference. He’s just physically taller, can jump higher, and is lightning fast. Maybe you give JR the edge on defense, but Daan De Marrée’s offense is better than JR’s to a greater extent than JR’s defense gives him an edge.

Keith Raynor
I am going to be curious to see if we get another matchup between the two. At Worlds, when they faced off, I think JR got the better of that matchup for maybe the first time that I’ve ever seen. It’s like two teams where you think one is the better team, but the head-to-head doesn’t go their way. So how do you actually sort that out in the power rankings?

Alex Rubin
I just want to add that the most impressive thing to me about Daan is his motor. The dude just doesn’t stop. He can pound point after point after point, and at the elite level, that’s incredibly difficult to do.

Edward Stephens
John Randolph famously stops…

Alex Rubin
The shape that he keeps himself in is really impressive, along with the mental fortitude to go through a whole tournament with as many touches as he has and as few turns. The one-on-one matchup where JR was kind of the one person in the world who seemed to shut him down for a game gave me pause a little bit. But on the body of work, I’m most impressed with Daan, and I just wanted to point out the physical quality there that made that seem more special.

The Youth Movement

It’s mostly the same top 10 this year, with Mica Glass (Rhino Slam!) and Declan Miller (PoNY) as the new names. Are we seeing a passing of the torch in the men’s division? Is the youth movement underway?

Keith Raynor
As a reminder, last year’s top 10 was: Daan De Marrée, Christian Boxley (Truck Stop), Michael Ing (Revolver), Raphy Hayes (Rhino Slam!), Henry Ing (Rhino Slam!), Tobe Decraene, JR, Jonny Malks, Mac Hecht (Revolver), and Ben Dameron (PoNY).

Somebody in the chat brought up the high ranking that Sam Grossberg (Pacmen) has here. Raekwon Adkins (Revolver) has a top 25 ranking. So do Elijah Diamond (Sockeye) and Elliot Hawkins (Machine), who got in at the last moment with Charlie’s help. I’m not seeing Dylan Freechild (Rhino Slam!). I’m not seeing Chris Kocher (PoNY)’s name here. No Grant Lindsley. We see some other guys drop.

Alex Rubin
My top 10 is fairly similar, although I did put Sam Grossberg and Declan Miller in there. As the sport continues to develop and evolve overall, we’re going to get more and more players who are capable of playing at a high level from a younger age. Mica Glass is ranked 13th on my list and has two parents who are Hall of Famers. We’re going to start to get more people in that mold, and as we continue to make these rankings, that’s going to be reflected in what we see.

TJ Lee
We’re starting to see a lot of the youth really step up and take over. It’s not fully related to this club conversation, but I remember seeing stories about how the Bay Area in California has been working really hard on developing their youth scene, and they’re starting to reap some of those rewards, with all of the success from OAK at YCCs and Albany at HSNI. I think we’re starting to see that really take hold in the club season, too. You’re seeing Mica Glass being arguably the best player on Rhino. I have Raphy just a little bit above him, but I very much understand the argument. Same thing with Raekwon Adkins up there and Declan Miller in this conversation. You see all these young guys that have been slowly making their way, learning the game, and now they’re here, and I’m starting to question who’s going to be able to stop them in the next couple of years.

Edward Stephens
Okay, but are they here, though? I have to pick a fight with… I’m not sure who. There are too many voters to keep track of. But who are all these people who are putting Declan Miller and Raekwon Adkins in their top 10? Where are you seeing this, or are you just blindly projecting this because they’re really good in college?

TJ Lee
I’ll say there’s a little bit of seeing what they’ve done in college, but it’s also seeing what they’ve done at the club level, too. Over the last couple of years, Mica Glass and Raekwon Adkins have been such big names in the club season that we are consistently disappointed in how Ego performs because of the high bar that they set in the club season the fall prior.

Patrick Stegemoeller
Edward, as a fellow old, I have your back here a bit. Obviously, a generational shift is occurring. A generational shift is always occurring; that’s just every year to some degree. But I didn’t have either Raekwon or Declan in my top 10, although I had them both ranked. They’re both fantastic, but the sweet spot for most of these younger players is two or three years out of college. I had Ben Dameron in my top 10. He is someone who was a great college player and a great club player in college — he made First Team All-Club while still in college — but has taken his game up with a couple of years of refinement. I don’t want to criticize or single out Raekwon or Declan specifically, but both of them have some inconsistencies in their game that get ironed out a little bit over time as you start hitting your mid-20s.

And maybe I’m succumbing to narrative. Maybe I’m looking too much at what has worked or what has happened for players in the past, and my eyes are not open enough to this new generation of players who are there right now. That’s entirely possible. But to those eyes, I still see them as a step below the absolute top tier.

Aidan Thomas
One thing I’d add to that is that we’re throwing these two names out as examples, but I feel like Declan and Raekwon are two different cases. Declan was a First Team All-Club guy last year. He and Jonny Malks were Sockeye’s main thing going for them, and that got them to quarters. I tend to agree on Raekwon — I was lower on him than the consensus by a decent bit — but with Declan, I don’t think it’s a blanket statement that all the young guys are overrated, because Declan has already shown out on the club stage. He did it in college, but he’s also doing it at club, too.

I don’t think it can be a blanket statement like, “Oh, the guy’s not three years out of college, so he can’t be a top 10 player in the club scene.” Maybe the youth isn’t taking over completely — there are obviously still studs out there that are vets — but to make a blanket statement like, “This guy’s still in college or just graduated college, so he can’t be a top 10 player,” would be kind of closed-minded about where the club scene is going, which is a lot of those types of players starting to take over club teams and be the top go-to guy. You saw it with Declan Miller last year and Sam Grossberg this year. So it’s a dangerous blanket statement to make on that front.

Patrick Stegemoeller
For sure. But I will say, too: have they taken over club teams that have had serious, sustained success? Declan was maybe the best player on Sockeye last year. We had him first team All-Club, and no one else on Sockeye was, so by definition, we thought he was the best player on the team. But did anyone think that they had a real shot at making semis? If we’re saying this is someone who’s a top 10 player in club, I have to think that you can be the best player on a team that makes semis, and I don’t quite see that from him yet.

Edward Stephens
Maybe that just means we thought the rest of Sockeye were the Keystone Cops.

Patrick Stegemoeller
That’s fair. Yeah, that’s fair.

Keith Raynor
I like the fact that the ‘uncs’ are defending the old guys, and Pat’s ballot backs it up. He’s got Sam Little (PoNY) higher than most people. He’s got Jeff Babbitt (DiG) in his top 25 — I think he’s one of the few voters with that. Chris Kocher is still kicking in there. So Pat’s got his money where his mouth is.

Patrick Stegemoeller
Have you seen the work Babbitt did for the DiG D-line at Regionals? Good stuff. Get in there. Get some Batavia footage in front of you.

Keith Raynor
I know my way around Batavia, sadly. Sorry to report.

I will say there are times when I think Declan Miller’s the best player on PoNY’s O-line, and maybe that’s not saying much at certain points. He’s not going to supplant JR, but they can make semis or the finals or even more, and we may view him in the same way that we view Mica Glass after Rhino’s success with him in a really prominent role. So maybe we’re out ahead on that.

I do wonder if we’re seeing this generation excel quickly because they arrived at a point in time when the style of play was changing, and it’s basically the style of play that they’ve played their whole lives at this point. They developed entirely in a world where playing small ball and being able to attack in space was the name of the game, and I wonder if that’s helping influence what feels like a youth movement. We haven’t talked much about Sam Grossberg yet. This also excludes Tobias Brooks (Ring of Fire), who is obviously not going to get ranked this year. So I do feel like this class of players is coming up and pushing to get to the top, and we’re at an inflection point where people are trying to navigate how they want to rank those players in this moment.

 

The Top 25 and Beyond

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1. Our experience has shown that participants’ ballots trend towards regional concentrations and emphasizing the strength of their teammates, as well as other quirks such as occasionally not ranking themselves or hate-ranking rivals, which is why their ballots are weighted in this manner. ↩