August 19, 2024
By Evan Lepler
Compiling the "Honor Roll" each week is, admittedly, an inexact science.
I watch a lot of ultimate every weekend, but it’s impossible to see everything. Statistics are informative and helpful, but also imperfect and occasionally misleading. Furthermore, even if everyone could see every point and digest every number, reasonable minds inevitably would still disagree.
I try to value winning. Of course, it also matters who you beat. I strive not to be completely swayed by certain stats without putting them in context, but sometimes the numbers are indeed overwhelming.
Obviously, it’s inherently troublesome to craft individual praise in a team sport. There were several circumstances during the season when a particular team delivered a brilliant all-around victory, but maybe the success was too widespread and balanced to elevate any single person. While others may see it as a disrespectful snub, I often view it as a true team tribute if no one person receives rave reviews after a marquee result or two-win weekend.
There’s also the dynamic that I select seven players every week, regardless of whether there were four games or 14. Some weeks there’s more competition than others, so there’s no doubt that considerable elements of good fortune and happenstance are involved in who gets recognized each week.
With all that said, here’s a compilation of all the individuals who earned a spot on the "Honor Roll" over the past 15 weeks of competition. While there are definitely some noteworthy names that are absent, it’s also a decent snapshot of the best players in the league throughout the 2024 season.
First, here are some facts and figures:
• Between 13 regular season weekends and two playoff weekends, 82 different players earned a spot on the Honor Roll this year.
• An elite crew of 13 players made the "Honor Roll" multiple times, and just six players were recognized on more than two weekends.
• The Atlanta Hustle had eight different players earn honors, while the DC Breeze, Seattle Cascades, Carolina Flyers, and Oakland Spiders each had six guys find their way into the weekly scintillating seven. The New York Empire, Madison Radicals, Salt Lake Shred, and Minnesota Wins Chill each had five players apiece.
• The Dallas Legion and Portland Nitro were the only two teams that never had a player on the "Honor Roll" this season.
Here’s a look at the 2024 honorees, starting with the best of the best:
The Four Timers Club
Lukas Ambrose, Seattle Cascades
Jeff Babbitt, Boston Glory
Tobe Decraene, Montreal Royal
Curiously, these are three guys who were all new to their teams in 2024, but not players who are lacking in recent accomplishments. Ambrose claimed Rookie of the Year honors with Los Angeles last year, Babbitt was the 2023 UFA MVP with New York, and Decraene, who was Ultiworld’s European Offensive Player of the Year in 2023, will be one of the top candidates for UFA Rookie of the Year in the coming weeks.
Three-For-All
Brett Hulsmeyer, Atlanta Hustle
Allan Laviolette, Carolina Flyers
Lukas McClamrock, Atlanta Hustle
This trio of South Division stars made the Honor Roll three times each, and this group includes a couple MVP candidates in Hulsmeyer and Laviolette, along with a guy in McClamrock whose All-UFA caliber season unfortunately got derailed by a late-season injury.
Twice Is Nice
Noah Coolman, Colorado Summit
Walker Frankenberg, Oakland Spiders
Anders Juengst, Carolina Flyers
Jordan Kerr, Salt Lake Shred
Elijah Long, Carolina Flyers
Jonny Malks, DC Breeze
Jack Williams, New York Empire
This would be a fun seven-person line, eh? Probably a better O-line than D-line, but still very strong either way. It is interesting to note that our upcoming Championship Weekend will feature only five players—Ambrose, Laviolette, Juengst, Long, and Malks—who received multiple "Honor Roll" shout-outs during the season.
Solo Selections
Raekwon Adkins, Oakland Spiders
Kelsen Alexander, Madison Radicals
Nate Astrom, Chicago Union
Alex Atkins, Colorado Summit
Christian Belus, Carolina Flyers
Elliot Bonnet, DC Breeze
Tobias Brooks, Carolina Flyers
Marques Brownlee, New York Empire
Matthew Burke, Oakland Spiders
Justin Burnett, Atlanta Hustle
Orion Cable, Boston Glory
Simon Carapella, Boston Glory
Elliott Chartock, New York Empire
Oliver Chartock, New York Empire
Luc Comiré, Toronto Rush
Lucas Coniaris, Indianapolis AlleyCats
Dex Dremann, Chicago Union
Travis Dunn, San Diego Growlers
Thomas Edmonds, DC Breeze
Khalif El-Salaam, Seattle Cascades
Mark Evans, Austin Sol
Jake Felton, Detroit Mechanix
Quinn Finer, Colorado Summit
Terry Gaither, Detroit Mechanix
Miles Grovic, DC Breeze
Anthony Gutowsky, Madison Radicals
Noah Hanson, Minnesota Wind Chill
Will Hoffenkamp, Pittsburgh Thunderbirds
Levi Jacobs, Indianapolis AlleyCats
Ben Jagt, New York Empire
Pawel Janas, Los Angeles Aviators
Anthony Jirele, Minnesota Wind Chill
Sam Kaminsky, Chicago Union
Josh Klane, Minnesota Wind Chill
Sterling Knoche, Madison Radicals
Mike Kobyra, Atlanta Hustle
KJ Koo, San Diego Growlers
Gordon Larson, Minnesota Wind Chill
Jeremy Langdon, Atlanta Hustle
Ben Lewis, Houston Havoc
Bobby Ley, Atlanta Hustle
John Lithio, Chicago Union
Spencer Lofink, Seattle Cascades
Evan Magsig, Oakland Spiders
Garrett Martin, Seattle Cascades
Adam Miller, Atlanta Hustle
Jacob Miller, Salt Lake Shred
Nanda Min-Fink, Colorado Summit
Elliott Moore, Austin Sol
Tony Mounga, Salt Lake Shred
Mikey O'Brien, Seattle Cascades
James Pollard, Philadelphia Phoenix
Zeppelin Raunig, Seattle Cascades
Pieran Robert, Madison Radicals
Ben Sadok, Boston Glory
Grayson Sanner, Carolina Flyers
Will Selfridge, Salt Lake Shred
Pat Shriwise, Madison Radicals
Evan Swiatek, Austin Sol
Austin Taylor, Atlanta Hustle
Jake Thorne, Oakland Spiders
Jasper Tom, DC Breeze
Max Trifillis, Philadelphia Phoenix
Jason Vallee, Oakland Spiders
Bryan Vohnoutka, Minnesota Wind Chill
Jeff Wodatch, DC Breeze
Aaron Wolf, Seattle Cascades
Chad Yorgason, Salt Lake Shred
Jimmy Zuraw, Houston Havoc
Amongst this collection of coast-to-coast talent, you have a bunch of potential All-UFA performers and a handful of players who enjoyed one especially phenomenal weekend. Suffice to say, if you put all these names in a hat and randomly selected seven, you’d likely have a pretty strong line.
One thing I definitely did with a little more intention this season was try to celebrate key D-line contributors, as it’s often easy to overlook some of the league’s premier defenders in favor of the more eye-popping offensive stats. Last year, among the 70 players that made the "Honor Roll" through the first 14 weeks, only 17, about 24 percent, were primarily D-line dudes. This year, 26 of the 82 players honored were noted for their defense, and that uptick to almost 32 percent does not include Jeff Babbitt, who finished second in the league in blocks despite playing 81 percent of his points on offense.
I recognize there’s still strides to make in this area, but we’re moving in the right direction.
In closing, here’s a team-by-team glance at the number of different players each team had on the Honor Roll during the 2024 season. (If a player made it multiple weeks, they are only counted once on this list.)
8 - Atlanta Hustle
6 - Carolina Flyers, DC Breeze, Seattle Cascades, Oakland Spiders
5 - Madison Radicals, Minnesota Wind Chill, New York Empire, Salt Lake Shred
4 - Boston Glory, Chicago Union, Colorado Summit
3 - Austin Sol
2 - Detroit Mechanix, Houston Havoc, Indianapolis AlleyCats, Philadelphia Phoenix, San Diego Growlers
1 - Los Angeles Aviators, Montreal Royal, Pittsburgh Thunderbirds, Toronto Rush
0 - Dallas Legion, Portland Nitro
There’ll be one more Monday "Honor Roll" coming next week, and odds are high that it will prominently feature several or the league’s most recent champions.
Previous weeks: