All-Region 2019: Great Lakes (D-I Men's)

[gabewray]

Captain of Indiana here. I will be discussing guys from my own team and notable players from teams we saw during the season.

Indiana
All-Region:
Kip Curtis (#8) is in my opinion the best deep space player in the region, both on offense and defense. Defensively he covers up for his teammate’s mistakes constantly with his help D, and routinely makes the opponent’s best athlete a non-factor. On offense he is a guaranteed in cut when we need it and an outlet deep when we find ourselves in trouble. Kip doesn’t get tired. If you need evidence, check out his Callahan video.

Conner Henderson (#14) is a machine on defense. He takes the toughest matchup every point, whether they are a handler or a cutter. Cohner is known for huge bids, and I can attest that he is always on your mind no matter how open you may feel. On a turn he can launch the disc on a fast break or break the mark with ease, if he isn’t the one receiving the goal. Missing Conor in the regional final was brutal, but without him we would have never been there in the first place.

Alex Henderson (#0) is the best freshman in the region. I have watched him play since his U16 YCC days, and have since coached him, played Brickyard with him, and luckily got a chance to be around for his freshman year of college. He plays without a mark, essentially getting any throw from a 70 yard flick to an inside break lefty off with ease. Teams often gave up on zone D quickly due to his presence on the field. When he moves downfield into cutter space he is also dominant, so containing him is unlikely. He should be looked at for all-region and freshman of the year.

Freshmen:
Jeremy Keusch (#20) was an immediate impact player for us. His combination of length and discipline make him a terror to the center handler of opposing teams, and on offense he has a nice toolkit to keep the disc alive and keep our D-line moving.

Max Bradshaw (#97) is about as crafty as they come. His variety of release points and spacial awareness make him a threat to throw anywhere on the field at any time. His presence on our O-line repeatedly got us out of sticky situations.

Purdue

Joe Byerly (#12) is the real deal. He was the player we had to plan around more than anyone else we saw this year. He goes every other and manages to make our best players look lost a good portion of the time. He is a no-brainer for all-region and I feel sorry for the rest of the region because they have to see him again next year while he attends Purdue for grad school.

Jack Havey (#26) is fast fast. He also has a soul bond or something with Joe, because they can’t be stopped, only slowed down.

Northwestern

Kyle Rutledge very much earned his way onto the U24 team. He filled every need for his team when we played them, and was very fun to play against. I look forward to him representing the region well at worlds.

Josh Venegas (#99) was a great all around player against us. The disc often ran through him, and he really impressed me when he managed to sky a pack of people 4+ inches taller than him early on in quarters.

Illinois

Joey Kennedy is a talented freshman, and will lead Illinois for the next few years. He has both high level disc skills and shifty cutting abilities that make him hard to contain.

Ben Sabourin is integral to their success, both with huge throws and quarterbacking the offense.

Kentucky

Jake Carrico beat us at conferences. He is a huge jumper and a threat with the disc. His play style is unorthodox but gets the job done.

Notre Dame

Buckley and Campillo are both extremely consistent and power a great system for Notre Dame.

I wish I knew more names on other teams, but these are the guys that stuck out to me most.

[jake_val]

Soon to be Uchicago alumni here.
I don’t have much novel content to add.

GSVU has those two studs #88 and #2, they can take over a game.

NUT
has the hyped but not overhyped Kyle Rut (a solid pick for POTY), don’t think I need to say more about him
Big boi jeff holmes (for the record I was a fan of him before it was cool)
Also, #5 is thick. Raul I believe. That guy is an athlete strong defensive player
Josh also is a predescribed athlete

ISU
3 people I remember who were getting it done:
??Kiendel?? sorry one of those names I’ve only ever heard. But dude is good, a handler but has good length and can break a lot of marks. Def deserves recognition.
Cal- hard working dude, good speed size and bids.
Josh- good thrower, got good foot speed too.

Notre Dame
Did not play them but they have some playmakers, I fully endorse yngve’s endorsements of said playmakers. Buckley, Stephen Camp, and Stephen bab (man that’s confusing). I’ll also add Buckley is a lanky boi with big boi bids. Sorry to hear he was recovering from an injury during regionals.

Indianna:
Had a great season, unfortunately I can’t really tell you who there ballers were, but they obvi exist, and deserve to get some names on the board. Their coach seems to have given a good run down above.

Michigan:
Also don’t really have any names and was kinda of hard of hard to tell who was good when playing on Saturday conditions, but they seemed to have a bunch of athletes on their squad. I think enough people have called them out that me not saying something shouldn’t ruin their day. Also this Raymond Liu story is crazy! Unfortunate circumstances but good on him for staying involved with his team even in shitty Saturday conditions.

And I think that’s all the teams I played.

Wait Depaul had a freshman that did a lot of work for them, Sam, creative thrower good head on his shoulder, pretty speedy to

Now onto the real reason I came here, to Dab up the bois

Milan Rivas, say what you want about his hair or his laugh of cruelty, he is a a phenomenal player. He has an insane ultimate IQ and worked his butt off to pass as athletic. Plays tight Handler D, plays dominant handler O, when he goes downfield he gets Ds in the air and even skies fools like its the fourth of july. Very well rounded and beyond that he popped off at regionals. He consistently broke marks for goals, roasted dudes upline and ran his heart out all weekend.

Sean McSweeny: How is no one talking about him ?!??!?! He has the most creative throws in the region, heart and soul of uchicago ultimate. He is insanely creative, composed, and just a good handler/player. The center oline handler for chicago, a main reason our offense worked is he showed people the deep space was an option when he had the disc.

Hawk: Big blonde dude that has an uncanny sense of timing with cuts and size that makes you notice him. The “cog int he uchicago offense” hawkins is pivotal to our success. Some of the spacing on cuts I’ve ever seen, very consistent player with the disc, also will never call a foul.

Now the REAL reason I am here.
No one is throwing love to uchicago freshmen, even though we got two of them on the uline; one of those two is a starting dline player the other one a starting oline player.

Kevin Liu: This kid will be the best player to come out of uchicago if he sticks with it. Springy dude that is a bad throwers wet dream because the stats when he bails you out make you look like a good thrower . Also, his throws are liquid. To pick one example out, he goes as our primary cutter 3 times in a row at regionals, gets the disc 3 times in a row and then launches 3 flick hucks in a row for completions. This dude is real. Also, smooth bids the likes of which I've never seen.

Matthias Ling: BIG boi, coming at 6+ feet. Got some good experience with Hong-Kong's U-24 team. he would usually take the hardest match up on the dline and at best get turns, at worst make them work for every disc they touched. Also, he has got some really big pulls. Grew a lot this season, crazy to think would this guy is going to look like in his final form when he is starting so high.  

Now that I get all that out the way, the REAL reason I am here, more stroking my teammates ego so feel free to stop reading if that’s not your thing

Dylan Petiprin:
The most spirited and kindest soul you’ll ever meet. By sheer grit and hardwork he became a starter a contributor on the oline, someone we trusted with the disc, and someone we trusted not to get scored on. He also has done more for uchicago culture than just about anyone save Zubair. Glad I know him.

Isaac Harris:
This is a dude whose coordination was laughable his first year. While his running form may be unorthodox you can’t have a uchicago dline without isaac. Possibly the biggest standstill jumper in the region, he also became someone who can abuse people in the handler space. Furthermore, he is arguably the biggest sideline presence I’ve seen in the region, if you don’t know about bean time your gonna, and you can thank Isaac for that. Also, I get this space wasn’t designed for logistical gods, but Isaac is exactly that. Without him we don’t get to play, so thank you my dude.

Eric:
If you ever need to bet on someone being late to practice, he’s your man.

Ah poop! forgot to hype our coaches. This year in preparation for Zubair’s eventual departure, we got a new head coach Vedant who did an amazing job and I am really thankful for dedicating pretty much all of his time to coaching us instead of finding a wife. Now neither him nor Zubair are eligible for COTY but still gotta preach the truths. Without Zubair uchicago is not a semis team at sectionals let alone regionals. After last year’s graduating class well graduated, many people did not think we were going to make it to regionals. It is a testament to Zubair’s coaching style and his legacy that we have made it to the semis or farther for the past THREE years. Maybe it is part of having a PhD in physics but Zubair makes uncoordinated unathletic nerds into one of the top teams in the region and that’s with practicing on a basketball court for a third of the year. So thank you Zub, if you do in fact end up leaving next year you will be missed by the torch shall be carried on.

[jake_val]

also, Milan gets foot blocks like its on sale. almost every game we play he gets at least one.

[kiptoncurtis]

Another captain of Indiana here.

Non-IU players I think should make first team all-region:
Joe Byerly - Purdue: Best thrower in the region.
Kyle Rutledge - Northwestern: I played with him at U24 tryouts and against him in quarters. He can shoot with the best of the best and made Team USA for a reason. Probable player of the region.
Justin Perticone - Grand Valley State: We played them in the fall and he was maybe my toughest matchup all year. Fastest person in the region.
Ray Lu - Michigan: Haven’t actually played him and he went to the other coast for tryouts but I assume he lives up to the hype.
Jason Vallee - Chicago: Played nearly every point and was going every other against us.

Other good non-IU players I think you should vote for:
Josh Venegas - Northwestern: Skied me super hard in quarters.
Jeff Holm - Northwestern: Definite threat
Ben Sabourin - Illinois: Good in wind.
Connor Buckley - Notre Dame: Crab
Stephen Babcock - Notre Dame: People
Steven Campillo - Notre Dame: Half crab, half person
Josh Sanabria - Illinois State: Best pulls in the region
Cal Tornabene - Illinois State: Part of the ship, part of the crew.
Mark Whitton - GVSU: His throws make Justin much harder to guard
Jack Havey - Purdue: Speedy
Sam Ellison - Purdue: Put your paws together
Jake Carrico - Kentucky: I marked him in zone D and failed.
Team Michigan: I honestly can’t put a name to a face for any of them but they went to natties because they were the best so read the above comments about them.

All freshman:
Alex Henderson - Indiana: Undoubtedly the best freshman in the region
Joey Kennedy - Illinois: Probably number 2 after my boy Alex
Nate Maddux - Kentucky: Good player
Matt Viscido - Purdue: Quick and sneaky
Chandler Moy - Purdue: Young Boy
Team Michigan: Again, I don’t know their names but they are probably good enough for this

My boys in Cream and Crimson:
Alex Henderson: Good player, great memes
Corner Henderson: Older brother, wiser memes
Adrian Golay: Guards me at practice, not fun

Honorable mentions:
Joe Dweck: The only 2019 Sin the Fields all star in the region

Kip Curtis: Devilishly handsome, dank Callahan video, and definitely didn’t do this write-up.

All Region Meme Team:
#1 Indiana: Unstoppable memes and dead natties dreams
#2 Michigan B: For beating Purdue
#3 Notre Dame: Crab People
#4 Illinois State: Cal, best impression of 10 feet
#5 Michigan: Only if they bring regional memes to natties
#6 Purdue: Engineering memes and Specs cosplay from #26
Last Place - Illinois: Runs zone in bad conditions, not memein

[samtagle]

Hi, my name is Sam “Tex” Tagle. I’m a freshman and I play with DePaul University DUC. I wanted to shoutout some of my teammates and others who I would deem as “dank” players and individuals.

I’m surprised nobody has mentioned “DePaul Student Athlete,” Jesse Johnson yet. Jesse is an athletic prodigy. His unreal speed and athleticism makes him an incredible cutter downfield, and he’ll come back and put in work in the handler set if needed. His layout form is beautiful and I can’t remember the last time I saw him drop a disc honestly. He makes catches that aren’t performable by another human being. On defense he’s a monster that can and will sky anybody. He’s playing for Chicago Wildfire this year and is only getting better. On top of all that, he is incredibly spirited and is probably one of the nicest people you will meet on and off the field. Super polite and very knowledgable player. On top of all this, he’s a great leader on the team as a captain.

Mike Prasauskas is also a freaking beast. He is a great cutter and goes for crazy bids that shouldn’t be legal. In fact, he dislocated his shoulder in the fall after going for a bid, and was back at practice a week later. Dude puts his body on the line for the boys. He makes really quick cuts too and gets open every time. He’s unstoppable on offense. He also GRINDS on defense. Mike is a role model for everyone on the team, giving 100% as soon as he steps on the line. He was also our captain this year, and did a fantastic job.

Together, Jesse and Mike are the culmination of the phrase, “the grind don’t stop.”

Also, we have one 5th year player, Josh Tong. Josh is a baller in our O-Line handler set. He’s got great throws and has a lot of experience playing with the team in his 5th year. Off the field, he has a wealth of knowledge to share. He’s also film encyclopedia and can talk about any recorded game of ultimate ever. He’s a great guy and was really helpful to me and a lot of other rookies this season.

I also want to shoutout our Coach Jake Ward . This was his last season coaching us, and it was a pleasure to be coached by him. He brings the fire and gets hype with the team. He’s incredibly passionate and really cares about everyone on the team. We owe a lot of our success to him, and we wish him the best of luck in Colorado. We will miss him next season.

Moving on, I gotta shout out my boy Andrew Stewart. Andrew Stewart is a Freshman at Indiana. He’s been dealing with injury this season, but he’s made a great comeback and I haven’t really gotten to see him play too much but the kid’s a beast. He’s got springs in his legs or something I don’t know how to explain how his vert is so high. My man has some legit hops. I played with him last summer on the Austin Amigos at YCC and this kid’s athletic ability is insane. He’ll sky you, layout D on you, cut circles around you, doesn’t matter. Watch out next year, because the “Ginger Jesus” himself is going to be taking names.

Lastly, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to plug my own video here. I will however shoutout my teammate and fellow film major, Jacob “KD” Ocker for editing it. On the field, Jacob is the hype train of the team. This man commands sideline chants, is a baller on defense, and can pound an energy drink in a half time circle in mere seconds. He does so much for the team and I really appreciate him for that and for making this video for me.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHHnjl699g0

[ucpd]

from Indiana: #0

from NUT: Kyle. Honorable mention to another one of their players, Jeff Holmes.

from Illinois: Martin Reid is a great player and deserves a ton of recognition.

from Michigan: Big props to Raymond Lu.

from UChicago: I got a lot more names here seeing as this is my usual beat.
Jason Vallee: literally our best cutter and could easily turn into a great give go player. On the turnover, he was a great defender, and showed people that he can always just go a little bit higher if you try to sky him

Milan Rivas: to quote one of our captains… “Milan has the best upwind, wet, gross, disgusting flick hucks ever” That skill in and of itself is pretty rare and earns him recognition but what really puts him over in my eyes is a crazy motor to run sets, a great knowledge of the game, and the fact that he also has pretty much every other orthodox throw in the game.

Sean McSweeney: Speaking of orthodox… have you seen this dude? He’s a handler and he is anything but orthodox. Scoobers, flick blades, fadeaways, and deep cuts. A lot. It’s pretty fun to watch.

Angel Barragan: Probs won’t be on either squad but the dude is a great defender. Consistently takes the toughest matchups and wins with his agility, footwork, and tenacity. That last one is especially underrated, because it’s one of those skills you cannot coach.

All freshmen nominations:

Kevin Liu (#7): another unstoppable 1 on 1 cutter with a turnaround flick huck. Great decision making and seemingly untiltable.
Matthias Ling (#4): Dude is fiery and from that fire emerges lockdown cutter defense. Also always ready to grab an under and turn into a handler and work the disc up.

If you didn’t notice that these guys were freshmen, it’s probably because they have the poise and playing ability most of us kill for after 4 years of college. And they’re learning crazy fast.

Lastly, shout out to the UChicago coaches: Cameron Menezes is a knowledge base on the field that a ton of players were lucky to take advantage of. He helped more than a few with their throwing form, their basic skills, and with their defense. I think a lot of credit goes to him for how UC’s man defense looked this year.

Zubair Abdulla deserves more praise than can be fit into a single post. Obviously being around the frisbee community and playing at the highest level of frisbee for 15 years gives you a ton of knowledge but there’s plenty of people who fit that description. What makes Zubair so notable is his ability to translate that knowledge into something that players can use to grow. Part of that comes from his ability to foster good relationships with players, part of that comes from his commitment to always being positive, and the other part comes from his ability to clearly communicate a rationale as to why he thinks what he thinks of whatever success or failure that just happened on the field.

[kylerutledge]

Hello everyone, I’m Kyle Rutledge and had the privilege to captain NUT this past year. I would like to endorse Kip’s post as he summarized the region very well and I don’t want to just repeat everyone else. I’ll add a few thoughts and talk about some NUT players.

First off, congrats to Michigan for their win and best of luck at Nationals this year! We have managed not to play them the last two years so I’ve only seen Ray play, but he’s so fun to watch. Magnum was clearly the deepest team in the region and deserves multiple spots on the first and second teams. I’ll be voting for a couple of them based on previous posts and think you should too. Parker Howard similarly deserves a ton of credit for the work he’s put into the program throughout the last few years and should maybe win coach of the region.

All Freshmen:
I went into regionals convinced that Joey Kennedy should win freshmen of the region, but Alex Henderson changed my mind. They’re both great players and honestly I still don’t know who I’m going to place first. Chandler Moy from Purdue and Sam Tagle from Depaul should be on this list. Those outside of the Illinois section probably haven’t seen Sam play, but he is incredibly poised and has already earned a great deal of respect from his teammates and opponents.

From NUT:

Jeff Holm (#11) was our most potent offensive player this year and has been a mainstay of our O-line for the last 3 years. He not only improved his deep game this year, but continually punished teams for forcing him under with his hucks.

Josh Venegas (#99) is for my money the most athletic player in the region and NUT was noticeably different when he broke his collarbone mid-season. He’s capable of making big plays on anyone in the country. Great dancer too.

Raul Rosenfeld (#5) is an effective cutter who uses his size and shiftiness to consistently get open. He was also huge for us in getting the disc back for us after a turn.

Kenneth Xuan (#32) is a strong, tenacious handler defender who never had trouble getting open as a reset for our D-line offense

Jordi Parry (#15) should be on the all-freshmen team. He played a ton of important points for NUT this year and was a consistent, well-rounded contributor.

Kevin Yngve deserves recognition for his massive impact on the program. He’s contributed countless hours both at practice and outside of our time together as a team. He provides tons of individual feedback and cares for everyone on team as people. I am extremely grateful for his presence with Northwestern ultimate the last 4 years as a coach and as a friend.

[HayDUC]

Hi everyone,

I’m a bit late to the party but definitely need to shout out a couple people. I am the coach of DePaul, so I’ll of course focus on my players–everyone from other teams I’d like to shout out has been mentioned several times already.

First, Mike Prasauskas:

Mike might be the most naturally athletic player to come through DePaul. From his freshman year, it was clear he would be a monster on the field. He gets open repeatedly and takes on whatever role I’ve asked him to, from deep cutter to a dropping back into the handler set this past season. Mike is a monster in the air, consistently boxing guys out and skying piles of people. His best attribute, however, is how great of a leader he is. Mike regularly leads the team huddle, and particularly when we are down he brings our spirit back up. Off the field, he is a champion of socializing with his teammates, which college players can attest is an absolutely essential part of building a program. He is the pulse of this team.

Jesse Johnson is the next player I’d like to shout out. Jesse told me his freshman year he wanted to make Chicago Wildfire. Two years later, as a junior, he not only made the team but has played and traveled for games–a testament to how much the leadership of that team values him. Jesse makes massive plays on the field–layouts, foot blocks, poach D’s, protecting the air and deep space. He takes on the opponent’s best player and wins the battle more often than not. The work he has put in over these past couple years is exceptional–the dude practically lives at the gym or on the practice field, and adding about 30+ lbs of muscle is proof. Add to that how far his throws have come, and it is easy to see why he earned that roster spot, and earned his place as a leader for DUC.

Last but not least, Sam Tagle. I can’t write enough about Tex. From the moment he began playing with us it was clear this kid is special. First, his throws are already the best on the team, and I’d argue among the best I’ve seen from anyone in our region. He can drop dimes up to 50-60 yards, break the mark at will, and has a variety of cheeky throws that would drive most coaches crazy–instead, I give him the green light to do what he does. He has been described by more than one opponent as “pure sauce.” His movement around the disc is fantastic; be it person or zone defense he has the ability to go every other and open up holes in the defense. Defensively, he generated at least one turn a game from either a point block, layout D, or by his mark. Tex also brought with him the perfect combination of intensity, competitiveness, and pure HYPE. We mounted more comeback wins this year than in all 4 years I played on the team, and his determination was integral to that success. He brings the fire in huddles, on the field, and on the sidelines. Not once has that boiled over into shouting at a teammate or radiating negative energy–he is a culture-changing player, and I couldn’t be happier to have coached him.

[cbrown5030]

For the first (and possibly last) time ever you can vote Zubair Abdulla for COTY! He deserves all and any praise for what he does for uchicago.

[strenfield]

Had the pleasure of coaching* Sam at Austin High (and also teaching him Algebra II). The improvement he’s shown since his sophomore year is phenomenal. Sophomore and junior year, he was pretty much solely a reset handler with the job of dumping back to the main handler, and also going deep sometimes. He put in some serious work that summer and became the best all around thrower on the team, and has only gotten better since then.

*Jeff Zhao did most of the coaching while I learned how to play and did paperwork