Who are the best players in the Southwest region? This is an open thread to discuss All-Region nominations, All-Freshman nominations, coaching awards, and more. Stay positive and keep it civil.
1st team:
Calvin Brown (SLO)
Kyle Lew (SLO)
Anton Orme (SLO)
Riley KD (UCLA)
Dexter Clyburn (Cal)
Ridge Huang (Cal)
Toby Warren (UCSC)
2nd Team:
Alex Nelson (SLO)
Marshall Wildman (UCLA)
Tynan Sander (UCSD)
Max Gibson (UCSD)
Mario Ambrose (UCSC)
Sam Laur (Cal)
Alex B (Stanford)
Matthew Barcellos (UCLA)
Honestly there are probably more people on SLO that could nudge their way into this list but it would be boring to give them all the spots. UCSB also has 1-2 players that could be on here where I just don’t know their names.
I do not know who the freshmen in the region are to be honest.
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Weirdly, I think CORE may have played more out of region than in region teams this year. With that in mind, here are some shoutouts for some of my teammates and other Southwest players.
Calvin Brown, Anton Orme, Alex Nelson, Seamus Robinson: By this point I think everyone in the knows how good these players are.
These next 3 players are just as important to CORE as the players mentioned above but don’t get nearly enough of the credit.
James Whealan: top 5 cutter, top 5 handler, and top 5 defender on CORE. He does everything well and nothing bad. Enough said
Keaton Orser: Probably the most consistent player for CORE this year. Always gets open in the handler set, doesn’t turn the disc over, and still hits very difficult break shots that keep our O line moving.
Max Gade: Probably best defender on CORE this year. Argument for him being a top 5/10 defender in the nation. And has turned into a very dangerous D-Offense player
For CORE rookies, we have 2 that both have an argument for best Freshman in the region.
Hayden King: For an offense that returned essentially all of it’s contributors(only graduated 1 O-line player), Hayden has worked his way to be one of our starting O-line handlers. Not only is a phenomenal thrower, his instincts and maturity was amazing to see.
Oliver Faase: Oliver has firmly found himself on our D1 this year. In addition, he has also been able to cross over to O-line seamlessly. He’s insanely well rounded already. Has the potential to grow into an Anton/KJ piece for CORE
Outside of CORE, these players from other teams I think should be locks for first/second team
Dexter Clyburn (Cal)
Matt Barcellos and Riley KD (UCLA)
Toby Warren (UCSC)
Max Gibson (UCSD)
Other players that deserve shoutouts:
Ridge Huang and Carter Langford (Cal)
Main handler on UCSD, I think Tynan Sander
Mario Ambrose and Aidin Terris (UCSC)
Michael Tao and Marshall Wildman (UCLA)
There are many other non CORE players who deserve shoutouts, it’s just hard to say having not played many of the southwest teams this year.
Coaches:
Tim Gilligan and Cody Mills(CORE): Cody is one of the most well known coaches in frisbee for a reason. Tim gets far less credit but is an equally huge piece of this team. I would love for Tim to get more credit for being an elite coach.
Dan Silverstein(Cal) and Johnny O(UCSC): I have been coached by both Dan and Johnny in the past. Both are clearly primary pieces for their respective teams success.
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Didn’t think about this too hard but here are my teams:
All southwest (in order):
Dexter Clyburn
Calvin Brown
Anton Orme
RKD
Kyle Lew
Toby Warren
Max Gibson
All southwest second team (in order):
Matt Barcellos
Milan Moslehi
Ridge Huang
Mario Ambrose
Alexander Belfiore
Carter Langford
Tynan sander
All underrated team (no order):
Max Gade
Alexandre Belfiore
Gabe Gatewood-Wolfe
Sam Laur
Milan Moslehi
Aidin Terris
Short haired UCLA twin
ROTY:
Seamus Shogren/Hayden King
I lied I thought about this a lot
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I think Toby is really having a breakout year not as a player but as a teammate. I wasn’t really friends with him before but we smoked weed one time and he was tweaking in the Panda Express. After that he was a way nicer teammate to me and he hasn’t yelled at a rookie in 4 weeks! Toby for 1st team but also it think it’s time his reputation has changed everyone deserves a second chance.
-Riley Kirkland Davis
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This is Mario
It is kinda weird I don’t think we’ve played Southwest teams very much this year, with the exception of Stanford, Cal and UCSB. Obviously SLO has tons of dogs, specifically shoutout number 72 he is one of my favorite players, so calm and makes hard shit look easy.
I love watching Dexter Clyborn play, he is so good and plays so smooth and under control. It is honestly a joy to watch. Also a bunch of other guys on Cal are really good. Shoutout to Cal for the competitive fire they bring to every game, I’m grateful that we get to compete against yall.
The main handler on Stanford is reallllly good, as well as number 48 on their Dline and number 0. They are both great athletes and great competitors. please stop playing so well against us.
Haven’t played UCSD yet
Number 3 (i believe) on UCSB is goated, super athletic and sweet throws. Their other main handler impressed me a lot too.
I’ll shoutout some dudes on Slugs:
- Seamus Shogren doesn’t play like a rookie at all, always game to take the toughest matchup and make tough throws. He is great in the deep space too. It brings me so much joy to see him play his heart out every day knowing what he has gone through this year. I really look up to him
- Milan Moslehi is soooooo fast and tough. I hope everyone can recognize how good he is. Top lad as well
- Toby Warren is goated, best player on Slugs for sure. He is actually a great guy too and I love being his teammate
- REAL ones know Charlie Jia. DOG, sick throws, sicker bids, and one of the sweetest dudes every. He rides a fixy too
First Team
Calvin Brown (SLO)
RKD (UCLA)
Anton Orme (SLO)
Kyle Lew (SLO)
Toby Warren (UCSC)
Dexter Clyburn (CAL)
Max Gade (SLO)
Second Team
Milan Moslehi (UCSC)
Ridge Huang (CAL)
Alex Nelson (SLO)
James Whalen (SLO)
Keaton Orser (SLO)
Matthew Barcellos (UCLA)
#3 on UCSB (UCSB)
Don’t sleep on Selim Jones or Kien Warren, injuries took them off these lists
also Gavin May, I’m so sorry man
ROTY
Seamus Shogren or someone on Cal probably
BPOTY
Carter Langford
POTY
Calvin Brown
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Akilesh Swamy (USC Lockdown, LA Aviators) is a name that I feel like should be talked about a whole lot more than it has been. The 5’10 freshman has been the go to player on USC as a freshman and is truly not only one of the most underrated freshmen in the Southwest but in the country. His ability to mix defender after defender with his quick change of direction as well as his reliability when given high volume proves him to be one of the top players in the region. In the few games that I have watched of this USC frisbee team, most notably vs UCLA at sectionals, he had 6 of USC’s 7 total points and hockey assisted on the 7th. He often plays both lines, choosing difficult matchups and often winning them on both sides of the ball. With him also being selected to the LA Aviators he is only going to continue to improve and quite frankly, I am scared for other teams in the Southwest for when this guy reaches his final form. If you don’t know his name now, you will very soon.
toby reformed? reported for spreading misinformation
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I like doing more full writeups, and now that we have had our regionals to reflect, here they are:
1st team:
Calvin Brown (SLO) - He used to have crazy throws and crazy turnovers. Now he just has crazy throws. He used to also function as a great cutter with a weakness in the air, now he just also functions as a great cutter. He used to have a cushy 6 figure job at netflix, now he’s spending 6 years trying to graduate from a local state school. Can’t imagine you’d ever take anyone else as you first round draft pick.
Kyle Lew (SLO) - Kyle’s continued breakout over the last two years have really come from adding throwing mastery to his game. He has always had top level endurance - this allows him to unlock that endurance’s usefulness by being able to play multiple points no matter what side of the disc they’re on. He’s always been a good defender and cutter, his improvement in footwork and balance as a thrower is most notable to me.
Anton Orme (SLO) - Although the appear to have different styles, a lot of what I said about Kyle really applies to Anton as well, always been athletic with good game sense but has improved steadily as a thrower. IMO his balance/footwork as a handler has always been fine, it’s really been the power/accuracy he generates on his throws now that’s made the most improvement. He did throw an absolute backhand dime in the regional finals; I would recommend watching it but don’t look at the score please.
Riley KD (UCLA) - There are fewer tragedies than Riley getting robbed of nationals 5 years in a row (or the 10 UCLA jerseys whose necklines have been ruined)… While his team easily would’ve held their own there, it just goes to show how difficult getting there really is. Riley has always stood out to me as being a player with the fewest weaknesses I’ve ever seen. Think of any good ultimate player, and say “he/she is good because they can _____”. Riley can also do that. Balanced, fast, full arsenal of throws, inspiring teammate and leader.
Dexter Clyburn (Cal) - Every once in a while we get a freak athlete in our sport that doesn’t quite learn the fundamentals but dominates regardless due to their sheer speed/size/hops. Dexter is what you get when one of those players develops good fundamentals at an early age. His athletic dominance reminds me of Beau Kittridge’s (sorry if I’m dating myself), but can you imagine Beau being able to run a dominator? (hint if you dont know him: beau’s throws sucked) As his team’s go to play?
Ridge Huang (Cal) - The Ridge draft pick was absolutely unfair, in no way did Cal need another top tier player in their system. To be fair, it was a great match, in that an offense that uses dominator frequently allows Ridge to play to his full potential, his ability to find crafty throws to get a disc out into space around any mark is probably on rivaled by Calvin if anyone. We have tried so many marking strategies against him, but the only thing we really found was that marking him was slightly better than not marking him.
Toby Warren (UCSC) - Our team lost a really unique talent last year in Curry, who had the best standstill hucks I’ve ever seen (sorry Calvin, it’s niche). Liam Jay was the most open upline reset in the SW (even if only for a gain of 2). Dylan Burns was the most dependendable open receiver our team has ever had. While I wouldn’t put Toby above those three in any individual category (sorry Toby they’re all niches), it’s impressive how much he’s added those 3 elements to his game this year to help fill the void left by the SW’s largest graduating class.
2nd Team:
Seamus Robinson (SLO) - I had Alex Nelson here before, who’s easily also on 2nd team in addition to the entire cal poly roster which would’ve made this really boring to write. Emmet, if you want to just write a little 2 sentence blurb/glaze next to everyone on your roster I’d probably vote for that over my list. But I switched to Seamus since I think I’d be slighly more scared of him being on the field as a defender, and as probably the single best player in the SW who didn’t get a head start in high school - meaning his ceiling is probably higher than we think, especially now that he’s healthy.
Marshall Wildman (UCLA) - Often overshadowed by other talent on UCLA, his a workhorse cutter with top tier athleticism that goes overlooked. There’s no shortage of times he’s gotten D’s just because someone tested him thinking they were throwing to a favorable matchup. The trio of him, RKD, and Brandon Van Doesn’tGoHere last year was almost unstoppable at SMI 2023. He joins the club of players I regretted cutting to practice player on Red Dawn (along with Kyle Lew) since it only made them more motivated to get better and come beat my team in college. Marshall also stands out to me as one of the world’s most supportive teammates, where I would take someone like him even if they sucked at frisbee.
Tynan Sander (UCSD) - Last year when we were first playing UCSD and wondering why were having such a hard time winning a game that on paper looked like it should have been ours, he was one of the first faces I saw where I thought “since when did they have this guy??” He’s versatile, he’s the real deal, and he’s a big reason why all the top teams in the region worry when they have to play them.
Max Gibson (UCSD) - He’s one of the other big reasons; Toby Warren dubbed him “the Henry Ng of the Southwest”. I probably wouldn’t go that far, but there’s no denying they have similar bags.
Mario Ambrose (UCSC) - Big layout D highlights, huge plays in the air when his teammates actually see him open deep (they rarely check), but what stands out most is his progression as a thrower from last year to this. It reminds me of Kershal’s progression as a thrower from 2022-2023 - once criticized for bad hucks he now has all those some hucks but with perfect timing, angle and speed.
Sam Laur (Cal) - Lesser known/underrated, but extremely well rounded, which is essential in a team characterized by specialists. His transition to D line this year has given them a huge boost that IMO has saved Cal from feeling the full force of Gavin’s injury who used to cross over so frequently to ensure they could run doffense on a turn.
Alex B (Stanford) - I have seen some of stanford’s other results and they do not make sense to me. For whatever reason, Stanford plays to their full potential against us (save SBI), but maybe they don’t against other teams. Our strategy against stanford used to be “don’t let Alex get the disc” and stick our best defender on him. That was a waste of time and we’ve come to a gentlemen’s agreement that Alex can get the disc. His team just plays better when he’s on the line and exuding confidence, and to me that’s a sign of a really good player.
Matthew Barcellos (UCLA): Really good on all sides of the disc, and from my limited perspective he strikes me as a really good leader on/off the field for UCLA (I don’t think/know if he’s a captain, but obviously leadership is more than just captaining). In a close game where UCLA slowly fades out of contention as the score gap increases, Matt always seems to be the last one still playing to win rather than playing to end the game.
This year I’m proud to get to do the first ever all injured line:
Selim Jones (UCSC, ACL tear)
Kershal (Cal, ankle injury I think?, played some regionals)
Kien Warren (UCSC, MCL tear, played some regionals)
Gavin May (Cal, ACL)
Bailey P (SLO, broken fibula)
Garrett Bush (SLO, patellar tendinopathy)
Lucas Adams/Loic B (UCLA, unknown lower body injury)
If there was a zone O/standler game on crutches these 7 could hang with the best.
Breakout/Freshmen Players of the Year:
Carter Lankford (Cal) - I had my doubts about Carter when I heard him getting hyped up last year, and he’s still not quite Gavin’s replacement, but it would be hard not to want him on your team at this point. His overall game is strong but his tenacity sticks out to me.
Seamus S (UCSC) - I was trying not to be a homer last time, I don’t know of any stronger rookies although I could definitely be wrong. Seamus has skied Raekwon, layout D’d players twice his experience level, and proven to be an absolute both sides of the disc utility player. We just won’t take about his OI flicks (YET. they’re getting there)
Vincent (Cal) - Another fast handler type with a great all around game that has really helped Cal level up this year by providing talented depth to a roster that used to be more top heavy.
Guy who wears a hat (UCSB) - Sometimes I cover up that I’m bad with names but I have no chance here. A really talented, fast handler that has given our team trouble more than once. Really integrates well into their system of fast breakside movement.
Max V (Stanford) - Stanford gets another pick for exposing us 3 times this year: he’s not flashy or unstoppable but he provide his team’s D-line a lot of firepower as a talented, fast defender who can run the offense on a turn, and he seems to be a more outspoken source of energy for his team than Alex that helps them to go on some runs where they tend to play better than they should on paper.
This is Calvin from CORE, full disclosure that I have not watched too much SW film this year and we didn’t play too many SW teams apart from the series so my knowledge is limited. Not including myself because self-evaluation is hard.
First Team:
Dexter Clyburn (Cal) - Massive usage for Cal on both sides of the disc, dangerous thrower, dangerous deep threat, routinely comes up with blocks as a deep deep and takes the toughest matchups when Cal plays person defense.
Anton Orme (SLO) - CORE’s option 1 cutter downfield and our first player to crossover to D-line when we need a break, Anton is probably the most well-rounded player in the region and is elite at practically every facet of the game.
Kyle Lew (SLO) - Our best handler defender and the engine of our d-line offense, Kyle is impossible to guard in tight spaces and has an arsenal of excellent hucks, breaks, and over-the-top throws. He’s also been elite downfield when he crosses over to O-line.
Toby Warren (UCSC) - Tobey rivals Dexter in terms of how much his team relies on him, especially on offense. He shoulders a big throwing load while also being a dangerous deep threat who is a big playmaker. He came in as a very talented rookie last year but has developed a consistency to his game which makes him a lot scarier to go up against.
Riley KD (UCLA) - He’s an elite thrower who rarely makes mistakes, is deceptively hard to guard in tight spaces, and understands the game at a very high level. He does a lot for Smaug and very rarely has bad games.
Matthew Barcellos (UCLA) - As good as Riley is, I think the success of Smaug was most reliant on whether Matty was playing well or not. While he might be a streakier player than Riley, at his best he hit some really difficult shots, made plays in the air, and brought a level of much-needed dynamism to an otherwise steady UCLA offense.
James Whaelen (SLO) - Our biggest hidden weapon, James has leveled up as a cutter this summer and is constantly open both downfield and as a reset while continuing to be an amazing break thrower who never turns it over. Between being the main target for our pull plays and a focal part of our endzone set its rare for us to score a hold without James being a big part of it. In addition to that he’s one of the best shut-down defenders in the region.
Second Team:
Max Gibson (UCSD) - Kind of the focal point for the Squids offense, a tough matchup for any defender because of his aerial ability and deep throwing bag. The kind of player other teams gameplan around limiting.
Tynan Sander (UCSD) - The big backfield driver for Squids, he might not be as much of a highlight player as Max, but he constantly makes the right play and does the little things that make the offense hum.
Alex Nelson (SLO) - On another team he might look like the best player in the region, but Alex is one of those guys that is happy to be more of a role player rather than a star for the sake of team success. In his role, he’s come in as the scariest deep threat in the region, skying defenders, churning unders, or drawing help and getting his teammates open. He’s also scarily quick for his size and a very underrated thrower.
Mario Ambrose (UCSC) - Stepping up in a big way from being just another solid Slugs player last year, it seems like Mario got better at nearly every part of his game. He looked every part like the prototypical offensive cutter and had a knack for making big plays when Slugs needed him too.
Carter Langford (Cal) - From the limited Cal games I’ve watched this year it just seems like he always makes the play when he has a chance to. He might be a more limited player than most of the other names on this list, but stepping up as the downfield release valve for Cal after Gavin went down is one of the big reasons that Cal were able to defend their bid and return to Nationals.
Max Gade (SLO) - Want to give Max flowers for being probably the best cutter defender in the region, he’s just one of those special defenders who can somehow both shut his matchup down and routinely generate blocks. He’s also stepped up as a big part of our Doffense, being on the scoring end of many of our breaks.
Probably a bit of slo homerism, but I didn’t even include Seamus, Carson, or Zach who all have the talent but dealt with injury struggles throughout the season that kept them from the field.
Other players I enjoy watching:
Marshall Wildmann (UCLA) - As talented as anyone on these lists, our last two games against UCLA were both zone-heavy windy games where I don’t think his skillset is showcased the best, but he is a dog of a defender and a matchup nightmare downfield.
Ridge Huang (Cal) - Most of my knowledge of his game comes from other people’s opinions and playing against him last year, he’s a very dynamic handler who can do it all. He’s a tough guard in the backfield and he has great ability to break a mark. Not putting him on first or second team might be a mistake from me, but he didn’t stand out as much I would have expected in the limited time I’ve seen Cal play this year.
Milan Moslehi (UCSC) - Someone who didn’t stand out last year on Slugs, but definitely stands out in a big way this year. Incredible speed and quickness and the game sense to use it effectively, he’s very quickly become a cutter teams have to find the right matchup for - and even then it might not matter.
Let’s get in to it YEAH BABY markdown
Slo
has a handful of guys that might be all big leaders if they weren’t being outshined on their own team which is a shame.
Berk
has Dexter who is obviously a great player with every skill you could ask for in a player no doubter, I think their team was absolutely deep and many players were skillful enough to bring them the success they have but I couldn’t put another name from their team besides maybe Mitchell Gibson that really stood out to me as a dominant all around player RIP Gavin May.
LA
and their supreme duo (RDK / Barcellos ) are also easy mentions plus I think Jackson Jewett is an underrated weapon that supports a lot of their success.
Slugs
We didn’t get to play Santa Cruz at all which is a shame bc they have the best Instagram in the region. I think the hammer god himself T(hor)oby Warren is clearly one of the best players around on top of that I heard he has grown a lot as a person. I don’t know enough names but Ambrose is also solid and I believe deserves credit in leading that team to being so successful.
GCU
Has one guy I don’t believe is ever mentioned but could easily be one of the best in the region if he was somewhere else shout out Bryan Fuglestad, extremely talented.
The rest of the teams that we played didn’t really have anyone who stood out to me as high level players on both sides of the disc that I believe deserve to be on this.
UCSD’s
Tynan Sander is my favorite player in the region, being so handsome and having so many unteachable skills there’s no comp. I think we have a lot of other guys that should be mentioned Ethan Wang, Nate Becker, Nilesh Mukundan, Jonathan McGurrin, Vespa. The list goes on but it doesn’t matter bc we didn’t win anything.
King of the rookies
Should either be Mitchell Gibson from Berk or Eli Damico from UCSD, truly the two most athletic and useful freshmen I have encountered.
ps: i am way better than some dude named henry @JohnnyO
Cal player here (Gabe)
Some Cal players that I think should be considered, and I haven’t seen mentioned yet are Camden Mah, Robby McCabe, and Emery Goulet.
I’ve been playing frisbee for a while, and have gotten to work with some very talented players, but I have never met anyone who has as, simultaneously, intuitive and analytical an understanding of frisbee as Camden Mah. He sees the spaces, knows the timing, and can improvise when things get hairy. Plus, he’s a great defender that consistently and constantly applies pressure and gets blocks through his athleticism and strong philosophical understanding of frisbee. He’s an incredibly talented all around player.
Aside from being certifiably fast as frick, Robby McCabe has become extremely proficient at offense in general. Seeing as how the Southwest is not an extremely powerful region, I hope most people can recognize that offensive proficiency isn’t very commonplace. And on Cal, a team that has many players who didn’t play before college, the raw offensive power that Robby demonstrates is even more rare.
Simply, Emery Goulet is one of the best defenders on Cal. He takes the hardest matchups and gets blocks, he plays basically every position in the zone, and he slots in anywhere and everywhere after the turn. A jack of all trades that gets blocks and can play offense.
These players have only been playing frisbee for 3 years, but I believe they would be assets on any team, at any level.