MLR Draft Preview: Get to Know Connor Devos, Potential Seawolves Target
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Lindenwood University tighthead prop Connor Devos carries the ball during a match against Indiana University on September 14, 2024. Credit: Connor Devos/Instagram. [/caption]
If the Seattle Seawolves are looking for incredible raw power at the tighthead position, there’s a guy to consider who was just on the USA U23s.
Connor Devos, a tighthead prop out of Lindenwood University, is one of the premier players in the 2025 MLR draft. Originally from The Woodlands, Texas—a suburb north of Houston—he got introduced to rugby around the age of 10, courtesy of his South African father. Pretty much immediately, Devos clicked with the tighthead position, where he has played ever since.
“I love scrumming, that’s probably my favorite part about it, the physicality,” Devos remarked. “And off the field, I love to eat a lot of food.”
During his senior year of high school, Devos got connected with Lindenwood rugby through a fellow player at The Woodlands Youth Rugby Club, a then-junior at Lindenwood named Evan Conlon. Devos liked what he saw at the school and the school liked what they saw in Devos. The jump from youth club to college is pretty big, however, and the level of play in college surprised even the very physical Texan tighthead.
“Rugby at Lindenwood is very heavy on physicality and defense; arguably, I’d say we’re number one in the nation for that. So that was a big shocker to me,” Devos recalled. “I had to decide if I wanted to level up to that.”
But level up he did. Taken to a whole new environment, college rugby became one of the best experiences of Davos’ life. The games, of course, were part of the joy, but due to the community, Devos found ways to make even the bad experiences become good ones.
“In the moment, I didn’t enjoy the bus rides, because we would bus up to Davenport, bus down to Life University, those were pretty rough,” Devos said. “Everyone’s going through this terrible drive, everyone’s back’s sore, and everyone’s tired, but it was fun bonding with the team, everyone growing together and getting close on those trips.”
Davos had always been athletic. Before becoming a stalwart tighthead, before playing in the East-West game, before being a Division I All-American, he was a multi-sport athlete. His time in football stretched through the end of high school, and he added to that with a few years in basketball and soccer. While he didn’t go any further these three games, they taught him a lot of useful skills that he brought into rugby.
“Soccer taught me a lot about footwork and playing together as a team. Basketball, same thing,” Devos noted. “In football, I played O-Line, and what I got from that was loving the weight room, being dedicated to the weight room, and having the discipline to keep working.”
Devos’ passion for the weight room—and experience on the offensive line— has clearly paid off for the young tighthead. Standing at 5-11 and weighing 255 pounds, he has an incredible amount of raw power. The following video contains three segments that show the force of his push. In the first clip, he wrestles the opposing loosehead ferociously enough to induce a scrum collapse (despite his opponents having the feed) and give his side a scrum penalty. In the second segment, the Eagles’ opponents hold up in the face of the pressure, but Devos barrels forward enough to make it close. The final segment shows Devos pressing forward a couple meters through a good amount of defenders.
However, there are still things to work on. There were a couple times during the South Africa tour when Devos misdirected his power and collapsed his side of the scrum, and I noticed a missed tackle as well. Regardless of these faults, his incredible strength gives any team that drafts him a significant upside. His ability to power his body forward means that even if he gets a late jump on an opposing attacker, he can redirect in time to prevent damage. The following clip shows him helping with three goal line defensive stops in relatively quick succession, one of which comes after an opponent initially fakes him out.
All this footage comes from the 2025 USA Eagles Under-23s tour in South Africa, where he competed alongside a good number of the top college prospects as well as a few young talents who already play in the MLR. This was an ecosystem that Devos thrived in.
“The rugby environment was tremendous,” Devos said. “Having all those high level coaches and high level former players and high level MLR players, it’s really cool to see how they train, how they prepare, what they do week in and week out to have their body and mind prepared for games.”
As a high-ranked prospect in the MLR draft, it’s very likely that Connor Devos will be joining yet another competitive rugby environment. Wherever he goes, he’s looking for a club with a cohesive and winning culture—“team-oriented” was the word he used. As to what club that will be, Thursday's draft will have the answer. There are certainly a lot of clubs that are looking for a powerful tighthead. Perhaps the Seawolves look to Devos to bolster the front row, perhaps he will end up with his hometown Houston SaberCats. Anthem Rugby Carolina has the first two picks, but also a good amount of American talent to draw from.
“With whatever team—I can’t really control where I go—I’m just willing to come and work and grow as a rugby player and become a better version of myself.”
