> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.emeraldcityspectrum.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # 2026 MLR Draft: Seawolves Take Scrumhalf, Winger, Lock in Five-Team Affair - URL: https://www.emeraldcityspectrum.com/seattle-seawolves-2026-mlr-draft/ - Published: 2026-08-28T02:58:39.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-08T06:13:44.000Z - Author: Callaghan Bluechel - Tags: News, Analysis, Seawolves, Solomon Williams, David Cathcart, Tristan Hubsch, 2026 MLR Draft \[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="601"\] ![ UC Berkeley scrumhalf Solomon Williams (center) carries the ball during a match against Saint Mary’s on April 25, 2026. Image credit: Diego Moran/Instagram. ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1d/f2/1df2f77b-83dd-4bc0-a6d2-6d1bb5df89a3/content/images/2026/10/solomon-williams-format-original-1.png) UC Berkeley scrumhalf Solomon Williams (center) carries the ball during a match against Saint Mary’s on April 25, 2026\. Image credit: Diego Moran/Instagram. \[/caption\] Unlike the chaotic mess of the 2025 off-season, when the league lost team after team unexpectedly, the one departure for the league this year - Anthem Rugby Carolina - was rather more expected. The side had been a three-year investment between World Rugby, the USA Eagles, and MLR, and once its third year ran out, the team simply wasn’t continued. It’s unclear if there are going to be five teams in 2027 or a much less awkward six (there are reportedly interested parties, but no concrete timetable I am aware of), but given that the US is hosting the Men’s Rugby World Cup in 2031 and the Women’s Rugby World Cup in 2033, the league is likely to continue on in some form until at least the former date. The Seattle Seawolves will be competing next year, however that is structured, and so will the New England Free Jacks, Chicago Hounds, California Legion, and Old Glory DC. All five of these teams drafted outgoing college players in the 2026 MLR draft on Thursday, with a draft order based first on how deep the team made it in the 2026 playoffs (teams that bounced in the semifinals drafting before teams that made the MLR final) and secondly based on 2026 regular season record. Because Anthem, who finished last, was out - and because New England had forfeited their first round pick of 2026 to Anthem in Oct. 2025 - the Seawolves drafted second in the first round behind only Old Glory. Seattle drafted third in the other two rounds, giving them slate consisting of the no. 2, no. 7, and no. 12 overall picks. ### Pick 1.2: Solomon Williams - Scrumhalf - University of California, Berkeley - 5-8, 180 pounds. The Seawolves are no strangers to recent draftees from the Golden Bears, with their 2025 second round pick going to tighthead prop [Charlie Walsh](https://www.emeraldcityspectrum.com/home/mlr-draft-preview-get-to-know-charlie-walsh-potential-seawolves-target) from that university. Solomon Williams, who some projected to go first overall but who fell to second as the Flags drafted flanker Logan Ballinger, has quite the pedrigree of stellar play in college. He is incredibly fond of taps and fast, heads-up play while also having accuracy with his boot and with his passes and possessing a level of explosiveness that can stun unsuspecting opponents. When it comes to his underlying physical abilities, he is incredibly *quick*: this means fast breaks through lines in the center of the pitch, evading would-be tacklers, and split-second offloads and chips to his teammates. Williams scored two tries in his first 2026 appearance, a 101-0 win over Cal Poly, and kept racking up more as the season progressed, finishing with nine tries and powering a Bears offense that scored 1,130 points in an undefeated 17-match season that ended with a national championship over Navy on May 2\. Over his four-year collegiate career at UC Berkeley, Williams notched 27 tries. As might be gleaned from that 17-0 stat, Williams’ junior and senior years wearing the blue and gold hoops were during a return to dominance for the Golden Bears. The last regular season loss Williams played in was to Navy on Feb. 22, 2025; the last time California lost in the playoffs was on April 13, 2024\. Obviously, as just one of 15 players on the pitch at any given time, the success can’t all be attributed to him - and indeed he had a load of strong players at his side such as flyhalf Rand Santos, center Filip Edstrom, and winger Masi Koi - but he roared onto the scene rather immediately as a true freshman in 2023, starting in the national championship game by the end of that year (though unlike his final two seasons, that match ended in a loss for the Golden Bears). Signing with Seattle will not be Williams’ first trip to the Emerald City this year, as he found himself in the Washington Athletic Club back in June to receive the Ruby Scholz award, given annually as a recognition of the best player in American colleges for that season. He was also named as a Men’s Division 1-A First Team All-American after the 2026 season, his third time with that honor. In addition to all of that, Williams has had plenty of experience in the USA Eagles development sides, going on the team’s U23 trip to South Africa in 2025 and going to the U20 Trophy final (second-tier for the age bracket behind the U20 Championship) with the Eagles in 2024. Although Williams was one of the best options available for Seattle, head coach Allen Clarke’s decision to pick him likely means one of two things: either that JP Smith is more permanently going to the wing come 2027, with André Warner filling in once again as the top scrumhalf (this wouldn’t be too different in concept to the way that crew ran in 2026, with Williams taking Nick Boyer’s place as the backup scrumhalf, although without Boyer’s immediate versatility in the back line), or that Warner’s tenure with Seattle ends up being a one-year thing and Smith returns to starting scrumhalf in 2027. ### Pick 2.7: David Cathcart - Winger - Lindenwood University - 6-1, 205 pounds. Aside from Smith and longtime stalwart Ina Futi, the Seawolves have an unclear winger situation going into 2027\. If Seattle signs their second-round pick, however, there will be some new blood in that role regardless of any changes in the supporting cast. David Cathcart, a native of Peebles in southern Scotland, made the Midwest Conference All-Conference First Team in 2026 as Lindenwood’s starting left winger for much of the season. It’s clear that Cathcart is quite strong and quick at a basic physical level, though he is definitely a less polished prospect than Williams and can take a bit of time to get his momentum going one direction or the other. But if Seattle ends up polishing Cathcart into a more precise weapon on the touchline, he could turn into one of the MLR’s better wingers. Even with his current skillset, he can make some surprises happen if opposing teams allow him to get going. ### Pick 3.12: Tristan Hübsch - Lock - Life University - 6-4, 230 pounds. Depth in the second row became a serious issue for Seattle in 2026, with Harison Mataele suffering a season-ending injury and the non-domestic status of both Mataele and Callum Botchar requiring some rotation due to MLR’s seven-international maximum on a starting XV that they implemented for the 2026 season. Hübsch is from Pretoria, South Africa, but with five seasons at Life University under his belt, he is likely either USA eligible or will be soon, meaning that the Seawolves wouldn’t have to use an international slot to put him in a matchday 23. After playing in all 16 of Life’s matches in the 2025-26 season and starting in 15 of those - and at least six tries (four from a pair of braces early in the year) during the season, though there were a couple games without try-scoring lists during the year - Hübsch was listed as a Men’s Division 1-A Second Team All-American. Hübsch has shown a good ability to make the correct decisions on the rugby pitch and is strong enough to power a scrum or make leaps at the try line, though he hasn’t shown a propensity for exceptional cleanouts or similar plays. Still, he will take the opportunities that opponents give him when he has the ball and typically applies himself well. ### Other Notes Aside from Ballinger and Williams, the first round was finished out with center Coby Baker (Legion) and hooker Hayden McKay (Hounds). Williams’ fellow Golden Bears scrumhalf, Cormac Saint, went to the Free Jacks 10th overall.