Courtesy of Texas A&M Rugby

The Texas A&M University Men's Rugby Club has announced a recruiting class of 22 athletes for the 2017-2018 academic year.

The Aggies are coming off a season in which they finished fourth in the Red River 15s league and second in the Red River 7s competition and qualified for a berth at College 7s.

The Texas A&M coaching staff of head coach James Lowrey, backs coach Ryan Marshall, forwards coach Johnny Smith, and assistant forwards coach Jeremy Stewart issued a joint statement about the incoming recruiting class:

"We've been fortuitous with this class. We've a very good range of experience and body types coming through this year, from international players with years of experience to stellar athletes with no rugby experience. It's a large class with tons of quality that will see many players challenge for positions in our 7s and 15s team this season.

"We've met most of the recruits through the course of the summer and most impressive is each athlete's commitment to and understanding of why they are here... to be students, then athletes. We do not just look for the best athletes or players but those that can handle the rigorous course load while succeeding on the field. The student athletes of the Fighting Texas Aggie Rugby Class of 2021 will set the tone for future recruiting classes at A&M."


Aggies newcomers Drew Duncan, Caleb Ray, and JT Natenstedt are shown with Texas A&M forwards coach Jimmy Smith.

The Aggies welcome the likes of Will Green from the Sedbergh School in Kendal, England. Green is a 6-foot-4, 195-pound second row and loose forward who featured on his school and county first XVs as well as the Scottish Exiles.

At 6-foot, 182 pounds, center Ambroise Asselin from the Netherlands has nine years of rugby experience already in France and his home country. Asselin has captained or vice-captained every squad he has played on, including the 2017 U18 Dutch National Championship-winning RC The Bassets Colts.

Ben Hoffman, a 6-foot-1, 195-pound hooker from Danville, CA, has seven years of rugby experience, including being a three-year varsity starter for the Danville Oaks (ranked No. 1 by Goff Rugby Report for the 2015-2016 season and FloRugby/GoffRUgbyReport No. 3 for 2016-17) and a five-time representative of the San Francisco Bay Area Age-Grade Selects.

Texas A&M also draws plenty of recruits from in-state. Drew Duncan is a 6-foot-1, 225-pound forward who comes to Aggieland after a decade with Plano Rugby. Duncan captained Plano's varsity team for the last two seasons and represented Rugby Texas on the High-Performance team three times.


Jesuit Dallas Preparatory College's Jared Jowdy is among the in-state players in Texas A&M's 22-player recruiting class.

Jared Jowdy also captained his team at Jesuit Dallas Preparatory College and played on the 2014 and 2015 Championship Squads. The 5-foot-11, 170-pound back also played football and volleyball at Jesuit.

Josh Foster is a 6-foot-1, 170-pound back out of Timber Creek Rugby (north of Fort Worth) and has only been playing rugby for two years. However, that didn't stop the former wrestler from becoming captain of his squad and leading it through a stellar first season in Rugby Texas Division 2.

Learn more about Texas A&M Rugby here.