(Photo: Jacob Watt/Instagram)
As of writing this, there have been 64 players from the South commit to play DI class in the 2023 class, per the Lacrosse Bucket Database. 13 of those commitments came during the month of December.
Virginia leads the way in number of commitments with 16 while Florida and Georgia sit behind them with 14 and 13, respectively. Texas has seen 10 players in the class find homes at DI while North Carolina has seen nine. Alabama and South Carolina have each produced one commit in the class, respectively.
Here is a state-by-state breakdown of the movement seen in the South amongst the 2023 class over the past month.
Florida
The Sunshine State saw two players come off the board ’23 class this past month, brining the total number of commits in the class to 14.
Bolles (Fla.) A/M Caleb Coleman announced that he had verbaled to the Vermont Catamounts on December 11th. The versatile playmaker is a bigtime shooter, especially from the outside, and posses a skillset that allows him to thrive all over the field and could allow him to translate his game at both attack or midfield at the college level. He helped lead the Bulldogs to a 15-4 record and FHSAA 1A State Quarterfinal appearance.
The Colgate Raiders ended the month by grabbing a commitment from Taft (Conn.) attackman Ethan Rubenstein. A South Florida native, Rubenstein possesses a certain amount of speed and quickness that makes him tough to cover anywhere on the field, especially behind the cage at X. Playing a tougher game at times, he is dangerous as both a shooter as well as a passer, and especially so when around the cage.
Georgia
Two players from the Peach State in the ’23 class found homes at DIs this past month as Greater Atlanta Christian (Ga.) midfielder James Canipe verbaled to St. Joseph’s and Westminster (Ga.) midfielder Aidan Wooley announced his commitment to the Richmond Spiders.
Canipe is an absolute sniper from the midfield who can and will put the ball in the back of the net if you give him even an inch of space. He is coming off a strong sophomore season in which he lead his team in goals with 40 and also had eight assists.
Wooley is a do-it -all player at the midfield who can not only make an impact on the offensive and defensive end, but also on the faceoff wings. Offensively, the 6-foot, 175-pound midfielder can he use his speed and athleticism to beat his defenseman and get to the rack off the dodge, as well get to open spaces off-ball.
North Carolina
The lone commitment from the Tar Heel State came from Middle Creek (N.C.) attackman Collin Patrick, who has chosen to take his talents to Marist. The attackman is coming off a sophomore spring in 2021 where put up 23 goals and 13 assists while leading Middle Creek to an 11-0 regular season record, and showcasing his ability to be a playmaker – especially around the cage as bother a scorer and feeder.
South Carolina
The Palmetto State has seen just one player from the ’23 class verbal to a DI and that one commitment came this past month as J.L. Mann (S.C.) midfielder Jacob Watt verbaled to the Air Force Falcons. He put up 32 goals and 21 assists while helping the Patriots to a state title last spring.
Texas
During the month of December, the Lone Star State saw three players commit to DIs in the class of 2023.
Saint Mary’s Hall (Texas) goalie Rudy Zarate verbaled to Wagner, McKinney Boyd (Texas) attackman Peyton Tallo verbaled to Jacksonville, and Southlake (Texas) midfielder Jack Manero has committed to Army West Point.
Virginia
There have been three commitments out of Old Dominion in the ’23 class over the past month and all three came from Paul VI (Va.).
LSM Parker Love verbaled to Navy on the first of the month while goalie Matthew Dineen and attackman Henry Fleckner announced their commitments to Utah and Boston U. on December 20th and 29th.
Love is a pole that has a ton of hustle in his game and could realistically play either LSM or close at the next level. Dineen played on varsity as a freshman at John Champe (Va.) before transferring to Paul VI prior to last year, and while on the smaller size at 5-foot-8, plays with a lot of passion in cage and shows ability to remain poised and stop shots from all over. Fleckner transferred to Paul VI over the summer, coming from Dominion (Va.) where he led the team with 54 goals and 18 assists a season ago.
Full List of 2023 Commitments From The South:
| State | Player | Position | High School | Commitment | Commitment Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Georgia | Hill Plunkett | Attack | Roswell | Army West Point | 7/1/2021 |
| Virginia | Matt Han | Midfield | Paul VI | Michigan | 9/3/2021 |
| Virginia | Eli Petty | Defense/LSM | Collegiate | Virginia | 9/5/2021 |
| Florida | Luke Lowery | Defense | Ponte Vedra | Dartmouth | 9/12/2021 |
| Georgia | Niko Karetsos | Attack | Pace Academy | North Carolina | 9/13/2021 |
| North Carolina | Cayden Hollar | Midfield | Hoggard (N.C.) | Hofstra | 9/15/2021 |
| North Carolina | Brayson Wilson | Goalie | Cannon School | North Carolina | 9/16/2021 |
| Texas | Colin Vickrey* | Goalie | Culver (Ind.) | Princeton | 9/16/2021 |
| Virginia | Quintan Kilrain | Defense | Lawrenceville (N.J.) | Syracuse | 9/16/2021 |
| Florida | Andrew Klis | Defense | American Heritage | Dartmouth | 9/16/2021 |
| Georgia | Donny Scott | Defense | The Hill Academy (Ont.) | Syracuse | 9/17/2021 |
| Virginia | Nolan Gilmartin | Attack | Benedictine Prep | UAlbany | 9/17/2021 |
| Georgia | Jack Marlow | Midfield | Cambridge | Michigan | 9/19/2021 |
| Alabama | Anderson Moore | Goalie | Briarwood Christian | Georgetown | 9/21/2021 |
| Florida | Jordan Faison | Midfield | Pine Crest | Notre Dame | 9/21/2021 |
| Georgia | Ezekiel Lomax | Midfield | IMG Academy | Jacksonville | 9/23/2021 |
| Virginia | Nate Kabiri | Attack | Georgetown Prep (Md.) | Georgetown | 9/24/2021 |
| Florida | Zach Mesa | LSM | Culver (Ind.) | Lehigh | 9/25/2021 |
| North Carolina | Kenan Everhart | Attack | Ashley (N.C.) | Loyola | 9/25/2021 |
| Georgia | Carson Hall | Faceoff | Harrison (Ga.) | Loyola | 9/28/2021 |
| Florida | Colin Kruger | Attack | Tampa Jesuit | Boston U. | 9/28/2021 |
| Florida | Jack Schulte | Attack | St. Andrew’s | Air Force | 9/28/2021 |
| Florida | Maddox Johnson | A/M | Ponte Vedra | Denver | 9/29/2021 |
| Virginia | Sam McAvoy | Midfield | Lake Braddock (Va.) | Penn State | 9/29/2021 |
| North Carolina | Karter Willams | Defense | Hough | Notre Dame | 9/30/2021 |
| Virginia | Jack Schubert | Attack | Lake Braddock (Va.) | Georgetown | 9/30/2021 |
| Florida | Turner Ashby | A/M | Plant | Air Force | 10/1/2021 |
| Georgia | Alex Lobel | Attack | Roswell | Michigan | 10/1/2021 |
| Virginia | Miles Harvey | Midfield | St. Christopher’s | High Point | 10/1/2021 |
| Texas | Jake Park | Attack | St. Mark’s | Air Force | 10/3/2021 |
| North Carolina | Hunter Bisbee | Attack | Greensboro Day | Air Force | 10/6/2021 |
| Georgia | Myles Quandt | Faceoff | Roswell | Towson | 10/7/2021 |
| Texas | Cooper Coleman | Goalie | Dallas Jesuit | Jacksonville | 10/11/2021 |
| Georgia | Garrett Krsul | D/LSM | Milton | VMI | 10/13/2021 |
| Florida | Elijah Stobaugh | Midfield | IMG Academy | Maryland | 10/14/2021 |
| Florida | Bronson Dowdell | A/M | Winter Park | Mercer | 10/14/2021 |
| Texas | Ben Abel | Goalie | Highland Park | Loyola | 10/15/2021 |
| North Carolina | Carter Malone | Midfield | Cardinal Gibbons (N.C.) | Monmouth | 10/19/2021 |
| North Carolina | Nicholas Hampton | Goalie | Southwest Guilford (N.C.) | St. John’s | 10/20/2021 |
| Georgia | Robbie Walker | Attack | King’s Ridge | Jacksonville | 10/20/2021 |
| North Carolina | Alec Levy* | Attack | East Chapel Hill | North Carolina | 10/21/2021 |
| Texas | Kaden Davis | Midfield | Lake Travis | Utah | 10/22/2021 |
| Virginia | Nate Murphy | Defense | Paul VI | Richmond | 10/26/2021 |
| Texas | Brody Rhee | Defense | Houston Memorial | High Point | |
| Virginia | Adam Dembicki | Faceoff | Robinson Secondary | Richmond | 11/4/2021 |
| Georgia | Brayden Wilson | Goalie | Mill Creek | Mercer | 11/14/2021 |
| Florida | Scott Moore | Faceoff | Tampa Jesuit | High Point | 11/16/2021 |
| Virginia | AJ Riley | Faceoff | Colonial Forge | VMI | 11/16/2021 |
| Florida | Jack Coombs | Defense | Holy Trinity Episcopal | Vermont | 11/18/2021 |
| Florida | Luke Pisani | Midfield | Benjamin School | Virginia | 11/22/2021 |
| Virginia | Caulley Deringer | Attack | Episcopal | Virginia | 11/23/2021 |
| Texas | Luke Sganga | Attack | Southlake | Utah | 11/26/2021 |
| Virginia | Parker Love | LSM | Paul VI | Navy | 12/1/2021 |
| Virginia | Owen Faris | Defense | Blue Ridge School | Canisius | 12/3/2021 |
| Texas | Rudy Zarate | Goalie | Saint Mary’s Hall | Wagner | 12/7/2021 |
| Georgia | James Canipe | Midfield | Greater Atl. Christian | St. Joe’s | 12/10/2021 |
| Florida | Caleb Coleman | A/M | Bolles | Vermont | 12/11/2021 |
| Texas | Peyton Tallo | Attack | McKinney Boyd | Jacksonville | 12/11/2021 |
| South Carolina | Jacob Watt | Midfield | J.L Mann | Air Force | 12/14/2021 |
| North Carolina | Collin Patrick | Attack | Middle Creek | Marist | 12/15/2021 |
| Georgia | Aidan Wooley | Midfield | Westminster | Richmond | 12/20/2021 |
| Virginia | Matthew Dineen | Goalie | Paul VI | Utah | 12/20/2021 |
| Texas | Jack Manero | Midfield | Southlake | Army West Point | 12/26/2021 |
| Florida | Ethan Rubenstein | Attack | Taft (Conn.) | Colgate | 12/29/2021 |
| Virginia | Henry Fleckner | Attack | Paul VI | Boston U. | 12/29/2021 |
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