Cal's Sam Golla Is the No. 1 Overall Pick in Pro Rugby Draft
Cal's Sam Golla was the No. 1 overall pick in the Major League Rugby college draft on Thursday. He was taken by the Dallas Jackals
The 6-foot-4, 245-pound Golla, a lock/flanker on the Golden Bears' squad that reached the national semifinals this past season, was one of three finalists for the Rudy Scholz Award, given annually to the best college player in the nation.
Golla will have work cut out for him because Dallas finished last in the 13-team league in 2022, going 0-16.
The draft is for players who competed at an American or Canadian college during the 2021-2022 academic year and have completed at least three years of college.
Golla was not the only Cal player taken in the first round, as Golden Bears center Seth Purdey was the fourth overall selection, taken by Atlanta, which went 11-5 this past season.
Major League Rugby (MLR) is a professional rugby union league and is considered the top-level championship for clubs in North America. In the 2022 season it was contested by 13 teams: 12 in the United States and one from Canada.
The league was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas. MLR began its first season in 2018.
The average salary reportedly is about $13,500, but some make as much as $45,000, while others make less than the average.
MLR has teams in Houston, Dallas, Austin (Texas), Los Angeles, San Diego, Seattle, Utah (Herriman, Utah), New England (Quincy, Mass.), New Orleans, D.C. (Leesburg, Va.), New York, Atlanta and Toronto.
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