With the 2025 Premier Lacrosse League (PLL) quickly approaching, all eyes are on the league’s brightest prospect as the PLL draft delivered tons of excitement. The PLL draft was May 6 in Bristol, Connecticut, and there were many unexpected picks and shocking snubs.

The PLL is a relatively new league that was created recently in 2018 by former standout player, Paul Rabil. The league has eight teams and eight cities and it’s filled with fast pace and non stop action as each player competes as hard as possible.  

There are four rounds of the draft and each team picks once per round, so there’s 8 picks per round. Each team picks the position that they need the most and they select the best available player in that position group. Though, this year the first overall pick was a no brainer as CJ Kirst had a dominant and historic season. Kirst ended the season with 82 goals, 33 assists, for a whopping 115 points, while also winning the national championship and the Tewaaraton Award which goes to the best player in college lacrosse.  

The next four picks were more surprising, as the California Redwoods had back to back picks and they took midfielders Andrew McAdorey out of Duke and Sam English out of Syracuse. Both players are fast and athletic with good defensive skills, but they thrive offensively as they’re both deadly with the ball in their hands. The Boston Cannons and Utah Archers wrapped up the top 5 when the Cannons selected crafty midfielder Coulter Mackesy from Princeton and the Archers selected the best defenseman in the draft, Brendan Lavelle from Penn. 

These picks were surprising because attackman Chris Kavanagh out of Notre Dame was projected to go in the top five but dropped surprisingly far when he was picked 10th overall. Kavanagh is one of the most prolific scorers in Notre Dame history so it was shocking when he fell out of the first round. Though, perhaps an ever bigger surprise was when the Waterdogs selected a player that didn’t play NCAA lacrosse. They picked Dylan Hess, a defensive midfielder who played club lacrosse at the University of Florida this past year. This is unheard of in professional sports, as the NCAA is by far way more competitive and filled with more overall talent. 

All of these players will be good players for a long time in the PLL but one player that specifically stands out to me is Andrew McAdorey from Duke. Although he stands at only 5’8, he’s very strong at 190lbs and can make something out of nothing. He uses his small size to his advantage as he’s quick, shifty, and slippery which makes it extremely hard for defenders to play good defense without taking a penalty. 

In the end, the future of the PLL and lacrosse overall is in good hands with all these new players incoming. All eyes will be on training camp and opening days, where all the drafted and undrafted rookies will try to prove themselves.