The young bucks are taking over the NLL Southeast, putting back highlight-reel level goals and stealing the spotlight at Gas South Arena. Joining a squad of time-honored legends and modern-day clutch players, the Georgia Swarm’s rookie roster has stamped their tenth season’s schedule as must-watch TV.
The rookies have been brought in at an interesting time in the Swarm’s history, boasting what the Georgia front office has described as “one of the youngest, biggest, and most athletic supporting casts the Swarm have assembled in a decade.” This year’s roster carries a staggering 16 total first-round draft picks, including 2024’s third-overall pick, defender Michael Grace, and this 2025’s eighth-overall pick and Georgia’s second selection in this year’s draft, forward Nolan Byrne.
“I’ve been dreaming of being able to play the League and scoring my first goal and attending my first training camp,” said Byrne. “It’s been everything I could dream of, it’s been a really cool experience.”
Since the start of the 2025 season, the Swarm have consistently run a rotating core group of five first-year players, including Byrne and Kean Moon on the offensive end, Michael Grace and Ben Trumble on the back, with Jeremi Phoenix-Lefebvre bridging the gap in transition. This strong rookie presence has bred a strong competitive spirit between the new faces, pushing them closer to the standards set out by the Swarm coaching staff and their veteran players.
“It was an easy transition from the first week of training camp going forward,” said Grace. “The older guys especially have been helping bring us in, like [Jordan MacIntosh] and [Mike Manley] on the defensive end specifically, those guys who have been around for a while and they make it a lot easier.”
Georgia’s Rookies Rise Early
Though it’s not uncommon for a young player to make the Active Roster early in his career, the Georgia rookies have found themselves in a very unique situation compared to other first-year stories. After a number of trades and contracts left unsigned in the new season, the rookies have been asked to suit up and show out from day one. But while their quick activation could have been accepted as an added degree of pressure to succeed, the rooks have embraced the stakes and accelerated their acclimation to the League.
“One of my old coaches always had a saying, ‘embrace the pressure and be grateful for the pressure, that you’re put in a position where pressure is put up on you,’” said Byrne. “Yeah, you have pressure on you, but it’s pressure to perform, which pushes you to need to perform– there’s not an option not to.”
Additionally, Grace’s taste of the highest level of play has helped bridge the gap between the rookies and the hometown names. Before being drafted in 2024, he was a two-time Division III National Champion at RIT before using his final year of NCAA eligibility as a graduate student at Syracuse University. He was then drafted 22nd overall by the New York Atlas in the 2025 PLL College Draft, where he won another National Championship and the first league title of his professional career. His early pro experience, he explained, helped him better prepare for his League debut and has kept him hungry and humble during the early weeks of the season.
“They’re putting their trust in me even though it’s my first year, and the coaches giving me that trust and that big role is something I don’t take lightly,” said Grace. “I have to put in a lot more work to keep that role because we do have so much talent on our team, but for them to put that trust in me is something I see as a privilege.”
Despite their self-starting attitudes, the Swarm’s rookies are the furthest thing from being left to their own devices. They’ve been presented with the opportunity to learn the League not only under coaching greats Ed Comeau and Sean Ferris, but also under several of the NLL’s biggest household names, such as Swarm captain Jordan MacIntosh, Shayne Jackson, as well as Lyle Thompson.
“We have a very young team, but with that, there’s a lot of very experienced veterans that are helping all of our younger guys succeed,” said Byrne. “We wouldn’t be in the position we are without that strong veteran presence.”
Under the watchful eye of Duluth’s finest, the rookies reported not only a quick gelling of the established and yet unknown pieces of the roster, but a welcoming and positive learning environment for them to quickly adapt to the Swarm system. While plays and schemes are indispensable for game days, MacIntosh, Jackson and the cast of the older Swarm players have taken the newbies under their wings, ingraining them in the Gwinnett County community and teaching them how to carry themselves as members of the League and as professional athletes.
But even the pros have their favorites! Though their cool was supposedly kept, there were several moments of starstruck-edness for the rookies stepping into the locker room for the first time.
“I’ve been watching Lyle Thompson play for years; he’s been one of my favorite players,” said Moon. “It’s so cool to get to watch him in practice and games and try to mimic the footwork, the style of play he has, even though that’s probably impossible.”
Where the new faces are eager to learn from their mentors, the regulars, though not so keen to give up all their secrets just yet, are reportedly just as excited to have such a passionate new class joining them on the road to the postseason. This combination of admiration and aspiration has also helped to curate the chemistry between the younger and more seasoned players, or what Grace described as a positive “locker room scenery.”
“It’s a really good mix, where we can learn from them and also we can bring like ‘young energy’ into the room and it’s still a good balance,” said Grace.
He recalled a recent team dinner where he and fellow rookie defender Ben Trumble sat with MacIntosh and Manley. Grace recounted their conversations about old favorite movies, in which, much to Manley and MacIntosh’s shock, he and Trumble admitted they were unfamiliar with their recommendations.
“They were like, ‘oh, my god, these are our childhood memories, you guys haven’t even seen or heard of any of these,’” Grace joked. “I think it’s so cool that we’re able to have those connections and work together on the floor like that, and then off the floor, be like, ‘wow, you guys are a different generation than we are.’”
With the issue of chemistry far in the rearview, the young bucks have worked their hardest to make their names known around the League. Byrne and Grace’s names can both be found hovering in and out of the Top 50 stat rankings for points and loose balls, with Moon close behind them in team stats. But while individual stats are important for a young player looking to make a name for themselves, the good of the team trumps all.
After their 12-3 win over the Colorado Mammoth in Week 5, the Swarm were awarded a bye week to enjoy the holidays and prepare Gas South Arena for a home rematch against Colorado. Shut down by an aggressive Georgia defense and a fully synergized Swarm offense, the Mammoth will be marching into town with a thirst for blood. But the fun doesn’t stop there, in Week 8, the Swarm ship up to Edmonton for the NLL Unboxed Showcase against the Calgary Roughnecks, who have finally broken their loss streak and are desperate to keep it that way.
But according to all the rookies, though playing with confidence rings true as the mantra on both sides of the ball, preparedness and cool-headedness, they believe will ultimately win them the ball game in Duluth and in Edmonton. With a hard, physical approach on the backend to support goaltender Brett Dobson, combined with their fluid and well-choreographed offensive presence showcased at Ball Arena, the Georgia rookies are poised to take the second game of their series with the Mammoth and blow into Edmonton on a two-win streak.
“I think we really gotta do our best to prepare and not overlook the opponents that we have next,” said Byrne. “I think we just need to be excited, it’s a new experience for us, but we just have to not get ahead of ourselves.”
Don’t miss the NLL UnBOXed Series: Edmonton Friday, January 16th at 10:00PM ET on NLL Friday Night on TSN.
Previously published by the NLL.
Rob Lucchesi 
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