This year's Men's DII College Rankings kick off with a bit of a speculative kick to space.

How are we to know, really, how well a team will do on the field? We don't. Most of these teams haven't played since November or December of 2019. Sure some did get some 7s in, but overall they've missed an entire year. What this means is that players who are leaders on their teams were sophomores or juniors when last there was a full season. Most of these teams don't recruit directly—they are true clubs—and as a result, it's going to be interesting to see how numbers are.

We suspect, however, that the COVID shutdowns will create a bounceback effect for activities, especially activities that also promote social interaction. Teams might not have big numbers at the start of the season, but we get the feeling they will build quickly. 

So ... on to the rankings. We have ranked teams based strongly on their history, or their likelihood to have kept numbers up. A few we know a little more about in terms of who is there and ready to play rugby, and we've moved those teams accordingly.

In addition, there are four varsity programs that are going to compete in DII this season that we have decided to rank sight unseen. Well, almost unseen. We have seen Marian play and it's that on-field game time which we think will stand them in good stead going forward. We've ranked these teams conservatively, around the #20 mark (Marian at #16, Alderson Broaddus at #20, Adrian at #23, and Belmont Abbey at #24); what happens next is based on what happens on the field.

Rank		Team	Conference
1		UW-Whitewater (WI)	Great MW
2		Norwich (VT)	Rugby Northeast
3		Furman (SC)	Southern
4		Villanova (PA)	MARC
5		Vermont (VT)	New England-Wide
6		Illinois State (IL)	Great MW
7		UMS&T (MO)	Gateway
8		Minnesota-Duluth (MI)	Northern Lights
9		MTSU (TN)	SCRC
10		UMass-Lowell (MA)	Rugby Northeast
11		Memphis (TN)	SCRC
12		Loyola-Chicago (IL)	Great MW
13		Boston University (MA)	New England-Wide
14		Bentley (MA)	Rugby Northeast
15		Marquette (WI)	Great MW
16		Marian (IN)	MCRC
17		Montana State (MT)	Rocky Mountain
18		Lehigh (PA)	MARC
19		Northern Colorado	Rocky Mountain
20		Alderson Broaddus (WV)	Allegheny
21		UNC (NC)	Southern
22		York (PA)	MARC
23		Adrian (MI)	Great Lakes
24		Belmont Abbey (NC)	Southern
25		Coast Guard (CT)	New England-Wide
26		Marist (NY)	Tri-State
27		MSU-Moorhead (MN)	Northern Lights
28		SLU (MO)	Gateway
29		Grand Valley State (MI)	Great Lakes
30		UNC-Charlotte (NC)	Southern
31		Northern Michigan (MI)	Great MW
32		Pitt State (KS)	Gateway
33		USMMA (NY)	Tri-State
34		Central Michigan (MI)	Great Lakes
35		UNC-Wilmington (NC)	Southern
36		Thomas More (KY)	MCRC
37		Virginia (VA)	Cardinals
38		William Paterson (NJ)	Tri-State
39		UW-Platteville (WI)	Great MW
40		Shippensburg (PA)	MARC