D2 Represented on East-West Shrine Bowl 1000
July 29th, 2025 6:00am
By D2Football.com Staff:
On Monday, The Shrine Bowl announced its list of 1,000 players under consideration for the annual East-West Shrine Bowl, to be contested in January, 2026. The East-West Shrine Bowl is the longest running college all-star game. The event is hosted at NFL facilities and will be coached by NFL coaching staffs. It is considered one of the top opportunities for draft eligible players in preparation for the NFL Draft. Players under consideration are seniors or draft-eligible under classmen. This year’s watch list includes ten players from Division II programs.
A pair of wide receivers from the RMAC are included. Flynn Schiele from Colorado School of Mines and Reggie Retzlaff from CSU-Pueblo made the list. Both were D2Football.com Elite 100 players at the conclusion of the 2024 season. Retzlaff was a second team offense selection while Schiele was an offensive squad member. Schiele finished the 2024 season averaging 108 receiving yards per game on the strength of 66 receptions. Retzlaff finished his campaign with 67 receptions and averaged 112 yards per game. Both players had 12 touchdown grabs. Joining the offensive skill position talent is RB Jaylen Cottrell of Central Oklahoma. Cottrell was an Elite 100 second team selection in 2024 after rushing for 1,332 yards and hauling in 23 pass receptions. The lone quarterback to make the Shrine Bowl watch list is MSU-Moorhead’s Jack Strand. Heading into his senior season, Strand already owns every major passing record in MSU-Moorhead’s record book. To date, he has passed for 9,615 yards and 84 touchdowns in his career.
The offensive line is well represented by four players. Leading the way is Virginia State’s Bruno Onwuazor who was a second-team Elite 100 player last year. Other offensive linemen on the Shrine Bowl 1000 list are Samuel Garcia from Davenport, Ryne Buttz from Indianapolis and Slippery Rock’s Joe Cooper. Buttz and Cooper were first team all-conference players from their respective leagues. Garcia is heading into his second season at Davenport after also competing for two seasons at Elizabeth City State.
Two defensive linemen round out the Division II representation. Western Colorado’s Ricky Freymond and West Florida’s Colby Taylor. Freymond was the RMAC and D2Football.com defensive player of the year in 2024. Taylor is beginning his first season with the Argos after transferring from Newberry. He was a SAC All-Piedmont Division first team player in 2024 and was honored as Newberry’s Most Valuable Player.
NCAA Division II Players on Shrine Bowl Watchlist
Ryne Buttz, OL, Indianapolis
Joe Cooper, OL, Slippery Rock
Jaylen Cottrell, WR, Central Oklahoma
Ricky Freymond, DL, Western Colorado
Samuel Garcia, OL, Davenport
Bruno Onwuazor, OL, Virginia State
Reggie Retzlaff, WR, CSU-Pueblo
Flynn Schiele, WR, Colorado School of Mines
Jack Strand, QB, MSU-Moorehed
Colby Taylor, DL, West Florida
