6 College Esports Programs to Keep On Your Radar
We here at CheckpointXP On Campus are in a constant state of research. With new esports programs popping up each semester, we try our best to bring news from all of them. But we know that it’s a monumental task to find some of the top teams and follow them. So Norris and Jacob from the On Campus team made a shortlist on this week’s episode to highlight some of the esports programs that they’ll be on the lookout for.
University of Utah
I’m excited about their Overwatch because they’re Overwatch. He was just so close every time and they still have CoolABC. They still have Dog, They still have Andy, still have Nightmare, they have zombi. They have that rockin’ roster. And it’s can be really exciting to see if they can finally break through and Overwatch. But also they got a new Rocket League coach, Jacob Peterson, also known as Silva. So maybe in Rocket League, he’ll start making some more noise as well.
Jacob On Utah Esports
University of Texas – Dallas
So that Overwatch team is one of the best in the country, bar none hands down, but they haven’t won anything. And that’s part of the problem with UT Dallas, is that I want to see them step up, do more and get some big titles under their name and attract more people to that program because I think they got a lot of good things going on there.
Norris On UT-Dallas
University of California – Irvine
I remember near the beginning of the spring and summer, we talked to a Hillary fan, their player support coordinator out at UCI, and she flat out said, hey, you know, if there are not tournaments that we think are going to be worth playing and we’re not going to play select, they’re very selective with where they appear. They try to maximize the time that they spend. So they’re only playing in the big tournaments and seeing how they’re performing at this invitational from UCLA. They clearly, clearly are a step ahead of almost everybody in at least Overwatch and really Valorant.
Norris on Irvine
Maryville University
Now, the thing is, Harrisburg may have just barely eked out, you know, the overall number one spot in terms of top Overwatch teams from Maryville at the end of the season. But I’m still looking forward to Maryville in fall 2020 because of their sheer ability to perform in multiple Esports. We know about the Overwatch team, the League of Legends team continues to perform. And so I’m looking forward to what they’re able to do out. Maryville, will they be the unmitigated favorites once again as they were around 2018, 2019, or will they sort of fall back to some of these other schools that are making a lot of waves in the Esports space?
Norris On Maryville
Harrisburg University
When I wrote down a little headline for all my picks and I’ve written down, will the King return to the castle? Because they did win Overwatch. Right? But as far as headlines go, they’ve been kind of absent, which is kind of weird, given like when we first started this, Harrisburg was every headline and now they’re not really around.
So they’ve been rolling out updates. They’ve added a new main support. And Enrique, “Joobi” Trinada in Overwatch. And they added a new league legend, top laner Colton “C.J.” Popowich. So they’ve already added to their two main rosters. And I would expect that a Harrisburg add on is a pretty serious addition to a team. And they’re hoping the flex their stuff in that invitational. That’s coming up next month. So we’ll be able to see those teams in full force.
Jacob on Harrisburgh
University of Michigan
I want to see a school like the University of Michigan. And again, as a school of that size goes, so goes the other smaller schools in the conference usually. But with Ohio State creating a program and making a concerted effort to increase its Esports footprint, I’d be interested to see how the University of Michigan supports its Esports program from an administrative standpoint. I know they’re probably not going to make a lot of waves outside of Rocket League. Arbor Esports is a top rocket league team in the country. But I’m looking forward to seeing what they could do from an administrative standpoint.
Norris On U of M
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