“I CAN RUN WITH THE PROS” – PEYTON WALL ON HIS ROOKIE OF THE YEAR SEASON

When Peyton Wall got his chance with the Chicago Hounds in 2025, you can certainly say that the wing took it.
From seven Major League Rugby appearances in his debut season, the 10th overall pick of the 2024 Collegiate Draft, he scored three tries.
He also made 572 meters from 50 carries. Twenty-one of those carries were dominant. Plus, he beat 32 defenders.
This brilliant flurry from the year one wing landed him Rookie of the Year in the league’s End of Season Awards.

From seven Major League Rugby appearances in his debut season, the 10th overall pick of the 2024 Collegiate Draft, he scored three tries.

He also made 572 meters from 50 carries. Twenty-one of those carries were dominant. Plus, he beat 32 defenders.

This brilliant flurry from the year one wing landed him Rookie of the Year in the league’s End of Season Awards.

“It feels great,” Wall said. “I didn’t really need validation, but it’s just that validation that I made it. I can stick with it. I can run like the pros. It makes you feel like I have a lot more to prove. 

“I had people congratulate me on Rookie of the Year, but that was when Chicago posted theirs, so I had to tell them I hadn’t won the actual one. 

“Then one day I was in the gym, and I got a notification for something I was tagged in. I was stoked. It’s just been surreal talking to people who I’ve grown up watching play, and they’ve congratulated me.”

There was never a loss of hope from Wall as he waited to make his professional debut.

With three USA Men’s Eagles internationals ahead of him in the pecking order and proven finisher Julian Dominguez, the college standout knew he had to bide his time.

Regular meetings with the team’s head coach, Chris Latham, reinforced the notion that anything could happen.

When finally handed his debut off the bench against the Miami Sharks in Week 12, all bets were off, and anything was possible. 

In consecutive weeks, he broke the team’s meters made record (against Anthem RC and the NOLA Gold) and even scored a try that helped the team reach the Eastern Conference Final against this year’s eventual champions, the New England Free Jacks.

“You have a goal and an impossible goal - for me, that ‘impossible goal’ was the Rookie of the Year,” Wall said.

“My goal was to just get into a game and then score a try, but in the very back of my mind, I knew this could happen, but it didn’t dawn on me until that NOLA game and the Anthem game.

“It was a thing that I could actually get, which made me work harder during practice and not just playing for myself.”

Coming into last year’s Draft, there was little doubt that Wall was highly rated.

After a successful high school career, the Fort Wayne native committed to Indiana University and flourished for the Hoosiers.

In 2023, he was named as a finalist in the Rudy Scholz award and was Most Valuable Player as his team wrapped up a Big 10 conference title in 2024.

Already, Chicago has made a habit of making good Draft picks from Indiana University.

Ahead of the 2024 campaign, the side picked up Noah Brown fourth overall, and within a year, the fellow Hoosier wing was a USA Men’s Eagle and in 2025 was named in the 2025 Second All-MLR team.

Teammates during their college days, the duo also got to combine with fellow IU alumn, Bryce Campbell, in the center’s final season of professional rugby before retirement.

Getting picked by the Midwest’s professional rugby team was the perfect next step, and he ended 2024 with the Hounds’ Senior Academy.

Finally handed his first opportunity to strut his stuff in MLR at the Start of May after injury to Nate Augspurger, there was little looking back for Wall as he relished every second on the field.

"It was surreal,” Wall said. “Something that I haven’t felt in my whole life.

“It also came with this feeling of pressure to fill the shoes of the guy before me. I would say in my brain that I need to play as well as, if not better than, someone like Nate, Julian, or Mark.

“Latho told me during some games that I was in this role for a reason, and I didn’t need to do anything crazy. 

“Knowing I had the backing from all the coaches, and the crowd roaring, fueled my fire and made me want to play better for them.”

This offseason, Wall has been served a heavy dose of rugby. 

To pass the summer, he has been playing club rugby sevens with the Chicago Lions and will play at RugbyTown 7s at the end of August.

The 24-year-old hopes to hone his skillset further ahead of a second season as a pro.

“Personally, it was a good season,” Wall said. “There were definitely mistakes that I made. Stuff that I can blame on being young and being a rookie. 

“Coming into next year, a bunch of people have told me that my second year is my hardest year, and I don’t want to fall into that ‘sophomore slump’.

“Going into next year, I need to work on different things to make myself better.”