Beyond the Top 100: My Favorite September Commits on D, Part I

By the end of the week, 95 or so Top 100 recruits will have announced their college commitments. While the spotlight will understandably remain on that group, the depth in this class is as impressive as it's been in recent memory. That's why we decided to rank more than 400 players in this cycle, with Regional Rankings released earlier this month.   With September coming to a close in a few hours, we'll be spending the next few days highlighting some of the best fits and best pickups to take place this month outside of the obvious ones. First up, let's take a look at five defensive-minded recruits, with another five set to be covered in the days to come.    Given that he's the highest-ranked player from the Northeast outside the Top 100, Bier's entry into the national rankings feels inevitable. He's far more than the three-star recruit he's been recognized as elsewhere and was a priority recruit before quickly landing at Cornell, where he has family ties.   There's so much that can be said about Bier's game, but perhaps the most impressive thing is that he's always in position to make a play. Coming from the same high school that produced two-time Schmeisser winner Matt Landis, he moves impeccably well and plays angles as well as anyone, sliding with ill intent to either jar the ball loose or throw dodgers off their line. His hands are phenomenal, too, allowing him to pluck balls cleanly out of the air, land home-run checks in stellar fashion, and gobble up groundballs like a Dirt Devil. Once the ball is in his stick, Bier is always making the correct decisions. Everyone's looking for a guy who checks a lot of boxes and whose best lacrosse is ahead of him, and Bier provides that on both fronts.     Defense was clearly a priority for Georgetown heading into 9/9, and quite frankly, the Hoyas absolutely crushed it, landing four guys — a mix of known commodities with high floors and “project” types with high ceilings. In my opinion, Cowan fits somewhere in between. A lefty who plays with a mean streak, he's one of two guys in Georgetown's class who fit that description. Possessing outstanding feet and hands, Cowan's been known to punch the sky with an over-the-head check and, more often than not, land them. However, he's done a really nice job of mixing up his playing style depending on the scenarios and matchups, and he has the frame to be physical to the point that his man wants nothing to do with him and moves the ball elsewhere. His stick work is excellent, as he also has a penchant for digging out some downright nasty groundballs in traffic and getting the ball moving the other way.     Ranked No. 8 in a phenomenal class in the Midwest, Crouse, a Salamanca (N.Y.) native, has been fascinating to evaluate. In the fall, he embraced a sizable offensive role for Sweetlax at a tournament where his squad happened to be without its usual suspects at midfield, <a href="https://preplacrosse.com/2025/11/alliance-fall-invitational-2028s-offensive-stalwarts-part-ii/">and he looked the part and earned a write-up in the process</a>. In the spring, he helped form a flat-out ridiculous SSDM unit that hummed in transition. All of that is to say there's a lot to like about what he can provide on both ends of the field.   Defensively, you know what you're getting when Crouse is out there: high-level twitch and athleticism, grit, reliable approaches and attention to detail. On the offensive side of the ball, he's wildly smooth, with equal parts flash and substance. He's a constant presence and, above all, a winner who makes winning plays. I'm really intrigued to see where he continues to take his game as part of one of the very best prep programs in the country, but it's clear that he's a versatile midfielder eager to make a splash in the ACC.     I have no clue how Onofre flew under the radar, given how loud his game was this summer and the fact that he plays for two teams that are no stranger to the national spotlight. Leading Edge put the clamps on the opposition all summer, and Onofre was one of those guys who set the tone up top. Highlighted as a shorty who turned heads at the Nike National All-Star Games, he closed the summer out with a bang. He may not have the offensive ability that some other '28 shorties have, but Onofre does his job, to say the least: he prevents dodging midfielders from getting to where they want to go, and does so with authority. He has tremendous footwork and runs the field with the best of them, with his effort unquestioned at all times. Onofre will hit you with a crowbar or wrap check that puts the ball on the ground and draws reactions from the sideline, too. Overall, he's a blue-collar kid whose presence will be welcomed in the Ivy League.     A nail gun from Nassau County, Watrous to Hopkins is undoubtedly one of my favorite fits of the entire '28 cycle. He's certainly talented enough on the offensive end that his inclusion in a defensive-oriented piece might raise some eyebrows among those who know him best, but either way, Watrous can make things happen in a plethora of ways. So much of his impact comes when he's turning defense into offense, but his combination of hard-nosed two-way play and athleticism gives him the potential to be highly impactful in the Big Ten. He's also highly productive, posting 42 points as a sophomore and showing flashes of brilliance on an absolutely loaded midfield unit for 91 LI this summer. I try not to be a prisoner of the moment, but this is one of the better classes of two-way midfielders that I can remember, and there were times when Watrous got overshadowed in the national conversation. That being said, I'm betting on this kid every day of the week.

By the end of the week, 95 or so Top 100 recruits will have announced their college commitments. While the spotlight will understandably remain on that group, the depth in this class is as impressive as it's been in recent memory. That's why we decided to rank more than 400 players in this cycle, with Regional Rankings released earlier this month.