September 27, 2024
By Ian Toner

So much for a sophomore slump.

In 2023, then-rookie (and Los Angeles Aviator) Lukas Ambrose…

• Earned Rookie of the Year and First Team All-Defense honors

• Won the Players’ Choice Award for West Division’s Best Defender

• Led the association in blocks (24 total, 1.71 per game)

• Upset the Colorado Summit in the playoffs on their home turf, leading the Aviators to the West Division Championship Game for the first time since 2019

“Ambrose was a great defender in 2023,” explained Salt Lake Shred Coach Bryce Merrill. “But he didn’t rise to the level of the big names that are changing the game as defenders, like Burnett, Coolman, Davis, Merriman, Tan, Tom, Babbitt and others.”

“He was a good block getter,” the former UFA Coach of the Year added. “A scrappy match up [...] but he wasn’t the complete package.”

As it happens, Ambrose was just getting started. In 2024, with the Seattle Cascades, he…

• Earned the UFA’s Defensive Player of the Year and First Team All-UFA honors

• Won the Players’ Choice Award for UFA’s Best Defender

• Led the association in blocks (34 total, 2.43 per game), becoming the first player in UFA history to do so in consecutive seasons

• Upset the Salt Lake Shred in the West Division Championship Game on their home turf, leading the Cascades to Championship Weekend for the first time since 2016

• Tied for the league lead in +/- (+69) while playing more than 85 percent of his points on defense

• Nearly doubled his offensive yardage output (again, while playing more than 85 percent of his points on defense)

Coaches, teammates and opponents alike raved (and stressed) about the way Ambrose leveled up over the course of his 2024 campaign.

“He [...] got a lot smarter about when and where he wanted to try and force a play,” Merrill added. “He’s got that sixth sense that you see in great linebackers, as he doesn’t just watch the quarterback’s eyes. He’s able to sense the space developing and disrupt the play in real time.”

“To me, it just seems like Lukas has a sixth sense for where the disc is going to go,” agreed Garrett Martin, Ambrose’s teammate and 2024 All-UFA Second Team honoree. “He seems mentally one step ahead of the offense. I saw him jump cuts or read a play well before any other defender I’ve played with.”

Ambrose flies past fellow All-UFA First Team honoree Anders Juengst for a critical block against the Carolina Flyers at Championship Weekend.

“His endurance and ability to cover the yards really improved,” Merrill added. “He seemed to have his biggest plays in the third and fourth quarters of the biggest games this year.”

Jordan Kerr, the Shred’s offensive dynamo with multiple All-UFA selections and battles against Ambrose under his belt, echoed Merrill’s sentiments.

“During the entire game, he’s on your hip, hunting to get a block,” Kerr said. “He doesn’t seem to slow down late in the game, so if you’re tired, he’s even more likely to get a block.”

Ambrose’s defensive prowess forced top offensive talents like All-UFA First Team honoree Alex Atkins to factor Ambrose into their decision making every time he was on the field.

“You have to be extra careful about where you’re throwing the disc, especially on deeps,” Atkins cautioned. “He has an elite ability to cover ground and it’s important to be aware of where he is if you have the disc. Things that are open against every other defender and team in the league simply aren’t because of how quickly the space closes.”

“You know he wants throwers to test him deep, which makes it hard to try and take him deep as a cutter,” Kerr added. “But his closing speed on unders is also very impressive. You gotta be cutting at full speed or he’s gonna get that under block every time.”

“You can make sure you are not giving him easy blocks by not throwing to his guy, but he is so good at coming off his man to get poach blocks,” said Jeff Landesman, the Los Angeles Aviators coach who had Ambrose on his roster in 2023 but battled against him in 2024. “The message to our players was to be aware of where he is on the field at all times.”

“Teams need to recognize that not only is he shutting down his person, but he is always looking to help,” explained Antoine Davis, the 2023 Defensive Player of the Year, 2023 Championship Weekend MVP and 2024 Second Team All-Defense honoree. “It is almost like every player is being guarded by 1.5 players at all times when he is on the field.”

Ambrose, who only started playing ultimate frisbee in his freshman year at the University of Oregon in 2018, has grown into a multi-faceted talent. He became a bigger threat with the disc in 2024, both on the counterattack and when he crossed over to Seattle’s offensive line.

When Seattle coach Jesse Bolton reflected on Ambrose’s first impressions with the team, he said the leadership initially viewed him as a more one-dimensional defender or cutter coming into the tryout process. But the confidence and strength Ambrose displayed in the handler set forced Bolton and team leadership, including coaches Kelly Johnson and Casey Ikeda, to give him more opportunities with the disc.

The offensive numbers Ambrose tallied in 2024 required “some great disc skills, some trust from his coaches and an understanding of how to truly punish opposing O lines,” Merrill added.

“I didn't see this level of offensive consistency from him in LA and I think that he is a phenomenal player on the offensive side as well as defensive,” Martin said.

Ambrose dives into the endzone for a score against the Carolina Flyers at Championship Weekend.

It can be challenging for a single defensive player to have an outsized impact in a team sport played on a massive field, but Ambrose found ways to do just that in 2024. Martin went on to praise Ambrose’s influence on the improvement of the entire Seattle roster.

“Playing against him twice last year was fun, but playing against him at every practice helped our O line take a big leap,” Martin explained. “We had the best defender in the league going against our O every week in practice and I think that helps the whole team make better decisions and work harder to run our systems because if we take any risky shots, we know Lukas is going to come down with the block.”

Without seeing or hearing any of the above reflections, Ambrose offered perspective matching his peers’ observations.

“My focus this season was on poaching less and becoming a bigger force after the turn,” Ambrose said in the week the 2024 UFA awards were announced. “Our coaches were constantly pushing me to be more disciplined on defense, and it was clear that when I strayed from that, our offense was quick to identify and exploit the gaps I left. This really motivated me to tighten up my play and focus on staying more engaged throughout each point and I noticed that reducing unnecessary poaching allowed me to stay in better positions to apply more consistent pressure.”

“I moved away from relying heavily on poaching as my primary tactic, focusing more on positioning and anticipation,” Ambrose added. “This shift helped me become more versatile on the field. I also worked on my offensive game, which hadn’t been a major strength in the past, and that allowed me to contribute more consistently. Although I had a few more turns, this more balanced approach made me a more complete player and I felt like it had a noticeable impact on both sides of the disc.”

In reality, no one should be surprised that Ambrose captured the 2024 DPOTY award.

“I’ve had this [winning DPOTY] as a goal on a kind of 'vision board' in my bedroom and bathroom, so to see it actually come true is really cool,” Ambrose admitted. “I knew I was putting in a lot of work before and during the season, but this award is just as much a reflection of the sick D-line we had this year [...] I wouldn’t have been able to play the way I did without these guys forcing offenses into tough spots, setting us up to make plays.”