Maryville’s PhyMini Signs With NRG For 2026 NACL

Kolby “PhyMini” Ashby joined Maryville University’s League of Legends team in January 2026 as a mid-laner. Already, he’s set up for the pro league with his placement on NRG’s roster for the 2026 North American Challengers League (NACL)!

In Division One, there’s no doubt that Maryville has been a stand-out, having won 1st place in Fall Split Valorant and League of Legends and leading so far in the Spring Split. PhyMini fits right in their incredible roster. He sits at the second highest CS per minute in Division One with a 9.8 as a solo mid-laner that fights between the rivers. This shows his ability to scale in power efficiently to open up the map for his team. Maryville isn’t the only team he’s played for. Before Division One, PhyMini played for Milk Esports, which had Maryville players Cryogen and Toasty and his upcoming NRG teammate Kisno, in the 2025 Aegis Champion League’s summer and fall playoffs. Milk Esports placed first and second respectively.

NRG, created in 2015 by the Sacramento Kings co-owners Mark Mastrov and Andy Miller, had a couple lulls in the esports scene. Most recently, they left the League of Legends scene in October 2024. Their biggest achievement was in 2023 when they returned to the League Championship Series (LCS) and beat Cloud9, a recognizable esports organization, 3-1 in the Summer season finals. NRG would then make it to quarterfinals in the League of Legends World Championship before being knocked out of the tournament by Weibo Gaming 0-3. DarkZero Esports acquired NRG’s esports assets in December 2025, leading to their 2026 return to the NACL with PhyMini as their mid-laner.

Already, NRG is showing their rejuvenated mark in esports after their two-year silence. PhyMini’s joining of their League of Legends team came days after a partnership between Maryville Esports and NRG to create NRG Academy was revealed. This academy seeks to train the next generation of Valorant players with scholarship support. Partnering with one of the top collegiate esports teams shows a promising pathway for students like PhyMini to have the opportunity for an extra step in their esports careers.

With a completely new roster, PhyMini will play alongside Chris “Horder” Feng, James “Kisno” Woo, Edward “Siroinai” Song, and Jeremy “Sushee” Roussy with new coaches Joseph “Joey” Haslemann and Răzvan-Andrei “Razvan” Nistor.

The 2026 NACL starts in late March, making this its fourth year running. PhyMini and his NRG team will tackle the regular season’s two-split format in a Round Robin Best-of-Three. The top six teams move on to Playoffs in a double-elimination bracket. This means that teams have to lose twice to be removed from play. A new Playoff feature this year is that the first-seeded team can choose whether to face off against the winner between seeds four and five or three and six. More information about the 2026 NACL bracket along with illustrations can be found on the official page here.

Despite just joining Maryville University’s League of Legends team, Kolby “PhyMini” Ashby has become the second Maryville player and third Division One player to be going pro after this Spring Split. His future is with NRG in the 2026 NACL. Maryville keeps elevating their support for their students’ esports careers by improving training and coaching spaces. The Valorant NRG Academy partnership between Maryville and NRG opens up the door for more universities to connect with established esports organizations to better solidify the path from collegiate to pro.