Photo by Andy Mead, courtesy of MLS.
3. *Jack Harrison (Wake Forest/England). Like Yaro, who first came to the United States to attend boarding school at Cate School in California, Harrison went to boarding school at
Berkshire School in Massachusetts before enrolling at Wake Forest, where he was the first player to win the ACC Offensive Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year awards in the same season.
New York City FC had a Homegrown claim on Harrison rejected and will need to trade up from its No. 4 pick in the draft to be sure to get the 19-year-old midfielder who can play in the middle or out
wide.
4. *Julian Buescher (Syracuse/Germany). Buescher debuted at the age of 18 in the German third division but never got anywhere,
so he made the move to the United States on the recommendation of Mark Taylor, an American he played with at Preussen Muenster, and despite very limited knowledge of English. He's one of the
top midfielders in the SuperDraft but like fellow German GA player Fabian Herbers has his age -- he will turn 23 in April -- working against him. Buescher starred with Syracuse teammate Ben
Polk, another import who should go high in the SuperDraft, for the PDL's Kitchener-Waterloo United last summer and then contributed eight goals and 11 assists in helping the Orangemen advance to
the Men's College Cup for the first time.
5. *Richie Laryea (Akron/Canada). Laryea came out of the same Sigma FC academy program in
Toronto that produced Cyle Larin, last year's No. 1 pick in the SuperDraft and the MLS Rookie of the Year with Orlando City. Larin had pro material written all over him when he enrolled at
UConn. Laryea's development in the Akron midfield was more of a surprise. As a sophomore, he led the Zips with 11 goals and added seven assists as they had their best season since Caleb Porter
left to take the Portland Timbers head coaching job. An MLS team looking for a young midfielder with quickness and some skill to provide minutes off the bench could snap him up quickly.
6. *Omar Holness (North Carolina/Jamaica). Not many college players can say they spent last summer at the Gold Cup -- and on the Concacaf runner-up
no less. Holness, an excellent student, didn't get any playing time for Jamaica's Reggae Boyz but just bringing him in shows how much his talents are valued. Holness isn't much of a scorer -- five
goals in three seasons with the Tar Heels -- but he should go high in the SuperDraft for his two-way ability to cover a lot of ground.
7.
*Fabian Herbers (Creighton/Germany). Only Stanford's Jordan Morris beat out Herbers for the Hermann Trophy, but the German had better numbers: 15 goals and 17 assists for 47 points, the
most of any player in the country. That makes him the top forward in the draft, though a couple of factors work against him. He isn't a true center forward, so with most MLS teams only going with one
forward, he'll have to find a position. Like most of the Germans who have moved into the college ranks, he is on the older side. He's already 22 after only three years of college ball.
8. Keegan Rosenberry (Georgetown). Rosenberry played with Yaro and Brandon Allen and Alex Muyl, who signed Homegrown contracts with
the New York Red Bulls, on the Hoyas, who had a 17-game unbeaten streak before falling to Boston College in a shootout in the third round of the NCAA Tournament. The Philadelphia Union's claim to
Rosenberry was declined by MLS -- he spent the summer studying at Georgetown -- but the Union will get two shots at drafting him as it holds the No. 3 and No. 6 picks in the SuperDraft.
9. Jordan McCrary (North Carolina). McCrary started on the backline on Carolina's 2011 national championship team alongside current MLS players
Matt Hedges and Boyd Okwuonu. A knee injury forced him to redshirt in 2014 and return for a fifth season, but he should go high as he is capable of playing at both outside back
positions.
10. Ben Polk (Syracuse). Comparisons to Sporting KC star Dom Dwyer come easily, given his soccer skills (5-foot-9
forward with a nose for the goal) and soccer background (English product whose U.S. travels began with JC ball). But to say Polk has seen a lot is an understatement. He was born in Arizona to an
American father and Scottish mother, spent his early years in Saudi Arabia, where he survived a terrorist attack on the compound where his father worked for the U.S Air Force, then moved to Oxford,
England, where a promising soccer was sidetracked because of his mother's alcoholism -- he had no one to get him to practice and games after she lost her driving license. Moving to the United States
came out of the blue and allowed him to get a free education, but he played at three upstate New York schools -- Genesee CC, Herkimer County CC and Syracuse -- before exhausting his college
eligibility after three years last fall.
11. Eric Verso (Stanford). He probably helped himself more than any other player during the
first two days of the MLS Combine with one goal and two assists. He's the kind of player that rarely comes out of the college game and has an even harder time making it in MLS: an American playmaker.
He was overshadowed at Stanford, what with teammates like Morris and Vincent and sophomore Corey Baird, but Verso had 13 assists and punctuated his final year as a redshirt senior with a goal
and assist in the Men's College Cup final. He grew up in the LA Galaxy academy program but didn't qualify for HG status.
12. Tyler David
(Saint Louis). In the late 1960s, Trinidadians Warren Archibald, Leroy DeLeon and Everald Cummings were pioneering stars in the NASL. Another Trinidadian, Steve
David, came along later but was one of the enduring stars of the league with 100 goals for six clubs over eight seasons. Tyler, Steve's son, is, by contrast, a defender. Steve was known for his
blazing speed. Speed isn't 6-foot-2 Tyler's strong suit, but his ability to read the game and leadership qualities make him stand out in a senior class heavy on center backs.
13. Elias Gomez (Rosario Central/Argentina). The SuperDraft isn't just about college players. MLS invites in select foreign players -- youth
internationals, it calls them. In 2011, Toronto FC took young Ecuadoran Joao Plata with the 49th selection. TFC wasted Plata's talents, but he blossomed after a move to Real Salt Lake two years
later and now holds Designated Player status. Is Gomez of Plata's caliber? Perhaps not, but he put in a great showing on Day 2 of the Combine and showed he can contribute as a left-sided player.
14. *Andrew Tarbell (Clemson). Goalkeepers rarely go high in the SuperDraft. In the last five drafts, just three keepers went in the first
round: Zac MacMath and Andre Blake to Philadelphia in 2011 and 2014 and Alex Bono to Toronto FC in 2015. MLS clubs think highly of Tarbell, though, endorsing his for a GA
contract. He was a big reason Clemson made it to the NCAA Division I final.
15. Jonathan Campbell (North Carolina). Campbell, a tall
center back in the mold of former Tar Heel Hedges, has been projected to go as high as No. 3 in the SuperDraft but after a so-so first two days at the Combine, he'll probably go lower. That would suit
Seattle with the No. 15 pick just fine. Campbell, an excellent student like his Carolina teammate Holness, starred for the Sounders' U-23 team in the PDL over the summer.
*Generation
adidas signings (who don't count against salary cap).
I've never been impressed with linear players whether they are fast or athletic. I'm only impressed by recognition and movement. The only way to tell whether a player has quality is in game situations.
Agreed I w. Rarely does straight speed beat quality defenders.
Very interesting indeed. However, why only three (3)!!! players from west of the Continental Divide? What, as I've said many times before, don't Western located colleges and universities produce talent also, or is it because those student-athletes from those colleges/universities want to even bother with the MLS Draft?
I am a little confused as to why you are referring
to several players as having age, 22 and 23 working against them. That should be the perfect age those
players can step in and play with men. What works against you is when you are 17,18,19 and you are not a man yet, and two or three years on the bench can destroy you.
How many players at 18-19 years old have been successful in the MLS. It is a very physical league, 21,22,23 should be perfect.
Good comment Lou V! Couldn't agree more!!!
Oooops, forgot to also comment that the number of "...18-19 year olds...(sic)" is very low and every now and then are we regaled with the likes of a Messi, Pele, and sadly indeed a Freddy Adu (whose career was destroyed by other "more adult" advisers.
Did I miscount or do students from nations other than the USA predominate in the predictions?
No miscounting, the top prospects were trained overseas as youth players. That's why they are top prospects now. They didn't learn to play from crummy kickball coaches in middle school, high school and college.