Welcome Bryan Arguez,Brad North,Jay Needham,Ricky Schramm,Shawn Crowe,Guy-Roland Kpen

[The Liquidator]

We got Jay Needham!

SMU boy nice!

[Lowecifer]

He's a big senior from SMU. He's got good experience at that level, so hopefully he'll be able to help sooner rather than later.

[Lowecifer]

Ricky Schramm

http://graphics.fansonly.com/photos/schools/gu/sports/m-soccer/auto_headshot/568515.jpeg

Forward from Georgetown

5'11 170

39 Career Goals

[jason1551]

He had a good performance at the combine, correct?
yeah, buzz ranked him the top true CB in the draft

[AMERICANS SC]

What I like about this draft is that everyone is taller than me!

I like what I have read from our #1 draft pick!

Men, time to rip the Metros a new one!

[revelation]

He's 17 - he'll fill out. He already has height, so we just put him in the weight room to bulk him up.

Not necessarily.

Freddy simply stopped growing at some point.

That happens when you turn 25...

:rolleyes:

[revelation]

What I like about this draft is that everyone is taller than me!


Did KP and Kaspar get a box full of Tallocations or something?

However, given our draft history, I'll wait to pass judgement over the quality of this year's selections.... :(

[AMERICANS SC]

Did KP and Kaspar get a box full of Tallocations or something?

However, given our draft history, I'll wait to pass judgement over the quality of this year's selections.... :(

True that...

But, nevertheless even you (a former jackbooted moderator, tall person and a damn good soccer player if I may say so) must admit that it is a decent trend...

[sch2383]

RE: Arguez

From those pictures it looks like he has the frame to fill out. And even if he doesn't, he can just learn from Brian Carroll how to play the game as a stick.

A guy like Beasley is just skinny and probably always will be (I remember seeing his dad once, looked just like the son build wise).

[revelation]

Good trend, however, I'm not sure DC United has a game plan for tall players. Over the years, the team has never developed a good strategy to exploit players over 6 foot (even when we've had them). Our tall guys play small...

[Sachin]

True that...

But, nevertheless even you (a former jackbooted moderator, tall person and a damn good soccer player if I may say so) must admit that it is a decent trend...

You don't have to suck up to him.

[jgildea8]

SMU boy nice!

Southern Millionaires University

[AMERICANS SC]

Good trend, however, I'm not sure DC United has a game plan for tall players. Over the years, the team has never developed a good strategy to exploit players over 6 foot (even when we've had them). Our tall guys play small...

Somewhat true, but that cannot be said about Boswell, Erpen, Gros...

You don't have to suck up to him.

Not true, as he is no longer a moderator, I am just stating facts.

I am convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that he could dribble circles around all day and night, after having drank a case of Guinness...

[JuanMa]

Somewhat true, but that cannot be said about Boswell, Erpen, Gros...


add Sanneh, Pope, Lassiter, Lisi, Simpson, Kelderman and Quaranta to the list. I am sure there are more.

I think DCUnited has always had a good balance of a couple tall players and a couple of short players on every starting roster. Nothing wrong with that.

Height has not been a factor for our team to win/lose games, I dont think. We have historically dominated the MLS with ball possession, bench depth and playing the whole width of the pitch. And a mullet here and there...

[SteveWWJ]

Buzz Carrick's (www.3rddegree.net) positional ranking and assesments of our picks:


3 MF Arguez, Bryan 2011
Perhaps the biggest upside of the young Generation adidas players, Arguez is a great linking possession kind of midfielder that can penetrate into the box and create havoc. His development right out of U17 residency is partially responsible for knocking Dax McCarty off the U20 team. Already 6'2" 165, Arguez will turn 18 the day after the MLS SuperDraft. He is probably the closest thing to the superstar promise of Altidore in this year's pool.


20 F North, Brad Northwestern 2007
Ten time Big ten first team in 05 and 06. NU's MVP in 06 with 9 goals and 2 assists. 28 career goals. Not invited to the combine.


5 D Needham, Jay SMU 2007
Combine performance sealed him as the best senior centerback who might actually be in the draft. The two time SMU captain and four year starter took a step forward and became the player many had expected to see in his senior year. A very technical defender and a better athlete than he appears at first glance, Needham dominated CUSA this season bringing home the league Defender of the Year award and consensus First Team All-American nods (NSCAA, College Soccer News, and Top Drawer Soccer) to go with his Herman Finalist recognition. Needham has ten goals and nine assist in this career, scoring with his head, from free kicks, and in the run of play. He can be exposed by pace when he over commits trying to do to much, that trouble area should be correctable at the next level.


21 F Schramm, Ricky Georgetown 2007
Another streaky player with strong years followed by less outstanding ones. Big east Player of the Year in 2004. Big East third team in 05 and second team in 06. Let Georgetown in scoring all four years. An impressive 39 goals and 15 assists in his career. Not invited to the combine but could be a sleeper pick for someone.


2 GK Robles, Luis Portland 2007
He's slightly undersized to be a true top tier prospect at 6'1", yet Robles is blessed with superior athleticism. A career GAA in the region of 1.18 is not wonderful, but his mind blowing 346 career saves at Portland means hes getting it done behind a fairly porous defense. Robles has been on the fringes of the national team program for years, being named to both U14 and U20 pools. With 93 saves this season, the red shirt senior was picked up the West Coast Conference Defender of the Year award in 2006 as well as his third straight first team conference nod.

[DCFAN96]

Well it looks like Goltv will be showing the U20 qualies, so we'll at least get an early look at what Arguez brings to the table.

[Lowecifer]

I added the Buzz Carrick comments to the first two posts in the thread.

[bigredfutbol]

Southern Millionaires University

A friend of mine went to SMU. He and his frat buddies like to call Harvard "the SMU of the East." Typing that now was almost as excrutiatingly annoying as hearing the joke live.

[revelation]

add Sanneh, Pope, Lassiter, Lisi, Simpson, Kelderman and Quaranta to the list. I am sure there are more.

Ok, I'll say, yes Sanneh and Pope were tall and played tall. However, Lassiter was useless in the air. Lisi??? He wasn't exactly Mr. Header either. Simpson was a keeper not a field player... And Tino, we'll he may have been listed at 6 foot but he played about as effectively in the air as Richie Williams. In fact, it was Tino that spurred me to think about our tall guys playing small...

There are teams that exploit height and aerial prowess (i.e. Chicago and New England) and there are those that don't (i.e. DC United). Our corner kick drought is more because we have exactly two guys that can get on the end of a cross - Bozilla and Gros. Thus the short ball to knock in a shot rather than a driven cross for a header.

With these guys all having some height, we may actually have some different options in the attack other than dribbling into the back of the net - perhaps a cross from the wing to a player that will beat "Big Bird" in the air...

One can hope... :)

[Daniel le Rouge]

Ok, I'll say, yes Sanneh and Pope were tall and played tall. However, Lassiter was useless in the air. Lisi??? He wasn't exactly Mr. Header either. Simpson was a keeper not a field player... And Tino, we'll he may have been listed at 6 foot but he played about as effectively in the air as Richie Williams. In fact, it was Tino that spurred me to think about our tall guys playing small...

There are teams that exploit height and aerial prowess (i.e. Chicago and New England) and there are those that don't (i.e. DC United). Our corner kick drought is more because we have exactly two guys that can get on the end of a cross - Bozilla and Gros. Thus the short ball to knock in a shot rather than a driven cross for a header.

With these guys all having some height, we may actually have some different options in the attack other than dribbling into the back of the net - perhaps a cross from the wing to a player that will beat "Big Bird" in the air...

One can hope... :)
Erpen's another guy who can tantalize you with some aerial chances--he landed more than one flick header in the top netting this year.

That said, you are BANG on the money when it comes to our forwards. You've got to go back to Raul Diaz Arce to find a decent aerial threat among players who started further forward than Richie Williams.