Other recent U20 or U19 players heading to college: Frankie Amaya '00 — UCLA Jake Arteaga '00 — Portland Charlie Asencio '00 — Clemson Simon Becher '99 — Holy Cross Alex Budnik '00 — Dartmouth Sam Fowler '00 — Washington Justin Garces '00 — UCLA Kyle Holcomb '00 — Wake Forest Matthew Hundley '00 — UCLA Aboubakar Keita '00 — Virginia Jack Maher '99 — Indiana Declan McGlynn '00 — Seattle Alex Mendez '00 — UCLA Isaiah Parente '00 — Wake Forest Johan Penaranda '00 — Navy Jeremy Rafanello '00 — Penn State A.J. Seals '00 — NC State Aedan Stanley '99 — Duke Seth Stiebel '99 — Saint Louis Greg Tracey '99 — Portland Aristotle Zarris '99 — Wake Forest Sean Zawadzki '00 — Georgetown No college commitment that I could find: Christian Cappis '99 George Marks '99 Rayshaun McGann '00 Glademir Mendoza '99 Jake Morris '99 Chris Nicola '99 Other players of note, basically guys whose names I recognize from USL or former U17s or from wherever: Sakari Carter '00 — Santa Clara Will Crain '00 — Brown Nicolas Garcia-Morillo '00 — Harvard Jorge Hernandez '00 — UC Irvine Quantrell Jones '00 — UMBC Roman Knox '99 — North Carolina Ian Lonergan '99 — Cal Cameron Martin '00 — San Francisco Raul Miglietti '99 — Washington Brayan Padilla '00 — Maryland Victor Pereyra-Zavala '99 — Georgia State Issa Rayyan '00 — Duke Carlo Ritaccio '00 — Akron Holland Rula '99 — Wake Forest Tyler Shaver '00 — Stanford Kazuyoshi Shigenobu '99 — Princeton Daniel Steedman '00 — Virginia R.J. Stretch '99 — Portland Dylan Teves '00 — Washington
Hmm, looks like he'll be a freshman this fall: https://www.northcarolinafc.com/georgemarks http://clemsontigers.com/sports/mens-soccer/roster/
Mendoza signed an LOI with New Mexico and is listed on their roster. However, since signing... He has A) torn his ACL On the negative side, I've been told RSL left back Glademir Mendoza tore his ACL. He was likely going to be a key player for the U.S. U20 squad this year.— J.R. Eskilson (@JREskilson) June 26, 2018 And B) New Mexico is dropping soccer after this season. https://www.soccertoday.com/new-mexico-drops-mens-college-soccer/ So who knows what his future holds. But it ain't playing college soccer at New Mexico.
Just to take Balerion's list, this is one of the main reasons why we don't maximize our ability. These players are playing amateur football 4 months out of the year. They are falling way behind their counterparts around the world. If you aren't in the highest regarded wave in your age group around the world, you might sign a contract with a second or third division club. Here, they make sure they don't maximize their development by playing college soccer. Doesn't matter that a couple of them might end up being NT players. They could've all been better players (on an individual basis) if they were playing professional soccer as opposed to college soccer. You can't decide at 16, 17, 18 who will be your best professional players from each age group. Too often #85 in the rankings ends up better than #14. With this current system, the top 25 or so get maximized development. Everyone else who has the talent to play for the NT or to play in Europe eventually doesn't maximize their development. Its a very elitist mentality. We stomp all over our own feet with this process.
I agree that college soccer in general is very suboptimal for development. One caveat: for me, though, the problem for these kids doesn't really kick in until January. One-and-dones aren't a problem. You go from the DA and immediately take a step up to compete against older kids in the NCAA. It's that first long, long offseason that begins this coming winter where the stagnation really sets in. A combination of too short a season, too little training, not great coaching, and competition that gets easier over time (because you get relatively older and older than your average opponent). I don't think Mark McKenzie was hurt by playing his freshman fall season. They key is getting out before its too late. This is why we really need to let all underclassmen declare for the draft if they want.
So by my count, Tab has called up 61 players so far this cycle. (Not counting the 00s only called to the U19 team so far.) Of those 61... *One will be a junior this fall (Siad Haji, who doesn't turn 19 till December). *Six will be sophomores this season (Griffin Dorsey, Justin McMaster, Trey Muse, Manny Perez, Justin Rennicks, Carson Vom Steeg). *12 will be freshman this fall (Franky Amaya, Simon Becher, Gideon Davis, Justin Garces, Jack Maher, George Marks, Glademir Mendoza, Aedan Stanley, Seth Stiebel, Greg Tracey, Aristotle Zaris, Sean Zawadski) *Two were freshman last year but have already gone pro (Mark McKenzie, Brandon Servania) *Three are listed in the class of 2018 but haven't appeared to have matriculated to a college (Alex Mendez, Jake Morris, Chris Nicola). I'd be surprised of more than one of them played college soccer. *And three are in the class of 2019 (Richard Ledezma, Uly Llanez, David Ochoa) and we all expect all three of them to never play college soccer. The influence of college soccer on this U20 cycle is the lowest it's ever been. Thirty six are already pros and all but two of them didn't play college soccer. Several more will probably become pros without going to college. There's still some talent in the college game. But the high-end players are either not going or leaving quickly.
UNM has said they'll honor the scholarships for everybody on that team, so it doesn't seem like there's any downside at all for Mendoza to sign with the Monarchs while he rehabs.... right?
Chris Cappis committed to SMU. Seems unlikely that he'll end up going there, but I'm pretty sure about that one. Maybe it was just a verbal commitment? I will bet money that we find out MLS has told FCD that Cappis isn't eligible to sign for them as a homegrown.
Unless he wants to play college soccer someplace else next year. And who knows if the Monarchs will sign him right now.
Here's the PDL on some top college prospects. Their list includes a few familiar names but also some guys most of us probably don't know (including some D2 players and a NAIA guy). https://www.uslpdl.com/news_article/show/943543
Two NAIA guys, which somehow the PDL managed to miss in its own press release. Bennet Strutz, GK for the league runner-up, goes to Cumberland University, which the link above mentions is in the NAIA, even though the press release only says 1 player, Nikola Fimic, is in the NAIA. Of course he is German, not American, so for USYNT prospects it doesn't really matter. (Fimic is Serbian. And also apparently on the 2017 PDL top prospect list).
Good catch. Wouldn't want to shortchange the NAIA guys! I figure several of those guys aren't eligible for reasons of nationality or age. Still, interesting to see how the PDL's take on its top prospects might differ from others'.
Some other interesting facts about the list. 21 of 50 have a listed hometown in the USA 6 are Canadian, another 6 are English, 3 are from Germany and another 3 are from Brazil, 2 are from Spain, with Guinea, Serbia, Croatia, Ghana, Panama, Ireland, France, Nigeria and Japan having 1 player each. 2 appear to no longer be playing college soccer: Rafael Santos was a senior at VCU last year and was drafted by DC United in January. Charlie Ledula is not currently listed on the LIU-Post roster. 13 players transferred to their current college. Only 1 player, Carlos Mercado, is a freshman. 7 sophomores, 14 juniors, 26 seniors, and 1 graduate student make up the rest of the class years.
Hundley scored a brace in his first match. Why isn't Garces starting? Being a back up in college soccer won't get it done.
Kyle Holcomb scored the game winning goal for Wake Forest to beat Indiana. McMaster got an assist and Aristotle Zarris went 65 min. Griffin Dorsey scored the goal for Indiana. Muse started at GK.
I watched NC State-Akron tonight specifically to watch Manny Perez. The sophomore started at right mid and in bursts, you can see what the hype is about. He doesn't really seek the game out so he can go long stretches without touching the ball. This is in part because of where on the field he's playing but for one of the biggest pro prospects in college soccer, you'd like to see him more involved. Having said that, he makes the most of what he does. He's tall and lanky for a flank player but he's got a great first step or two. He uses this well, both on defense to jump gaps and disrupt plays and to move past guys when he gets the ball which, again, isn't all that much. He also reads the game very well, which you'd probably expect from someone with so much international experience. He used this combination of skills to create NC State's second goal late in the first half when he read a pass and jumped into the gap to intercept it then was off to the races down the right flank, with acres of space. He picked his head up a few yards from the end line and whipped in a cross that was finished with the help of a deflection and it was 2-0. That was Perez' second assist in as many games. With that lead on the road, Perez stayed back most of the rest of the game as NC State just absorbed pressure and stayed organized and frustrated the crack out of an Akron team that played in the College Cup a year ago. In doing so, you can see why Tab likes him as a right back as he's good in the tackle and has solid defensive positioning. In short, he's a good player but I don't know that he's a great one. But I can see why he's gotten so much national team attention and I think he'll be a solid pro, though I'm not sure if it'll be at RB or as a MF. In that regard, he reminds me of Colorado's Marlon Hairston. One thing to watch is Perez came out of the game in about the 75th minute with what appeared to be a muscle ding. Didn't look too serious, but with the compact college season, there isn't a lot of time to heal so definitely should be monitored. Also, State is now 2-0-0 with a good road win. They are on their way to being an NCAA Tournament team again, which could really screw with qualifying for the U20s. One other State player I liked was David Loeria, their central mid from the Orlando academy. I don't think he'll be a creative mid at the pro level but he's got nice vision and quickness and makes smart passes. Definitely a pro there, probably as an 8. Reminded me of Cristian Roldan at U-Dub. Akron has two defenders worth watching, Carlo Rittacio, and undersized freshman CB who reads the game well. He's gotten some YNT looks in the past. And I like their sophomore RB, Daniel Strachan.
Looks like Hackworth's son is a RS-SR at Akron (and '97) after transferring (before last season) from 'Cuse.
Lots of YNTers in the mix for UCLA. Amaya, Sundquist, Terwege, Paoli off the top of my head... https://uclabruins.com/documents/2018/8/24//UCLAMS01_at_Coastal.pdf
Liberian, from what I understand. Went to a JuCo then UCLA. Neither his Tyler JC or UCLA bios say anything about him living in the US before college. Doesn't mean he didn't or isn't a US citizen. Just nothing to infer he is so I'd bet against it.
Aboubacar Keita started the first match of the season for Virginia. I'd like to see Columbus sign him (and Zawadzki) after this season to first team contracts. Both are good players, but playing more than a season of college soccer probably won't be good for either of them.