The topic was not the academy, it was players who signed Next Pro contracts and then moved up to the first team. Beau Leroux is exactly that.
Beau was a college draft pick though. The team just stashed him in Next Pro and Bruce just happened to like what he saw during preseason - he's still kind of the antithesis of the academy -> Next Pro -> first team pipeline which has largely been disregarded by the current coach.
Yeah, I look at the Next/Pro contract thing as just a formality. For example reportedly Tomo Allen will sign a Next/Pro contract for a year and then go to an MLS homegrown. But I consider him an academy guy even though he played in college for a minute and even though he may start with a Next/Pro contract. I would classify our prospects as: 1) academy 2) superdraft picks 3) Next/Pro guys who are neither I don't think we've ever gotten 1st team minutes from anyone in #3 (ahem, Arfsten would have been a good place to start). #2 is where we get the most minutes, and then a bit from #1.
Wait isn't it the other way around? i.e. sign Tomo as a Homegrown then just have him suit up in Next Pro?
I think it was Bogert who said Tomo’s deal will be a Next/Pro contract for a year and then it goes to Homegrown. And @clsafe, who appears to have the inside scoop on Tomo, confirmed it.
Saw Alejandro Cano in the Coachella pictures warming up with the first team. I’m guessing Bruce is using some of the Q2 players to shore up the limited roster in preseason. I wonder what other players he called in?
I think Edwyn Mendoza is there too. But the Quakes do this every year - they bring a few academy guys into preseason. Cruz Medina played a little in 2024 preseason games at Coachella. Not sure if Cano has been there before but we only have 4 CBs on the roster right now and Bruce probably wants to see what he has on the 2nd team.
Also I think I saw Adimabua there. I am more curious about who is new I saw there was the two guys from SLO but I hope there are some other names there that did not get drafted. Like that Angel Iniguez dude from SJSU
Quakes II played closed door friendly vs. San Ramon FC - UPSL team that qualified for US Open Cup. Final score was 3-3, but Quakes II were up 3-1 until 60 min when they took starters out. Goal scorers were Julian Donnery, Tomo Allen, and Shane de Flores
Have they posted their roster anywhere? The Quakes II site has just 9 players. Shane de Flores must be a new player (from Stanford).
no rosters, but some players who played besides Shane, Martin Kwende, Tristan Viviani, Niklas Dossmann, Gabriel Bracken Serra, and I think Jarette Barajas.
Ooh, Viviani is back? I remember he was a really good academy player before leaving to play at San Diego State.
Ironically, Bruce Arena not having brought in more outside players as of yet actually has him seemingly trying out more Earthquakes II players with the first team than he did last year. GO EARTHQUAKES II !!! -G
They posted about Niko Baltazar (DF) and Nicky McCune (GK) getting invited to the preseason. Really happy to see Viviani back. I always thought we were going to sign him as a HG (My opinion he really good for Q2) to replace Marcos before he went to SDSU
Last year they had Quakes II guys in preseason training also - Cruz, Mendoza, etc. But not sure if any played at Coachella. This year we've seen Adimabua play at Coachella but I think he's the only Quakes II player who's played there so far. Nick Fernandez played a fair amount at Coachella last year. I don't really consider him a Quakes 2 player even though he played there a fair amount last year.
Nick Fernandez is like how I thought of Bouda during the beginning of his career with the Quakes, too good for Q2 but not good enough yet to get real minutes for the first team. Interested to see how much he plays this year.
No, he's easily good enough to get real minutes with the 1st team. He looked like the best player out there in limited minutes against Charlotte. And he looked pretty good last year in preseason games as well. He and Beau were getting in the games together and he looked at least as good as Beau. I think he'd be a better CAM than Niko. Bouda was a bit out of control in his first few years. Now he still has that energy but he plays more within himself.
Japan copying MLS Next Pro Japanese league football's new rule Win - 3 points Loss - 0 point Draw - Goes to penalties, the winner of the penalty shootout takes 2 points, the loser takes 1 point— Professor Labamba (@BadmanFreke) February 10, 2026