Surprised to hear he won't be even a developmental player. I thought he was one of the best defenders at the Combine and certainly among college seniors. This may be another advert for league expansion. Any insights on what Hankinson didn't like about him?
Jason Cole released Jason Cole the conference POY from St Louis has been released. After three good season's as a defender in college his coach switched him to forward his senior and he obviuosly did quite well but did the switch cost him a future in MLS as a defender? Was Jason a casualty for the short term success of the coach and the St Louis program? Just a question.
Just a rough guess here, but I think it comes down to Cole not being able to perform in training for the Rapids the way he did in the preseason combine. I know that one of Hankinson's big hopes was that Cole would be able to burn up the flanks from an outside back position... and of all the scrimmages I saw, Cole wasn't pushing up too much. I'd also bet that he just wasn't as versatile as many of the other guys on the club -- such as Crawford, who can play both back and midfield, or Sleeth who remains injured but already somewhat MLS-proven -- and is simply the victim of having a LOT of competition for very limited spots, even on the bench. Another factor as earlier reported by joeyclams (and witnessed by four or five of us on this board) was a scrimmage in which Cole went down with an injury after what was a physical yet very common 50-50 challenge against Chung, and didn't get back up and was helped off the field. It wasn't a very serious injury, and as suggested by joeyclams the end result might have been indicative of the level of effort that Cole was willing to put forth in trying to make the team. Given the timing of the draft -- that is, before any training had begun -- it could also be that Cole was initially picked up with the thought that certain returning players would be waived or dismissed early, yet showed up in camp looking better than they ever have for the Rapids. Shak, Trembly -- I think you hear me knocking.
I would think he'll have a good year or two in the A-league and be back in the MLS fold with expansion. It is good to see the player pool getting deeper.
This is one of the intriguing stories of the preseason and I am really interested in seeing it play out. At one time, Shak, Trembly, Jackson were all seen by some, including me, as goners and Kotschau and Hart were both mentioned as possibilities for being squeezed out and moved or released. If you add in Beck's emergence from the stature of seemingly forgetten by Hankinson to a hopeful at A mid and garnering quoted praise, we have a bunch wild cards that could help shape this team more than most suspected. I think to JoeyClam's advocation that the Rapids were not giving some of these guys time to develop last year. Maybe the league is developing to a point that not only are mediocre players being pushed out but good players are being pushed harder to keep their spots.
thanks for the info. I do thnk it's clear competition for spots all over the league will be tougher and tougher. A player like Jason needs to keep his chin up, find a team in the A-League that needs him and really bust his tootie for the next two season in the hopes that expansion will work for him. I do think he has the ability.