This thread is for links to articles on Jeremy Ashe, reports from those who've seen him play, reports from those who know him, opinions about how he can contribute to the Fire, pics, etc... Ashe is a 22 y/o 5'10 senior out of Marshall University (D1). He was drafted by the Fire in the 4th round with the 46th overall pick. Marshall has him listed as a midfielder/defender. He's from New Jersey so at least he's not gonna have a problem with the weather. Ashe is the Fire's only draft pick who was not invited to the combine. MLS Profile - mlsnet.com ( "lettered in track and basketball in high school" ) Marshall's Ashe Selected 46th in 2006 MLS SuperDraft - herdzone.collegesports.com ( ""It's such an exciting experience," Ashe said. "It all has happened so fast, but I really feel blessed. I am honored to be able to continue playing." ... "He is one of the hardest workers in the weight room and also has a lot of versatility, as he showed when he played outside midfielder and then finished in the back on defense this year." ... "(The Fire) was looking for an outside defender who would be a good man marker, and with Jeremy's athleticism, I think he will be a good fit," Gray said." ) Marshall University Profile - herdzone.collegesports.com Fire mining for gem among five picks - chicago-fire.com ( "Jeremy is a player we did our homework on," Sarachan said. "He's a defender, but is actually a converted forward. There are a lot of things we liked about him." )
The Fire has this idea that they can draft athletes and turn them into soccer players. Ashe wasn't even the best player on his team - a team that is not known as a soccer factory. He didn't even start - at Marshall! - until his senior year. I truly wish Jeremy the best of luck, but his college production simply doesn't indicate an MLS quality player. When Sarachan says 'we did our homework', I'd be worried. Karim Dietz wasn't even ready to leave school, and Hollis Donaldson was a similar pick to Ashe in that he wasn't a standout player at Liberty. I suspect Fire fans will eventually rue passing on Aaron King or some other guy who ends up going in the supplemental draft.
Emile, Do you know if Ashe is right or left-footed? Did he play RB or LB at the end of the season? This article gives me the impression that he's left-footed: "Jeremy Ashe was streaking in from the left side and made a perfect pass..." If he plays on the left, then we drafted 3 left-footed players in Rusollilo, Plotkin and Ashe and our first trade was for another left-footed player - Gutierrez. It looks like we now have Segares, Guerrero, Mapp, Griffin, Plotkin, Gutierrez, Rusollilo and Ashe who are left-footed. Interesting.
That wouldn't be my exact choice of words... Isn't Armas also left-footed? Not that he plays on the left, but...
I fear we may be getting rid of at least 1 of our solid left-side players. Why else would we get, out of our first 6 new players this year, 4 that are left-footed?
If we get rid of any left-footed players, it will be Griffin, Ashe and Russolillo. I can't really see our two late-round draft picks replacing Sega or Guerrero this year: Dave is not that stupid. And Gutierrez is coming in to play centrally, so no worry there. In the end, Ashe and Russolillo will be fighting Griffin for a spot on the roster, and they will most likely be reserve team players this year. Anything more is a bonus and shouldn't be expected. Dave has said as much.
Ashe is right footed. extremely fast and hard to get past. good going forward out of the back, may surprise a few people.
Cinnaminson grad Ashe selected in MLS draft So we drafted 2 players that can play right-mid in Carr and Ashe. Let's see if either one can do it at the proffesional level.
Herd's Ashe ready for MLS challenge Use "spring break and a few long weekends to attend a few preseason events"? Pretty strange IMO. He's not giving himself much chance of making the team. Maybe he thinks his chances of making it are so small that he doesn't want to sacrifice a semester. I'd expect him to put graduating on hold and give it all his got in making the roster. Oh well.
It's obvious that nobody else was planning on drafting him since Ashe wasn't even watching the draft!!! So why did we draft him Dave? Shouldn't we have drafted another player instead? Maybe someone like Daniel Wasson, Jeff Rowland, Aaron King, or how about taking a chance on my favorite undrafted player - Omar Jarun - the 6'5 / 190 forward out of Dayton who scored 10 goals with 7 assists as a senior? He would've had a year in the reserves to develop since we're stacked at forward. When Ashe is done with school, Sarachan could've invited him to train with the Fire and then go from there. Hard to understand why we drafted him considering all this. Why throw away the pick when there several very interesting prospects we could've taken?
seems reasonable to me. the player himself is not making preseason training a priority, why pick him up at this point? burn one of your late supplemental picks on him if you really think he's worthwhile, or what the heck, maybe ask him if he's interested in signing before you pick him. even the bears don't make these kind of mistakes.
This guy was a 4th round pick. How many 4th round picks make MLS rosters in the first place? I ask this question because you're making it sound like we traded up to the 1st round to take this guy or something. I really don't see much wrong with taking this project at #46 in the draft. The 4th round of the MLS draft is where "projects" are taken. Maybe 1-2 will work out, but 9-10 out of 10 won't work out. Guys that are taken in the 4th round aren't going to step in and play from day #1 anyway, probably wouldn't play much in year 1 at all, even if he was in camp from day #1. Next point-- why wouldn't a guy who might not even be in the league this time next year get his degree? The "hard core" soccer fans might not like it, but it sounds to me like this guy has his long-term plans in order.
Here's my point: if you're going to pick a guy that might not be bothered to show up to camp, why not just pass on the pick, or at least take a stab at someone that might show up. I have no problem that the guy decided it's his priority to finish school, but the management should have never picked that guy. While the late-round success rate is not high in the draft, here's a quick list I put together of late-round pickups over the last few years that at least kind of stuck, and some definitely panned out: 2005 Luke Kreamalmeyer 4 Guy Melamed 4 Tim Merritt 4 Jason Hernandez 5 Bill Gaudette 5 DAvid Mahoney 6 Aaron Pitchkolan 6 2004 David Wagenfuhr 4 Josh Gros 4 Michael Bradley 4 Jeff Parke 6 Andy Dorman 6 2003 Kenny Arena 4 Taylor Graham 4 Jamil Walker 4 Jack Jewsury 5 2002 Chris Leitch 4 Davy Arnaud 5 2001 Cory Gibbs 4 Daouda Kante 6 There's some names on here that definitely would make a contribution, so why not at least try to get the next one of these guys?
Is is possible that this Ashe guy is worth the risk over someone else that we could have drafted? Is it possible that the Fire are thinking longer term than the 2006 season with this guy? Do we really need him to step in and play in April/May/June of this year?
Zach, I've been monitoring your posts recently, and I don't think you belong on BS anymore. We don't need rationality or hard data around here: this is the internet, for chrissakes.
I think you're right. After all, this is our 4th round draft pick that we're talking about, so he absolutely has to start from day #1 in order for us to even have the slightest chance of succeeding this year. In fact, if Jeremy Ashe isn't in the ring of Fire someday, then it will be forever written that this was the worst draft class in MLS history.
Honestly, do you guys think that a guy that's not even committing to training camp is going to make the team? How is that a long term pick? He'll be cut before opening day.
It's a long term pick in that Dave knows he wants this player, makes sure nobody else takes him (that's his modus operandi in the draft, after all) and then he can wait for him to show up after school ends and train with the team. If we go with the "Dave isn't stupid" assumption, then we conclude that he's got most of his roster figured out, doesn't feel the need for a boatload of draft picks and is willing to wait for the guys he wants. The number of people who said that, quote, Dave and the Fire "always do their homework" during the draft was impressive, and they can't all be crazy...
And if you're right, then this guy will be no different than 80-90% of the other 4th round picks. Whoop dee freaking doo.
would Ashe have been eligible for the supplemental draft? If so, Dave could have waited and taken someone that actually intended to be drafted in the 4th round.