Saw this on the Yanks Abroad forum. Sean Cunningham, a defender from the state of Michigan who had verballed to go to Ann Arbor, instead signed with a professional club in Norway. http://www.goal.com/en-us/news/2617...9/american-teen-agrees-to-terms-with-molde-fk Here's the ESPN rise list with teams verbals. If you scroll down to Michigan you can see Cunningham listed there. http://rise.espn.go.com/boys-soccer...list/2011-Boys-Soccer-Verbal-Commitments.aspx This is not the first or the last time a college will lose a player to the pros before he matriculates but might be the first time it happened to the Wolverines.
Re: Michigan loses a verbal commit to the pros. Cunningham's signing comes amid rumors that Soony Saad, the Wolverines consensus National Freshman of the Year, has left school to pursue a pro career in Europe. To be clear, there is NOTHING definitive about this AT THIS TIME but while there might not be fire at this time, there is definitely smoke. Here's a thread on the Yanks Abroad forum discussing the rumors. https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?p=22574177 Apparently on a (member's only) Michigan sports forum, there's a post/thread discussing it. Hopefully, but they've lost Soony Saad That news isn't out there publicly yet, but it's happened. Kid decided he needed to be a pro and took off for Europe after Christmas. Losing him and Meram is a HUGE hit to the program just when momentum was there to be seized. Feel bad for Steve Burns and his kids. The future remains bright but with Saad they had a chance to compete for the Big Ten title and another Final Four next year. Without him and Meram, they could fall back to third or fourth in the Big Ten and just an NCAA participant. Suffice to say, this would be a huge blow to the Michigan program that was just emerging as a national power.
Re: Michigan loses a verbal commit to the pros. No doubt. Maybe they can find a replacement for him in West Virginia.
Ives confirms Saad leaving Michigan to tryout in Europe. http://www.soccerbyives.net/soccer_by_ives/2011/01/saad-leaves-michigan-to-pursue-pro-career.html Obviously, this is a HUGE loss for the Wolverines but it's magnified because of Meram's graduation and lossing Cunningham before he even matriculated. What could have been a contending team with Soony and Cunningham will now have to scrape and claw to make the NCAA Tournamment.
I think that now makes 3 guys from Michigan who are over there. All 3 were seen in Europe on the Discover Europe Tour and I believe all 3 played club soccer for Vardar.
I heard Soony's grades weren't up to par... Take it for what it's worth, but it's come from a couple people.
or maybe he knew he wanted to leave so he didn't bother? ala one-and-done college basketball players.