https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/ussoccer97531s-2022-player-rankings.2124102/#post-41090161 Mentions some Quakes players.
A friend mentioned to me that Quakes’ ii academy high schooler Drew Murray had a recent Instagram post with the Oakland Roots logo and sports agency Wasserman together. It wasn’t a signing announcement per se, but seemed like a leveraged threat. Maybe he sees drafting Daniel Munie as an impediment to Murray’s path to first team soccer.
He's gone, will be signing with an academy in Germany at 18 and playing with Roots until then. Will be 1-2 others as well following suit. Rumor that Quakes are furious and have a big issue brewing with that group.
Will be interesting to see if Wasserman is behind this or one specific agent at Wasserman. MLS is a closed system.
Sucks if true, but then again until we prove we can develop young talent, I can't blame them. We're a horrible franchise all around, there's no reason to think we'd play the youngsters much. I'm aware that Luchi is suppose to change that. Time will tell though. Until then, history has shown us otherwise.
We do need to sign more players and give them opportunities (helps to have a good team to surround them and allow them to grow), but that would only solve the problem for a couple of players. The real problem is MLS and its ignorant roster rules. It is about salary containment at all costs, even if it means losing players to other leagues. In another country, all of these guys would have already been on pro contracts.
I see both sides of this. I’m not sure how many years Drew played for San Jose but it wouldn’t surprise me if the team had invested three figures in his development. They flew him all over, he’s been put up in hotels, food, free equipment, free coaching, ect. There have been significant costs and I’m sure the team will not be happy if they get zero return but Oakland does get solidarity money.
ICYMI: Oakland Roots appear set to sign former Quakes Academy defender Drew Murray. He's appearing for the U-19 #USYNT and has "Oakland Roots" listed as his club. Our story from last week: https://t.co/Y7euGjd1FA pic.twitter.com/AIUDwOpiCl— Jonathan Comeaux (@Jonathan_Como) January 5, 2023
I think one of the rumors I heard was Ethan Kohler going to Eintracht Frankfurt at 18. Who knows anymore. I do question the timing after the Quakes have clearly signaled they will be looking to develop and sell players to higher level leagues. You don’t bring in John Wolyneic and Luchi Gonzalez unless you are all in on developmental soccer. Players that decide to leave also strengthen opportunities for others. Fidel Barajas leaving means more focus on Sebastian Carbajal’s development. Murray going makes Alejandro Cano more valuable. If Ethan Kohler goes then Israel Carrillo will benefit.
until the culture dramatically changes with this team, everything is going to be an uphill struggle. even the Quakes top brass recently acknowledged that players don't want to come here. nobody takes the Quakes seriously.
@jeff_adams Welcome to the Black and Blue ⚫ 🔵NEWS: Earthquakes Sign Cam Cilley, Keegan Tingey to Homegrown Contracts— San Jose Earthquakes (@SJEarthquakes) January 6, 2023 Never heard of these two. What’s the lowdown ?
I wouldn't get to excited. Basically cheap/free players. Weren't even on the draft, unless maybe no one could've signed them because they were part of our academy?!? If the last couple yrs we drafted supposedly "good draft picks" yet they've barely played I couldn't imagine these guys doing much to make a difference. To me their just a couple of free players to fill out our cheap roster. Hopefully, they prove me wrong and become great players..... But I doubt it.
Quakes probably told the league they intended to sign them thus they probably weren’t eligible to be drafted. But I do kinda agree with you they’re just roster fillers. We shall see
I think you might be right. Either way, they've never been talked about as major prospects or anything like it. I'm not expecting much.
Big props to itscalvin for predicting these signings. I think both withdrew from the Superdraft because they knew they would get a contract. This is a Chris Leitch MO signing. Lima and Richmond came the same way. CJ Gray was signed to Next Pro after college as well.
I would expect them to be Next Pro guys for this year. Richmond got a lot more minutes with the second team.
My little cousin played with Cam Cilley and Keegan Tingey at Ballistic United. That Ballistic United team seems to produce a lot of players. They actually started at John Doyle Mustangs and went to the Ballistic's at 13 years of age.
I think the ones that roam this thread have been expecting these two for a couple of months now. Thanks my dude! Yeah from this NCAA year it only narrowed it down to 3 Quakes academy alumni and when Fahmi Ibrahim was on the draft list and these 2 were not it was pretty much confirmed.
Isn't Tristan Viviani (I believe at San Diego State) a left back? Why don't the Quakes sign him to a homegrown deal? Seems like he might be more useful to the first team than these guys (who I assume are headed to MLSNXP)... does he want to stay in college?
I think he just started college, and I assume he wants to stay. But he's someone I'm sure they're keeping an eye on. 3 more years is a long time though.
I believe that top prospects like Tristan Viviani and Tarun Karumanchi were advised to go to college first by Leitch. I am not sure why but I think Jeff Adams has said more about it in the past, but I don't remember what he said. But I definitely would have been good with Viviani getting signed back when we didn't have a left-back.
I think it’s a “life experiences” thing with Leitch. He himself went to college before his professional career and I think he recognized that he would have had maturity issues if he had signed too young. Fuentes, Akanyinge and others I won’t mention have had real behavioral problems related to the lifestyle of a professional athlete. I believe Leitch values players leaving home and developing independent thinking in college. There is also less “stage parent’s syndrome” after a player has gone off to college. The team wants more mental stability.
I think each player is different so I don't believe in hard and fast rules, but in general I'm not sold on the "college homegrowns" thing because: 1) Yes maybe they are older and more mature but they will have played, what, maybe 15-20 games a year against / with mediocre competition for 4 years (relative to training with and playing in the pros). Especially now, when there are dev (Quakes II) games to be played, they are going to get the games and training against better compeition and more year-around training / development. 2) In Letich's time it was different, but how many college draft picks become impact players in MLS these days? And these are not even necessarily college standouts we're giving HG's to, they are good but not great college players. 3) For any of us who attended college in the US, let's be serious, how much "maturity" do you really learn? 4) Who says that you can't also build maturity off of experiences as a professional soccer player. You actually have many more mentors than you would in college. 5) Some players may be high achievers academically with a cultural predisposition towards college and some not. Are we developing a sort of cultural elitism with this sort of policy? 6) In the end you want to put as many high ceiling guys at the top of your funnel to get the most impact players on your team as possible at the bottom. These college HG guys may be low risk in terms of complete crash and burn, but they are generally low ceiling, and by signing them you are not giving yourself the best chance to get the most impact players at the bottom of the funnel.