Top college players - an attempt at a comprehensive list [R]

Thanks for the list, Sandon. It'll be fun looking out for these players this season.

One name that I'd add is Johanes Maliza, Stanford's senior playmaker (born sept. 81). Towards the end of last season, he really took over their offense. He has a great combination of technical skill and all-out intensity.

 

Great list Sandon. I had been thinking of how to do something similar. It would be nice, since I get to see so few of the players, to try and get a ranking list of the best prospects based on the views of BS users around the country.

I have a few players that you have not included that I would (and a few you included that I wouldn't). I don't have my list handy, so I'll try to update when I get a chance. I have a lot of questions and comments about these, and other, players.

Actually, I can ask one - how have you determined if a player is foreign or not? I've always thought of Sunday Isename as American since he's been in Oklahoma for a while. I think Ihemulu is Nigerian born as well. Dirceu Hurtado is Peruvian isn't he? And Aaron Paye was born in Liberia. Since these guys haven't been capped anywhere that I know of, trying to determine their MLS or overseas work classifications is a challenge.

 

2 to watch from South Carolina

Here are a couple of Gamecock players to watch. Jordan Quinn (see above) has been moved back to attacking midfielder to make room for these guys up top.

Ricky Quest -- Junior -- (11-1-79) Transfer from
Herkimer Community College — Two-time NSCAA/adidas Junior College Player of the Year ... Two-time NJCAA First Team All-American ... Two-time NSCAA First Team All-American ... Made the Region III All-Tournament team in 2000 and 2001 ... Captain of the team in 2001 ... In 2001 led the team with 18 goals and 18 assists ... Named 2001 Mountain Valley Conference Player of the Year ... Helped Herkimer earn 2000 National Championship honors ... Named MVP of the National Tournament in 2000. From Jamaica (? US citizenship). Ricky hustles, has good ball skills. Turns on the ball as well as anybody I have ever seen. Very quick release, good pace on shots, very accurate.

Next is a freshman (sorry ) BUT clearly a huge asset up top, so far the dominant player on the team -- Ryan Deter (8-24-83). Very fast and quick. Makes the extra effort consistently, hustles on defense. Quick release with hard accurate shots.
IMO, these 2 guys are as good as Clint Mathis and Josh Wolff were at this stage in their careers.

 

Christie,

Glad you chimed in, because I was going to mention Ryan Daley, only to see that he is off the roster. What the heck happened to him?

When I saw the Gamecocks last year, I thought he was their best player. He seemed frustrated and unhappy throughout the game, but he looked to really have some skill and I thought he could be a player that could really break out at the pro level. Oh well.

Glowienka didn't look like much of a prospect to me. Quest and Deter will be watched, but as per Sandon's rules, they have to prove themselves first.

 

Ryan Daley and Tim Glowienka

There are rumors around that there have been internal problems with the team, as you know David Testo left last year for UNC where he had a stellar season. This year, Ray Fischer, Ryan Daley, Chris Herron and a couple more were not back. Ryan was a very strong attacking midfielder, took over that position last year when Testo left, Jordan Quinn is now in that slot. Tim Glowienka has had a recurrent hernia which has required surgery a couple of times. He did not play Saturday. He is one of the most talented players on the team and is currently at center back. If he can get healthy it will go a long way to making this a successful season at South Carolina.

 

I'd like to nominate another Washington player for the list: Aaron Heinzen. You may have seen him at the PDL championship game with the Boulder team.

 

add to International

Alex Blake, Williams College F Jamaica

http://www.williams.edu/News/sportsinfo/data/men_soccer/2002/20020107-002-dquinn.html

 

SC

Christie...what kind of internal problems? Has Berson lost control of the ship? They have new assistant coaches this year...could that be part of the reason for players leaving?

What's SC's starting lineup?

 

Great list Sandon.

I would like to nominate Tom Dolan and Kevin Hudson @ SMU and Nick Pantazi @ Butler.

 

Tom,
You're right, it is a great list. I suppose it would only be better if Sandon were to include an additional category of "All Current Div 1 Players Known To Be From the Saint Louis Area". BTW, looks like SLU could have used a few of them the past few games.

 

South Carolina problems and coaches

As far as the internal problems, I think it was more of chemistry problem between players as opposed to an overall morale problem or lack of leadership. Some of it revolved around the issues of playing time and playing the position that the team needed vs. the position that the player wanted to play. Tim Glowienka, for example, is the captain, he moved from an attacking role to center back, where the need was, and was unselfish in doing so. I think everyone agrees the changed are for the better. The 2 new coaches are from Wake Forest and are excellent in terms of teaching, tactics and recruiting. Dave Golan (prior assistant) took the head coaching job at Appalchian State. It appears that this year's team is much more oriented to the attack than the years before, when it was one early hustle goal and then everyone bunker back. All in all, South Carolina is moving ahead (lot of pressure in the state from Clemson and Furman) and hopefully will finish in the top ten.

 

Hey knucklehead-Dsocc I only comment on players that I'm familiar with and have personal observation of. Do you have a problem with that? Are you suggesting that the 3 players I nominated above are not deserving of mention in a Top Collegiate Player list?

If I was just listing Division 1 Players from the Saint Louis Area I would be very remiss as the list would be quite lengthy.

Do you have some sort of predudice against Saint Louis area players?

As far as SLU is concerned they will be just fine thank you.

 

I'm only suggesting that since Chaminade HS could have beaten most NCAA D1 teams last season, and given that SLU has been among the top 4-5 teams in the country for the past 30 years, it only seems appropriate to acknowledge the Saint Louis area in some special category when it comes to the local players.

 

I forgot to mention Joe Hammes from Saint Louis University, here is his bio information,

http://slubillikens.ocsn.com/sports/m-soccer/mtt/hammes_joe00.html

 

There you go moving the goalposts again Dsocc, I never intimated that Chaminade (College Prepatory) could "defeat" most Div 1 squads. I said they could "compete" with many Div 1 schools.

Now as far as acknowledging the Saint Louis Area as being special in the context of collegiate soccer then yes you are on to something.

 

Kenny Arena

Watched Arena play in a couple of games during last year's ACC tournament. I was extremely unimpressed with his skills and was suprised at his lack of work ethic.

 

James Twellman a sophmore @ Stanford has a bright future.

 

Okay, I've got my list. I've got a lot of names, so I'll try to just put out the ones that I think seem to be the most overlooked (and some sleepers). But, as I always mention, I've seen very few of these players, so these recommendations are mostly based on collecting information that anyone could get. I hope they can inspire some more discussion.

I just can't get sold on players like Glowienka and Matt Crawford - they work hard and play smartly, but I feel like the talent bottleneck to the pros is too severe for players who lack amazing physical gifts or outstanding skill. I can see why these guys catch the eye, and draw raves from coaches, but it seems to me that to be a hard working coaches favorite in the pros requires more. The guy who springs to mind when I think of hard running utility man in MLS is Duncan Oughton - and he's the career scoring leader at Fullerton. I just don't trust that a college worker can move up to that same position in the pros. But we'll see.

Also, on the original list - I think Beatty's name is Reb. And everything I have seen lists Sanfillipo as a senior this year. Great job Sandon collecting all of that info - especially the DOB's. You have a lot of guys that I don't, so I have some work to do.

SENIORS
David Boutilier D (Rutgers)
Garrett Turk D (San Diego)
Chad Dombrowski D (UWM) -I know everyone thinks UWM is super-overrated, but its hard for me to look past his numbers. He scores a lot of goals, which is, IMO, a good sign for a back who wants to get to the next level.
Tim Regan D (Bradley)
Dan Watson D (SMSU)
Donald McIntosh M (Duke)
Matias Asorey M (FIU)
Kris Bertsch M (American)
Tim Pierce F (UCLA)
Evan Bruno F (Lehigh)

sleepers
Serafin Vega F (Lewis) - I include him because he was the most decorated juco transfer last year. He continued to play well, albeit at the D2 level.
TJ Rolfing F (Radford)

JUNIORS
William Hesmer GK (Wake)
Justin Detter M (Notre Dame)
Tighe Dombrowski M (UWM)
Ryan McGowan M (Seton Hall)

sleepers
Philip Hucles F (W&M) - I may overrate him, but I like his speed and he has good bloodlines (his sister plays in the WUSA).
Hector Orellana F (Fullerton)

SOPHOMORES
Grant Dickens D (Richmond)
Rick Cobb D (CSUDH)
Bill Arnault M (Boston College)
Andres Rota M (Uconn) - I think he should be included now, since he did so well as a freshman for Oklahoma Christian.
Kyle Brown F (Tulsa)

sleepers
Josh Wicks GK (San Bernardino)

INTERNATIONALS
Ben Dawson Sr. D (Penn State)
Marin Pusek Jr. M (UAB)
Danny Atwell So. M (Fairfield)
Scott Sealy So. F (Wake)

sleepers
Oliver Medina Sr. D (So. Conn. St.)
Alex Blake Sr. F (Williams)
Roy Fink Jr. F (Tampa)
Adrian Cann Sr. D (Louisville)
Boyzzz Khumalo So. F (Lindsey Wilson)
Oliver Carias So. M (Queens-NC)

 

Sandon,

Can you tell me more about Will Thornton and Zac Tallman? They haven't received many official accolades, and I'd like to know more about their games.

 

He certainly showed that he's a Twellman, scoring on his first touch of the season. From what I've seen of him, he looks to have excellent positional awareness but limited physical strength. I don't know what to think about his future prospects.

Despite a 5-0 win, Stanford looked very shaky in their new 4-3-3 with two dm's. When Maliza got the ball, he generally didn't have many options. In addition, either Levesque is rusty or else his back is really bothering him. This weekend, Portland and SMU will be a better test of Stanford's high ranking. If I can only make it to one game, which one should it be?

 

Both SMU and Portland will offer stiff competition for Stanford. I personlly would rather watch SMU due to being much more familiar with their players and program. SMU in my opinion is a bonafide top 10 team.

 

James Twellman

Not only scored on his first touch, but got two goals coming off the bench.

Clean sheet for the keeper from Newton, MA !

 

Re: Top college players - an attempt at a comprehensive list

Park was benched for being out of shape.