Who are the most talented players in college/best pro candidates? (top 10)

what are your top 10?

 

Of seniors who will be draft-eligible whether they want to or not this winter, Joseph Lapira is an obvious easy answer.

I think UVa forward Yannick Reyering (Germany) and UCSB defender Andy Iro (England) will both intrigue a lot of MLS teams but their international status may keep some teams from pulling the trigger.

I think St. John's GK Jason Landers has a chance to be special and Old Dominon's David Horst and San Francisco's Rob Valentino could be latre bloomers in the Bobby Boswell mold.

Among underclassmen, Tony Beltran is a good bet, as are Andre Akpan, Jonathan Villanueva, Omar Gonzalez, David Estrada, Eric Avila, Stephen McCathy, Ofori Sarkodie and Nick Cardenas.

 

Hidalgo who was at USF? He now plays for the MN Thunder.

 

The talent from the MAAC continues to grow and grow. Here are my two MAAC candidates for the Top 10 most talented players in college/best pro prospects...

Juan Gaviria, St. Peter's College, 2007 Hermann Trophy Candidate

Sam Bailey, Fairfield University, 2006 Regional All-American

 

I don't know much about college soccer, but I suspect Wake Forest has several players on its current roster who are future pros besides Valentin. Bone seems to be off to a good start.

 

Corben Bone comes to mind immediately, the rest I'm not so sure about.

 

Question: If Akpan goes to MLS, will he be the lowest paid member of his Harvard graduating class?

 

A few good DII kids go Scandanavian....Asa Pepia for one.

 

Personally, I think Alston might be better. That kid is the complete defender out on the wing. Ofori might be better long-term because of his superior size and strength, but if we're drafting right now, I say Alston.

 

O'Brien White of UConn. Big, skilled, unselfish center-forward who has a chance to be a very, very good MLS player and Jamaican NT'er. IMHO he's a better pro prospect at this point than former Husky Damani Ralph was when he was a junior.

Has anyone seen UConn's #10 Mike Pezza play? He has five assists in two games, and I've heard him described as a Grabavoy-esque player but haven't seen him yet for myself.

 

Matt Poole, a junior at UVA is a pro prospect. I saw him play this past weekend and he was solid at right back. Nothing got by him.

 

How has Bill Dworsky looked at UNC?

 

I wouldn't say Valentino is under the radar as much as Boswell. He's been money at USF since day 1, and I was quite surprised that MLS didn't try to sign him last year. Although he seems to have not played yet this year - anybody know what kind of injury he has?

Can't go any farther without mentioning Duke, which probably has 4-5 MLS future players in its starting 11.

 

Valentino is out for the season with a knee injury requiring surgery.

 

Crap.

 

Duke's Mike Grella (Double digit goals last season)
Maryland's Jeremy Hall

and of course you have to consider UCLA

Chance Myers, David Estrada, Tony Beltran, Jason Leopaldo, Kyle Nakazawa, and U-20 Nats keeper backup Brian Perk.

Amazing the talent churned out by the Bruins.

Corben Bone was a stud before college and look forward to seeing his progress in the college ranks.

 

There are two very promising prospects at Cal State Northridge in goalkeeper Kevin Guppy and wing-back Sean Franklin too. Franklin played for the US U-23s this year, and Guppy has been involved in several US nats junior combines over the years.

 

Sucks about Valentino's injury.

It will be interesting to see what his next move is. Obviously, he could take a medical redshirt and play his final season next year.

Or, he could declare directly for the draft. But that might result in a developmental deal and very few players leave school early for that paltry salary.

However, because he has a season of eligibility remaining, he is, in theory, eligible to sign a Generation Adidas deal with MLS, which would result in better money for him and more roster protection.

There is precedent for this with MLS. They signed Antonio Otero to a Project 40 deal when he was coming off missing a season due to injury but still had a season of eligibility remaining at American University.

There may have been others, too, though my memory is a little foggy on that one.

 

Chris Schuler defender Creighton university...

 

The most talented player in all of college soccer is Will Hall (UVA)... He is the most skilled defensive midfielder to play in this division in a while! UVA coach needs to start him EVERY game... with Hall on the field he doesn't even need any other mids! WILL HALL- we'll see him starting in the prs next year for sure!

 

O'Brian White at UConn

 

Will Hall Uva