YNT-Eligible (2005s & Younger) College Players, 2025 Thread

Discussion in 'Youth National Teams' started by Dave Marino-Nachison, Aug 11, 2025.

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  1. Dave Marino-Nachison

    Dave Marino-Nachison Member+

    Jun 9, 1999
    #1 Dave Marino-Nachison, Aug 11, 2025
    As has been the case lately, no idea whether this thread will generate much activity, but it's here for those who like it. Let's talk about what we're seeing on the field and the stat sheets across all divisions. I generally watch a game or two a week once the season starts -- ESPN+ is good for this.

    Very anecdotally, it looks like many freshmen this season are 2006s, but I've seen some first-year players born in 2005 and 2007 as well.

    Today, as it happens, a Top 25 poll dropped. It has the first five as Marshall, Vermont, Denver, Wake and Pitt, in that order. (Vermont won it last year.)

    https://collegesoccernews.com/colle...ll-marshall-takes-top-spot-going-into-week-1/

    The coaches' poll has it as Vermont, Marshall, Ohio State, Denver and SMU.

    https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/soccer-men/d1/united-soccer-coaches

    I don't know much about the teams, but I did peek at Denver's roster. It does have a few foreign players, but it's overwhelmingly domestic, with a few high school players mixed in with the academy guys.

    Here's last year's thread:

    https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/y...layers-2005-yobs-younger-2024-thread.2132077/
     
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  2. Dave Marino-Nachison

    Dave Marino-Nachison Member+

    Jun 9, 1999
    #2 Dave Marino-Nachison, Aug 12, 2025
    Marshall's roster is pretty much what you'd expect if you've watched them in recent years. OSU has a domestic- and in-state-heavy roster. Vermont is kind of a mix, with a German twist.
     
  3. ussoccer97531

    ussoccer97531 Member+

    Oct 12, 2012
    Club:
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    #3 ussoccer97531, Aug 12, 2025
    Reading that Marshall roster is depressing.
     
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  4. Dave Marino-Nachison

    Dave Marino-Nachison Member+

    Jun 9, 1999
    #4 Dave Marino-Nachison, Aug 14, 2025
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  5. Dave Marino-Nachison

    Dave Marino-Nachison Member+

    Jun 9, 1999
    #5 Dave Marino-Nachison, Aug 16, 2025
    I'm sure people who watch this more closely than I do knew this already, but '05 Dren Dobuna, who had a good freshman season at Siena, moved to Dayton. The Flyers are another roster heavy on international players, along with several transfers. Kudos to @ChuckMe92 whose post in YA about an interesting domestic freshman of theirs drew my attention in the first place.
     
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  6. Dave Marino-Nachison

    Dave Marino-Nachison Member+

    Jun 9, 1999
    #6 Dave Marino-Nachison, Aug 19, 2025
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  7. Dave Marino-Nachison

    Dave Marino-Nachison Member+

    Jun 9, 1999
    #7 Dave Marino-Nachison, Sep 3, 2025
    No longer YNT-eligible, but former U20 callup KyMani Dade is a redshirt junior at Loyola Marymount. He got decent minutes last season, more or less splitting the job with a guy who is now gone, but another guy who was on the roster last season but didn't play has started all of their matches so far this year.
     
  8. Dave Marino-Nachison

    Dave Marino-Nachison Member+

    Jun 9, 1999
    #8 Dave Marino-Nachison, Sep 6, 2025
    I happened to turn on St. John's-Marshall with about 20 minutes left, with the Red Storm up a main and both head coaches just having been ejected. Despite the disadvantage, Marshall probably had the better of the play -- they're just good -- but St. John's had a very late winner cancelled by an offside call (the replays weren't great but it looked at a glance like the right decision and VAR didn't overturn it). Finished 1-1. Whatever you might think of Marshall's roster construction, if I lived in Huntington, I'd go to games!
     
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  9. Hararea

    Hararea Member+

    Jan 21, 2005
    #9 Hararea, Sep 6, 2025
    Wouldn't you also support a team that fielded mostly college-age Americans? Or at least some of them?

    Regardless, the changes in college sports suggest that men's soccer is in big trouble. Stockpiling foreign players has increased costs and failed to build significant fan interest. UCSB used to have the best fanbase in the nation, but people there no longer attend. Fresno State and New Mexico used to have two of the best fanbases but closed down their programs altogether. And who could blame them? It's a moneypit that returns little value to the school.
     
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  10. Dave Marino-Nachison

    Dave Marino-Nachison Member+

    Jun 9, 1999
    #10 Dave Marino-Nachison, Sep 6, 2025
    The point was simply that they play interesting and enjoyable soccer. But, since you asked, it is quite likely that, no matter the composition of the squad, I would consider Marshall soccer as a recreational option if I lived in the town where the school is located, even though I did not attend Marshall myself, since I enjoy watching soccer.
     
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  11. Hararea

    Hararea Member+

    Jan 21, 2005
    #11 Hararea, Sep 7, 2025
    Given that you chose to bring up Marshall's roster construction, isn't it fair to ask you about that? After all, it's a lot easier to play interesting and enjoyable soccer when you're importing a bunch of 24-year-old ringers.
     
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  12. Sandon Mibut

    Sandon Mibut Member+

    Feb 13, 2001
    #12 Sandon Mibut, Sep 8, 2025
    If I lived in Huntington I'd drink far more heavily.
     
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  13. Dave Marino-Nachison

    Dave Marino-Nachison Member+

    Jun 9, 1999
    #13 Dave Marino-Nachison, Sep 9, 2025
    Last edited: Sep 9, 2025
    The NCAA waits a few games to post its statistical leaderboards. They're live now.

    https://www.ncaa.com/stats/soccer-men/d1

    Ransford Gyan is among the goalscoring leaders in early going, but I think he might not be eligible for the U.S. This article (published in 2023 but apparently republished recently, which makes things a bit confusing) indicated that he was not a citizen -- but I guess I don't know if that was in 2023 or 2025 or both.

    https://www.nj.com/sports/2023/10/ghanaian-invasion.html
     
  14. Dave Marino-Nachison

    Dave Marino-Nachison Member+

    Jun 9, 1999
    #14 Dave Marino-Nachison, Sep 18, 2025
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  15. Dave Marino-Nachison

    Dave Marino-Nachison Member+

    Jun 9, 1999
    #15 Dave Marino-Nachison, Sep 18, 2025
    It's pure coincidence that you can see UIC playing Chicago State live on ESPN+ at this very moment. (The first half is a bit more than 10 minutes away from over.) It's a home game for UIC and they're seeing a lot of the ball, but it's scoreless.
     
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  16. Dave Marino-Nachison

    Dave Marino-Nachison Member+

    Jun 9, 1999
    #16 Dave Marino-Nachison, Sep 19, 2025
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  17. Dave Marino-Nachison

    Dave Marino-Nachison Member+

    Jun 9, 1999
    #17 Dave Marino-Nachison, Sep 26, 2025
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  18. ussoccer97531

    ussoccer97531 Member+

    Oct 12, 2012
    Club:
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    #18 ussoccer97531, Sep 26, 2025
    He is, and he's a solid player.

    College soccer is weird though. You just never know who is going to start off on fire and who isn't. He really isn't like a top prospect pre-college, but hey I can't argue if he's been one of the best freshman in college soccer!
     
  19. Sandon Mibut

    Sandon Mibut Member+

    Feb 13, 2001
    #19 Sandon Mibut, Oct 6, 2025
    There's a 6-4 freshman forward at Virginia who is having a solid first year named Nicholas Simmonds. In 10 games, he has 5 goals and an assist playing one of the country's toughest schedules. He grew up in Virginia but his dad is Jamaican - former Howard star and USL/A-League journeyman and briefly a 90s MLS player Greg Simmonds - and his sister plays for Jamaica, too. Nicholas has spent some time with Jamaica's YNTs but I don't know if he's been cap-tied. Transfermarkt says he's an 06.

    May be nothing. May be another Patrick Agyemang. But big mobile strikers aren't something the US produces a lot of so it's worth watching even if at this point, we don't know.

     
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  20. Sandon Mibut

    Sandon Mibut Member+

    Feb 13, 2001
    #20 Sandon Mibut, Oct 6, 2025
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  21. Sandon Mibut

    Sandon Mibut Member+

    Feb 13, 2001
    #21 Sandon Mibut, Oct 6, 2025
    Gyan now has 8 goals and 7 assists through 10 games. I assume what little money is still in the GenAd budget will be mostly offered to him this winter. Would be nice to know if he has a Green Card or any interest in getting US citizenship.
     
  22. ussoccer97531

    ussoccer97531 Member+

    Oct 12, 2012
    Club:
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    #22 ussoccer97531, Oct 6, 2025
    I've watched Simmonds before he played college. I really wouldn't get too excited, but admittedly don't watch college soccer. He doesn't have the build of a Dike or Agyemang. He's probably closer to a CJ Fodrey.
     
  23. Sandon Mibut

    Sandon Mibut Member+

    Feb 13, 2001
    #23 Sandon Mibut, Oct 6, 2025
    Last edited: Oct 6, 2025
    Perhaps. But he's also 18.

    Agyemang played 5 years of college soccer so he was a lot older when we started to hear about him. Rhody listed him as 180 pounds for his final season; UVA lists Simmonds as 195. He's obviously not Dike, no soccer player is. That's probably for the best given Dike's injuries. But the point you can't compare an 18-year old to a 25-year old in terms of build and strength.

    Again, at this point, we don't know. But if someone shows some promise, we pay attention. And regardless of his build, his production against a top schedule as a freshman makes him worth monitoring. Besides, what really caught my eye when watching him play was his movement off the ball. Showed a really good understanding of the game and how to use space and time runs.
     
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  24. butters59

    butters59 Member+

    Feb 22, 2013
    #24 butters59, Oct 6, 2025
    17 yo Jozy had that body. As we all know he had that body at 5 as well. Because of that he was our only ever young prospect that didn't need to go to college. As a side effect, unfortunately, it's hard to lift all that muscle mass. That's why Jozy scored less headers than Paul Arriola. So, yes, we better pay attention to college strikers. And keepers as Tim Howard's bodies are also rare at 17.
     
  25. Dave Marino-Nachison

    Dave Marino-Nachison Member+

    Jun 9, 1999
    #25 Dave Marino-Nachison, Oct 7, 2025
    For what it's worth, I'm pretty sure Simmonds is provisionally cap-tied to Jamaica at U20 level. It was, I believe, in a prequalifying competition, so I honestly don't know how much any authorities actually care, but presumably U.S. Soccer would play it by the book.
     
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