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

And, of course, it could be a moo point if he wants to stick with the Reggae Boyz and/or US Soccer has no interest in him. Obviously he can't play for the U20s but the U23s are still an option.

 

Yup.

Said HS, alma mater of three USMNT World Cup players, has pivoted almost exclusively to international players since the advent if the academy system.

There's a freshman starting MF at Clemson who is from Ghana, Kwaky Agyabeng, who also went to that HS.

 

Went in search of the highest scoring collegians who are both American and USYNT-eligible and found two: High Point R-So. Daniel Lugo, a 2005, and Cal Baptist Soph. Blake D'Agostino, an 06. Both are tied for 13th in D-I in goals-scored with 7.

Both have good size, with each listed at 6-2. Lugo, a transfer from UNC who is originally from the Tampa area, also has 2 assists in 10 games. D'Agostino, who is from Colorado, has yet to register an assist in 9 games. Lugo has helped High Point to a great start; the Panthers are 7-03 and are 9th in the RPI with a win over Georgetown and ties vs. recent College Cup participants Marshall, West Virginia and Charlotte.

 

Amongst playmakers, Portland's Diego Rosas, a Jr. from Texas, is tied for second in assists with 8. He's also scored 1 goal in 8 games.

He's from the Rio Grande Valley and spent some time with the Dynamo academy though I don't know if he's HG-eligible. The Pilots are unbeaten and ranked 6th in the RPI.

UVA Jr. Marco Dos Santos, a Jr. from New Hampshire, is tied for 5th in assists with 7. A transfer from Boston College, he spent time in the Revs academy. He's yet to score a goal in 10 games for the Cavs, who are second in the RPI.

Slim pickins', indeed.

 

Personal opinion: Much better player than Simmonds. I really like his game. It was a real shame when I found out he’s not eligible for the USA, but maybe down the road.

By the way, Simmonds has a younger brother Grant who just joined the Philly Union academy. Believe he’s a 2011 (don’t quote me on that). I hear very good things about him. I’ve heard him compared to Alex Freeman, if all goes well.

 

With the changes to draft eligibility, it’s no longer necessary to sign sophomores to GenAd contracts. That’s why the three players last draft were all freshmen - Duah, Johnson, and Dean Boltz (one of these is not like the others)

I think you can sign a GenAd contract as a sophomore but it is no longer necessary to do so.

The issue with Gyan is that he is a player who needs to be the focal point of an attack, and what MLS team in 2025 is going to hand the keys of the team to a 5’3” player fresh out of college?

 

I’m also curious how Gyan will do in the pros. There aren’t a lot of 5’3 wingers out there.

 

I think his best case is playing a similar game to Diego Luna, who is not much bigger than 5'3" if at all. I think it's certainly a possibility, and my gut instinct is that he can do it, but there's a reason Luna's path to MLS went through El Paso. Teams are risk averse and Gyan would be a pretty big risk. Might as well draft a 6'4" athletic CB and call it a day.

 

Is he really 5'3"? MLS advertising him as 5'8". If he's really 5'3" that would explain why there are no offers for him.

 

He's maybe 5'6", 5'3" is overstating it. I really doubt he's 5'8". I'm having trouble finding pictures of him in situ where you could tell though. Here he is with some of the taller guys in the USA squad:

 

McGlynn is only like 5’11. He’s definitely not three inches shorter than him. I’m with you. He’s like 5’6.

 

Luna is short but he's stocky AF with that low center of gravity. He looks like Sponge Bob with thicker legs. Makes him so tough to knock off the ball.

 

The MAC Hermann Trophy committee announced its mid-season watch list.

Here are the American age-eligible players on the list. A couple of them we've discussed here already.

Diego Hernandez (2005), R-So. M, Furman (FC Dallas academy)
Joe Highfield (), R-So. F, Portland
Daniel Lugo (2005), R-So., High Point
Andrew Samuels (2005), R-So. GK, Princeton (SJ Earthquakes academy)
Nicholas Simmonds (204), Fr. F, Virginia

Odd that so many of them missed their true freshman seasons.

All the rest were either born in 03/04 and/or are not US citizens.

 

Alex Harris from Cornell was signed to a GA deal last winter after his sophomore season.

https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/2025-generation-adidas-class-announced

 

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6721890/2025/10/16/us-soccer-college-ncaa-overhaul/

More details on the potential changes coming to college soccer.

 

A lot of interesting stuff here. Seems like all good ideas though I imagine going to be very difficult to get implemented. But the right sort of thinking.

 

I think they are really making a political and potentially, a revenue mistake with the conferences. There's not a ton of developmental benefit to ripping all that apart and a million ways around managing competition.

Focus on the amount of time spent and the tweaks that can emphasize development more to the actual game and less time on what feels more like a power struggle or someone's fantasy than truly beneficial.

 

The current conference structure is a bit asinine outside of football. It really does make no sense. One of regents of Michigan often tells people it easier/faster for nonrevenue sports athletes to get to London from Ann Arbor than it is to Eugene, Oregon.

Obviously college soccer is not going to be the thing that solves this issue but the conference part of the plan is the easiest to dislodge.

But it also makes sense in terms of the cost benefit of shortening travel. In the era of NIL where most schools are desperate for money and have to comply with Title IX I’m definitely worried men’s college soccer would be on the chopping block in a lot of places.

 

I think that if many sports are going to continue, the conference system is going to have to be jettisoned outside of football and basketball. Totally impractical for fully national conferences in soccer, much less volleyball or track and field.

 

I think that’s definitely right or they need to go back to the older conferences that make sense geographically for non revenue sports (and really they should for basketball also).