Honestly imo this has been so far the worst college season in terms of clear prospects in some time. Of course it's still early in the season but usually there are a few names you know will be Generation Adidas or top draft looks. If you look at most of the top performers so far, they are either international kids that will be 23/24 coming into the MLS or kids stuck in Homegrown rights that won't be in the draft (Bezerra, Benalcazar, Petkovic, Polvara)
Looking at the list, Josh Ramsey has started and played every minute for Notre Dame so far this season and Matthew Roou has scored a couple of big goals for them as well. Bailey Sparks is having a big impact for SMU in minutes he is getting. It is early has people are pointing out, but I think some of the young kids will start to get noticed.
Matthew Roou (‘03) has 3 goals in 367 minutes. One of the better starts to the season among freshmen.
Five games into the season, '03 Roald Mitchell has played in every game for Wake Forest, but started none, and has 0G/0A. Not sure about minutes. (Only a few guys have started every game, so perhaps the coach is still testing things. One of those guys is Kyle Holcomb, the team's key attacker.)
Chifamba played midweek for Clemson and had an assist in a 5-0 win over Georgian Southern, but then didn't play in their 3-0 win over BC. You might have to carry a smaller roster for ACC games as he seems to have been a healthy scratch in both ACC games this year. Clemson has outscored opponents 25-1 in 7 games with Isiah Reed with 6 goals. Reed is a JR from Rock Hill, SC. Played for Charlotte Soccer Academy in the DA. Clemson plays @UNCG, Pitt, @WFU, so will see how good the team really is over this stretch. Clemson always scores a ton of goals. My gut is what is keeping Chifamba on the bench is their need a physical presence in the midfield that will cover a ton of ground and win balls. Not sure this style of soccer plays to his strengths right now.
He lacks in size, but covers a lot of ground and wins the ball back very well. College coaches notoriously like playing older players and don’t care what you’ve accomplished in the game. When these guys go play college soccer, it’s often a lottery. If you don’t get early playing time and have great initial success, you’re in big trouble.
I watched a bit of last night's (rainy) Notre Dame-Michigan game. Roou scored the second goal for ND, which you can see here -- a composed finish. https://und.com/ndmenssoccer-highlights-vs-michigan-09-21-2021/ I think he'll be helped by the fact that the Irish have Jack Lynn, an solid and experienced senior attacker, to attract attention.
It was actually Lynn that scored the goal, the commentators have it wrong. I believe they acknowledged it on the broadcast a couple of minutes later.
Ahh -- you're right. I just looked more closely at the replay and you can see it was #27 (Lynn) on that finish with Roou (#21) trailing. A nice goal though!
I haven't watched them this year, but my Hoyas are ranked #1. The national championship team actually had a few good players on it (though not all American). Any real prospects on the team?
Stefan Stojanovic, who saw some time with the last U20 group and is draft eligible Dante Polvara, who is a midfielder but is not draft eligible and NYCFC hold his rights until graduation Not sure about any other names
They've got some names, though. Will Sands, James' brother. Trevor Burns, son of Mike Burns. Hey what ever happened to that former FCD midfielder who I thought committed to Georgetown? Diego Letayf. Did he never show up?
Yes, last I saw he was at Tigres. Nearly that whole team are worthwhile prospects, but none of them are elite caliber prospects. Some will emerge as pros, and others who had the potential to be pros won't. Another player I like is Sean Zawadski, but looking at that roster there is a lot of depth without being any elite players.
That's not surprising. It's college, and Georgetown definitely plays in a manner that uses the college substitution rules to their benefit. It's very smart, but it also lends itself to a deep team of lots of good players and less the superstar model.
Letayf had signed a LOI in the spring to play at Georgetown. I don't know what happened there. Of course, he's presumably not a citizen. Mexican youth international. https://guhoyas.com/news/2021/3/31/...igns-eight-to-national-letters-of-intent.aspx
I don’t think he was ever close to US citizenship either. Four seasons of college soccer (or four playing soccer anywhere in the US) would help get him closer to eligibility or make him eligible. For now, he’s not relevant to the US program, unless he comes back stateside.
No opinion on the player (haven't seen Syracuse play this season) but this story indicates that '03 F Curt Calov is off to a strong start to his first collegiate season with the Orange. http://dailyorange.com/2021/09/syracuse-mens-soccer-curt-calov-offense/ https://cuse.com/sports/mens-soccer/roster/curt-calov/20731
Also, for those of you looking to check in on a name that's been on these boards for years, '03 Lateef Omidji is a freshman contributing to UNLV's team.
According to the NCAA leaderboard, the top-ranked listed freshman in goals scored is Louisville's Aboubacar Camara, who appears to be from Guinea but was called into a past YNT camp -- which, I learned today, no longer seems to have its callups listed online, which is bad news for researchers (or, ya know, dorks like me) if those pages are dropping off the U.S. Soccer site. https://web.archive.org/web/2018070...it-brings-153-players-together-in-single-camp Camara was listed as a freshman last year, too, so maybe he was reclassified? I dunno. https://gocards.com/sports/mens-soccer/roster/aboubacar-camara/12419 He might be an '02.
TopDrawer's Top 100 Freshman list recently got its first update. https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/col...genderId=m&periodId=73&seasonId=2021&nopage=0
Told y’all my guy @MitchellRoald was heating up! https://t.co/qzqHjRrFkJ— Eric Friedlander (@Efried97) October 19, 2021