College Recuiting Classes Coming Into Focus...
To be honest, I don't know when "commitment" day is for college soccer, but news on recruiting classes is coming into focus. Today Steven Goff points out that Maryland got Red Bull's rising star Matt Kassel's commitment, if he actually makes it to a college class before turning pro. Looking at the rest of Maryland's class, they'll be stocked for the 2008 season even if Kassel doesn't show up.
Goff brings up an interesting component of American soccer today. This is the first off-season where some MLS teams have the ability to sign young players directly from their academy system into the senior/developmental team. If you believe Ives and Goff, Kassel could be the first to sign with a MLS team directly as opposed to going through the SuperDraft process.
MLS and its' teams have created a system where the MLS team can claim rights to young players who have developed under their system. However, there is a limit to how many, I believe two per year, so teams will be stingy using this ability. That leaves a lot of kids who have been professionally trained in line to go to college and play in the NCAA. As coaches learn how to recruit in this new paradigm, I'm sure they'll be pleased with the level of talent of some of their newest players. Add a summer of playing on a PDL team associated with the MLS club and you've got some accelerated development going on.
Naturally, there is the chance that, once up and running, each year all MLS teams will exercise their rights to two players from their youth team and 28 or 32 or 36 (depending on the final size of the league) kids will skip college, but think of the rest who are better prepared to make an impact on NCAA soccer.
Right now it looks like Maryland has the class to beat, but I'm just getting going on tracking all these kids down so things will change. Keep an eye on where the MLS club's youth are headed, those schools will no doubt have an edge when it comes to freshman.
Goff brings up an interesting component of American soccer today. This is the first off-season where some MLS teams have the ability to sign young players directly from their academy system into the senior/developmental team. If you believe Ives and Goff, Kassel could be the first to sign with a MLS team directly as opposed to going through the SuperDraft process.
MLS and its' teams have created a system where the MLS team can claim rights to young players who have developed under their system. However, there is a limit to how many, I believe two per year, so teams will be stingy using this ability. That leaves a lot of kids who have been professionally trained in line to go to college and play in the NCAA. As coaches learn how to recruit in this new paradigm, I'm sure they'll be pleased with the level of talent of some of their newest players. Add a summer of playing on a PDL team associated with the MLS club and you've got some accelerated development going on.
Naturally, there is the chance that, once up and running, each year all MLS teams will exercise their rights to two players from their youth team and 28 or 32 or 36 (depending on the final size of the league) kids will skip college, but think of the rest who are better prepared to make an impact on NCAA soccer.
Right now it looks like Maryland has the class to beat, but I'm just getting going on tracking all these kids down so things will change. Keep an eye on where the MLS club's youth are headed, those schools will no doubt have an edge when it comes to freshman.
Labels: MLS Youth, NCAA, Youth Development
posted by Bonji at
11:25 AM
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