2009 MLS Combine Class Announced...Commentary...
Yesterday I posted the 2009 Combine list as quickly as possible to get the MLS press release on the street. Now we've all had some time to digest and think about it. First off, so everyone understands these are all of the seniors who are invited to the combine. As the college season wraps up and under classmen decide whether or not to leave school for a shot in MLS, this list will expand.
Speaking of later additions. Soccer By Ives took a stab at potential Generation Adidas players for the '09 class yesterday.
If you are in the area of the combine, head over and check it out come January. I went last year and it is a fun event to watch. There are some velvet ropes between fans and coaches but some of the coaches leave the protected area and you never know. I ended up talking to Paul Mariner and Steve Nicol briefly.
Let's dig into the list and some of the honors I've been tracking for these guys over the years. This isn't in any kind of ranking or order, just as my thoughts come to me.
Before I start, isn't it interesting that the list has GK, D & M/F. The league isn't trying to classify the forwards as compared to the midfielders this year. I think that is interesting. We've seen in the past that college forwards turn into attacking midfielders and vise versa, so now the league is acknowledging that coaches will decide where they play in MLS, not college experience.
Mike Grella - Duke University - M/F: Mike Grella has been on my list basically since I started it; his 2003 Parade Magazine All-American honor put him on my list. At the time I think there were 100 kids on there. Each year he has been in college I have looked at the list of honors and wondered if he was going to leave early. He hasn't. He's had a solid college career and has stacked up the following honors: 2003, 2004 Parade Magazine All-American, 2004 ESP All*Star, 2004 NSCAA National High School Player of the Year, 2005 StudentSportsSoccer.com #1 top prospect, 2005 All-ACC Freshman team, U-18 & U-20 National Team, 2006 Soccer America POTW, 2006 ACC All-Conference, 2007 CSN Pre-Season 2nd Team All-American, 2007 NSCAA/adidas All-America 2nd Team, 2008 CSN 2nd Team Pre-Season All-American, 2008 Hermann Trophy Watch List, 2008 All-ACC 1st Team, 2008 ACC Offensive POTY, 2008 Hermann Trophy Semifinalist
I am sure I am missing some of the things he's accomplished. This year he led the Duke Blue Devils in scoring with 14 goals and 8 assists.
Doug DeMartin - Michigan State University - M/F: DeMartin his my list last year when he was added to the 1st team in the Big Ten. This year he had a great season and won the honor of Big Ten Player of the Year. Here are some more of his honors I've tracked: 2007 1st Team All Big Ten, 2008 Hermann Trophy Semifinalist, 2008 Big Ten All-Conference 1st Team, 2008 Big Ten Player Of The Year
I don't know a whole lot about him but given that he played well in a tough conference, leading his team to a top 10 ranking at the end of the season, I've got to imagine he could get some attention come January. He led his team in scoring this year with 17 goals and 3 assists.
Yohance Marshall - University of South Florida - D: Marshall is an athletic defender with good size and strength. He has quickly moved up the scouting lists after having a strong senior season leading the USF back line to a season where they gave up multiple goals in only two games. The young player from Malabar Arima, Trinidad will certainly be looking to have an impressive combine performance. I didn't hear about him until this year when he earned the following honors, but if you look at his USF profile you'll see I simply missed many other honors: 2008 CSN 1st Team Pre-Season All-American, 2008 ESPN.com Preseason All-American Starting XI
Tosaint Ricketts - University of Wisconsin – Green Bay - M/F: Ricketts hit my radar when he played for Canada in the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup. At 6'0" he has good size for MLS and in high school he was one of the top short distance sprinters in Alberta, meaning he's got wheels. This season he led his team in scoring with 8 goals and 2 assists. Being a Canadian player he makes perfect sense for FC Toronto but a good combine performance could draw the eyes of other clubs looking for a quick striker. Honors: Canada U-17 Team, 2007 Canadian U-20 World Cup, 2008 Canadian U-23 Team.
Sam Cronin - Wake Forest University - M/F: Cronin is another player who has featured on my list since I started it or soon thereafter. He's had a great career at Wake being in the center of a team that has won the National Championship and is looking to repeat. This year he's continued to score goals and set them up with 10 scored and 4 assists. His honors list is long: 2003 NSCAA Youth adidas All-American, 2003 - 2004 ESP, 2007 TDS 3rd Team TOS, 2007 NSCAA/adidas All-America 2nd Team, 2008 CSN 1st Team Pre-Season All-American, 2008 ESPN.com Preseason All-American Starting XI, 2008 Hermann Trophy Watch List, 2008 All-ACC 1st Team, 2008 Hermann Trophy Semifinalist
Marcus Tracy - Wake Forest University - M/F: Marcus Tracy seems to be the complete package. He's skillful on the ball, fast and can put the ball in the back of the net on a regular basis. This year he had an impressive double double of sorts scoring 13 goals while creating 10. His honors list is also impressive and you can add the fact that he was heavily recuited by Duke, Maryland, UConn and Notre Dame before choosing Wake. Honors: 2004 NSCAA/adidas All-American, 2004 Connecticut Player of the Year, 2008 CSN 1st Team Pre-Season All-American, 2008 ESPN.com Preseason All-American Starting XI, 2008 Hermann Trophy Watch List, 2008 CSN POTW, 2008 All-ACC 1st Team, 2008 Hermann Trophy Semifinalist.
Richard Jata - Campbell University - M/F: If nothing else Jata is an interesting case study in Internet self promotion. I've received comments and emails from Richard's brother who is his foremost cheerleader. Jata's brother has created a blog to follow Richard's quest for a professional career. Kudos to the Jata brothers for chasing a dream and using today's technology to get noticed. I hope it works out for you. Honors: 2007 1st Team All A-Sun Conference, 2008 A-Sun POTY, 2008 A-Sun 1st Team.
As I said earlier the combine class will be supplemented as Generation Adidas players sign with the league. Buzz is doing a great job keeping on top of that market.
There are some highlights of the combine class. I'm sure I missed some honors. Who are some of the players you are interested in seeing at the combine?
Speaking of later additions. Soccer By Ives took a stab at potential Generation Adidas players for the '09 class yesterday.
If you are in the area of the combine, head over and check it out come January. I went last year and it is a fun event to watch. There are some velvet ropes between fans and coaches but some of the coaches leave the protected area and you never know. I ended up talking to Paul Mariner and Steve Nicol briefly.
Let's dig into the list and some of the honors I've been tracking for these guys over the years. This isn't in any kind of ranking or order, just as my thoughts come to me.
Before I start, isn't it interesting that the list has GK, D & M/F. The league isn't trying to classify the forwards as compared to the midfielders this year. I think that is interesting. We've seen in the past that college forwards turn into attacking midfielders and vise versa, so now the league is acknowledging that coaches will decide where they play in MLS, not college experience.
Mike Grella - Duke University - M/F: Mike Grella has been on my list basically since I started it; his 2003 Parade Magazine All-American honor put him on my list. At the time I think there were 100 kids on there. Each year he has been in college I have looked at the list of honors and wondered if he was going to leave early. He hasn't. He's had a solid college career and has stacked up the following honors: 2003, 2004 Parade Magazine All-American, 2004 ESP All*Star, 2004 NSCAA National High School Player of the Year, 2005 StudentSportsSoccer.com #1 top prospect, 2005 All-ACC Freshman team, U-18 & U-20 National Team, 2006 Soccer America POTW, 2006 ACC All-Conference, 2007 CSN Pre-Season 2nd Team All-American, 2007 NSCAA/adidas All-America 2nd Team, 2008 CSN 2nd Team Pre-Season All-American, 2008 Hermann Trophy Watch List, 2008 All-ACC 1st Team, 2008 ACC Offensive POTY, 2008 Hermann Trophy Semifinalist
I am sure I am missing some of the things he's accomplished. This year he led the Duke Blue Devils in scoring with 14 goals and 8 assists.
Doug DeMartin - Michigan State University - M/F: DeMartin his my list last year when he was added to the 1st team in the Big Ten. This year he had a great season and won the honor of Big Ten Player of the Year. Here are some more of his honors I've tracked: 2007 1st Team All Big Ten, 2008 Hermann Trophy Semifinalist, 2008 Big Ten All-Conference 1st Team, 2008 Big Ten Player Of The Year
I don't know a whole lot about him but given that he played well in a tough conference, leading his team to a top 10 ranking at the end of the season, I've got to imagine he could get some attention come January. He led his team in scoring this year with 17 goals and 3 assists.
Yohance Marshall - University of South Florida - D: Marshall is an athletic defender with good size and strength. He has quickly moved up the scouting lists after having a strong senior season leading the USF back line to a season where they gave up multiple goals in only two games. The young player from Malabar Arima, Trinidad will certainly be looking to have an impressive combine performance. I didn't hear about him until this year when he earned the following honors, but if you look at his USF profile you'll see I simply missed many other honors: 2008 CSN 1st Team Pre-Season All-American, 2008 ESPN.com Preseason All-American Starting XI
Tosaint Ricketts - University of Wisconsin – Green Bay - M/F: Ricketts hit my radar when he played for Canada in the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup. At 6'0" he has good size for MLS and in high school he was one of the top short distance sprinters in Alberta, meaning he's got wheels. This season he led his team in scoring with 8 goals and 2 assists. Being a Canadian player he makes perfect sense for FC Toronto but a good combine performance could draw the eyes of other clubs looking for a quick striker. Honors: Canada U-17 Team, 2007 Canadian U-20 World Cup, 2008 Canadian U-23 Team.
Sam Cronin - Wake Forest University - M/F: Cronin is another player who has featured on my list since I started it or soon thereafter. He's had a great career at Wake being in the center of a team that has won the National Championship and is looking to repeat. This year he's continued to score goals and set them up with 10 scored and 4 assists. His honors list is long: 2003 NSCAA Youth adidas All-American, 2003 - 2004 ESP, 2007 TDS 3rd Team TOS, 2007 NSCAA/adidas All-America 2nd Team, 2008 CSN 1st Team Pre-Season All-American, 2008 ESPN.com Preseason All-American Starting XI, 2008 Hermann Trophy Watch List, 2008 All-ACC 1st Team, 2008 Hermann Trophy Semifinalist
Marcus Tracy - Wake Forest University - M/F: Marcus Tracy seems to be the complete package. He's skillful on the ball, fast and can put the ball in the back of the net on a regular basis. This year he had an impressive double double of sorts scoring 13 goals while creating 10. His honors list is also impressive and you can add the fact that he was heavily recuited by Duke, Maryland, UConn and Notre Dame before choosing Wake. Honors: 2004 NSCAA/adidas All-American, 2004 Connecticut Player of the Year, 2008 CSN 1st Team Pre-Season All-American, 2008 ESPN.com Preseason All-American Starting XI, 2008 Hermann Trophy Watch List, 2008 CSN POTW, 2008 All-ACC 1st Team, 2008 Hermann Trophy Semifinalist.
Richard Jata - Campbell University - M/F: If nothing else Jata is an interesting case study in Internet self promotion. I've received comments and emails from Richard's brother who is his foremost cheerleader. Jata's brother has created a blog to follow Richard's quest for a professional career. Kudos to the Jata brothers for chasing a dream and using today's technology to get noticed. I hope it works out for you. Honors: 2007 1st Team All A-Sun Conference, 2008 A-Sun POTY, 2008 A-Sun 1st Team.
As I said earlier the combine class will be supplemented as Generation Adidas players sign with the league. Buzz is doing a great job keeping on top of that market.
There are some highlights of the combine class. I'm sure I missed some honors. Who are some of the players you are interested in seeing at the combine?
Labels: 2009 MLS Combine, MLS, MLS SuperDraft 2009
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