All-Americans and Hermann Trophy Finalists...

Two announcements I picked up on today.

#1 - 2008 NSCAA All-Americans. These will be added to player's list of honors and will potentially add new players to my list.

#2 - 2008 Hermann Trophy Finalists. Props to Sam Cronin, Marcus Tracy & Steve Zakuani.

You won't find Zakuani on the combine list...he's a SOPHOMORE. 20 goals, 7 assists and a Sweet 16 appearance will help your cause when it comes to big awards.

Who Is Getting The Strongest Class Of Freshmen???

As I'm sure you can imagine the debate on the above question is taking place on-line. College Soccer News gives us an overview of the classes. It is no surprise that ACC Powers Maryland and Wake Forest have the best groups assembled. Other traditional powers are up there too with Indiana, UCSB, Notre Dame & UCLA bringing in solid groups. Some of the surprising classes are coming in my neck of the woods with both the University of Denver and New Mexico signing a couple All Americans. Hey, even my alma mater is mentioned in the round up!

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.

Summer Is Over...

At least for the college soccer players it is. This weekend has some big time tournaments kicking off. The top programs will be in action as this is opening weekend! I'm not sure how much will make national television, but if you are in one of the cities hosting a match or two, stop by and check it out. Cheer on those college kids.

2007 NCAA Pre-Season College Soccer Rankings...

College Soccer News is out with their 2007 pre-season poll. UCLA, Duke, UCSB, Wake Forest, Santa Clara...the usual suspects for the top five. What do you think about the rest of the list?

Here are my thoughts:

- The always tough ACC will be the class of the NCAA during the regular season.

- If Joe Lapira can have another huge scoring season Notre Dame will not be as low as #11. Incoming freshman Matt Armstrong will be a strong addition coming out of Bradenton Residency. Look for this team late in the season.

- Harvard at #15 seems high. I don't see how a season playing in the Ivy League prepares you for success in the NCAA tourney. Yes, they have Andre Akpan who has played well with the U-20 Men, but it takes 11 players and the Ivy league level of competition isn't there.

- Clemson at #22. Yeah, they graduated the meat of their attack but incoming freshman are well decorated and an injection of youth could keep this ACC power purring for years to come. It will be interesting to see how three freshman All-Americans meld together.

- Old Dominion at #27. Old D's defense was working hard this season in the PDL. Their keeper, Evan Newton, was named keeper of the year and senior defender David Horst was named to the PDL All-League squad. If they can find some offense, look for them to stun one of two in the tourney.

- UCLA #1. Will UCLA be able to take the crown? They've lost one of their most dynamic players, Sal Zizzo, but there is plenty of talent to fill in. David Estrada and Kyle Nakazawa were amazing as freshmen and should lead the charge. However, this is a long season and I'm sure plenty of competition will crop up for the Bruins.

The biggest question at the start of a new season is how will last year's champions fare. Can UCSB repeat the championship that sent the goals into the ocean? Ciaran O'Brien had a strong summer in the PDL making the All-League team and sophomore will certainly try to exert his control over the game. Senior defender and 2006 Soccer America MVP Andy Iro will use his size to keep forwards from scoring goals. Don't forget Eric Avila or Nick Perera either. They certainly have a chance to make it back.

Top 25 High School Seniors....

Rise Magazine seems to be a rag for ranking high school kids going into NCAA sports. An interesting concept, but do we really need a magazine focused on young kids? Really perpetuates the whole sports/celebrity thing that many of us don't love about professional sports. Anyway, back to soccer. Back in February they posted a list of the top 25 high school senior soccer players with their college commitments. This list will be going into my database for sure.

You'll see that the ACC is once again reloading on young talent to replace that lost through graduation and early attrition to the pros. Stanford snagging three from the top 25 is exciting for the Pac-10.

After checking my database I am happy to report that I had all 25 of the prospects already. They earned their way onto the list by being an All-American, ESP Participant or US Youth National player. I'm glad to see I'm doing something right.

2007 College Classes Coming Together...

The 2007 NCAA soccer picture is becoming more clear as schools are releasing the names of their newest players. Within the next few days I will add a Freshman class update to the right margin. Actually, I'll update all of the classes since they're 2006 currently. Again, the players on my list have done something to earn recognition. The freshman players will be those who played in an ESP camp, earned All-American honors, etc.

If you want to check in on some of the signings yourself, check out College Soccer News. They are posting their opinion of the different classes and the members.

The best class I've logged so far has to go to Clemson, they have 5 players on my list. Look for continued strength from the ACC schools.