[Ok, really final, final: removed the players not on the draft eligible list. ]
[Updated - Final]
After watching over 100 live college soccer games this year, supplemented by another 40 on TV, composed of 101 different teams, here is my assessment of the draftees. My rankings take into account the values of GA and general assessment of the skill and how each player might fit into a MLS team.
Players that I haven’t seen are generally ranked lower than players that I have seen. I’m from the East coast – so it’s easier for me to see teams in the East. However, I’ve seen UCLA, UCSB, Santa Clara, Cal and Washington live. I was unable to see some teams live, I’ve only seen on TV (e.g., Tulsa, Cal-Poly, Cal-Northridge, Memphis). The combine will supplement my prior observations and fill the gaps where needed.
UC-Irvine and UC-Davis are two teams that I regret not being able to see.
Based upon feedback that I received last year, in addition to ranking each player sequentially, I’m assigning a letter grade using the following scale:
A=Can’t miss prospect. Should easily make the roster and may get time with the first team in 2009. By the end of the year, could be an impact player.
B=Likely to make the team. Could make roster, may take a year or more to get to the first team.
C=Probably not going to make the team. Has significant barriers to overcome. A very select few may eventually make it, but it would need to be a perfect storm (multiple injuries, playing out of their heads, fortuitous bounces, etc.).
D=Extremely unlikely to make a team.
F=No shot.
Within each grade, I’ve ranked each player.
This is a work-in-progress. I will be tweaking the rankings through the combine.
Below, I’ve broken out my rankings for goal keepers. I’ll follow this with rankings of defenders, midfielders, forwards and over-all. Enjoy!
| Seq | Gr | See in 08? | Pos | Name | College |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A- | Yes | D | Kevin Alston | Indiana |
| 2 | A- | Yes | M | Jeremy Hall | Maryland |
| 3 | A- | Yes | M | Sam Cronin | Wake Forest |
| 4 | A- | Yes | D | Rodney Wallace | Maryland |
| 5 | A- | Yes | F | Steve Zakuani | Akron |
| 6 | A- | Yes | GK | Stefan Frei | Cal |
| 7 | A- | Yes | F | Chris Pontius | UCSB |
| 8 | B+ | Yes | D | Omar Gonzalez | Maryland |
| 9 | B+ | Yes | M | Kyle Patterson | St. Louis |
| 10 | B+ | Yes | F | Mike Grella | Duke |
| 11 | B+ | Yes | D | Yohance Marshall | South Florida |
| 12 | B+ | TV | F | Peri Marosevic | Michigan |
| 13 | B+ | Yes | M | Brad Ring | Indiana |
| 14 | B+ | No | M | Baggio Husidic | UIC |
| 15 | B+ | Yes | M | Joshua Boateng | Liberty |
| 16 | B+ | TV | D | Chris Clements | Tulsa |
| 17 | B+ | TV | D | Michael Holody | Michigan |
| 18 | B | Yes | D | Rhett Bernstein | Brown |
| 19 | B | Yes | M | Michael Lahoud | Wake Forest |
| 20 | B | Yes | D | Calum Angus | St. Louis |
| 21 | B | Yes | F | O’Brian White | Connecticut |
| 22 | B | No | M | Daniel Cruz | UNLV |
| 23 | B | Yes | M | Piotr Nowak | Oakland |
| 24 | B | Yes | D | Brad Rusin | UCLA |
| 25 | B | TV | M | Aaron Clapham | Louisville |
| 26 | B | Yes | D | Wes Knight | College of Charleston |
| 27 | B | TV | D | Dave Hertel | Michigan State |
| 28 | B- | No | F | Quincy Amarikwa | UC Davis |
| 29 | B- | Yes | F | Jordan Seabrook | South Florida |
| 30 | B- | No | F | Patrick Figueiredo | Adelphi |
| 31 | B+ | Yes | GK | Milos Kocic | Loyola (MD) |
| 32 | B- | No | F | Brad Peters | Eastern Illinois |
| 33 | B- | Yes | F | Marcus Tracy | Wake Forest |
| 34 | B- | Yes | F | Michael Fucito | Harvard |
| 35 | B- | Yes | M | Graham Zusi | Maryland |
| 36 | B- | Yes | M | Nick Zimmerman | James Madison |
| 37 | B- | Yes | M | Brandon Barklage | St. Louis |
| 38 | B- | No | M | Matt Murphy | UC Irvine |
| 39 | C+ | Yes | D | Darrius Barnes | Duke |
| 40 | C+ | Yes | F | Chris Salvaggione | Charlotte |
| 41 | C+ | Yes | D | Evan Brown | Wake Forest |
| 42 | C+ | Yes | D | Lyle Adams | Wake Forest |
| 43 | C+ | Yes | F | Kyle Hall | Syracuse |
| 44 | C+ | No | M | Lamar Neagle | UNLV |
| 45 | C+ | Yes | M | Kevon Neaves | South Florida |
| 46 | C+ | Yes | M | John Stamatis | Harvard |
| 47 | C+ | TV | F | Jake Stacy | Michigan |
| 48 | B | Yes | GK | Zack Simmons | Massachusetts |
| 49 | C+ | Yes | F | Jason Leopoldo | UCLA |
| 50 | C+ | Yes | F | Kwame Adjeman-Pamboe | George Mason |
| 51 | C | No | M | Juan Guerra | Florida International |
| 52 | C | Yes | M | Andrei Gotsmanov | Creighton |
| 53 | C | Yes | M | Jamie Franks | Wake Forest |
| 54 | C | No | M | Ryan Maduro | Providence |
| 55 | C | Yes | D | Matt Besler | Notre Dame |
| 56 | C | Yes | M | Akeem Priestly | Connecticut |
| 57 | C | No | D | David Sias | UC Irvine |
| 58 | C | Yes | D | Ian Daniels | Oakland |
| 59 | C | Yes | D | A.J. Delagarza | Maryland |
| 60 | C | Yes | F | Brian Shriver | UNC |
| 61 | C | No | F | Kyle Christensen | Denver |
| 62 | C+ | No | GK | Steward Ceus | Albany |
| 63 | C | TV | F | Doug DeMartin | Michigan State |
| 64 | C | Yes | M | Michael Callahan | UNC |
| 65 | C | Yes | M | George John | Washington |
| 66 | C | Yes | F | Maxwell Griffin | UCLA |
| 67 | C | No | M | Ryan Maxwell | Tampa |
| 68 | C | No | F | Tosaint Ricketts | UW-GB |
| 69 | C | Yes | M | Yan Klukowski | Central Connecticut State |
| 70 | C | No | M | Chris DeAbreau | St. Peter’s |
| 71 | C | Yes | D | Jide Ogunbiyi | Santa Clara |
| 72 | C | No | D | Dan Schultz | Boston University |
| 73 | C | Yes | D | Paul Gerstenberger | Boston College |
| 74 | C | Yes | D | Trevor Banks | Old Dominion |
| 75 | C | TV | D | Michael Coburn | Memphis |
| 76 | C | No | M | Joey Mathot | Denver |
| 77 | C | Yes | GK | Chris Brown | Boston College |
| 78 | C | No | F | Matt Durand | Niagara |
| 79 | C- | Yes | D | Otto Loewy | Winthrop |
| 80 | C- | Yes | D | Oscar Castillo | Connecticut |
| 81 | C- | Yes | D | Alex Yoshinaga | Notre Dame |
| 82 | C- | Yes | D | Jack Traynor | Notre Dame |
| 83 | C- | TV | M | Jeff Harwell | SMU |
| 84 | C- | Yes | F | Ramak Niakan Safi | Jacksonville |
| 85 | C- | TV | D | Ryan Mirsky | SMU |
| 86 | C- | No | D | Liam Parrington | Hartwick |
| 87 | C- | Yes | M | Dado Hamzagic | St. Louis |
| 88 | C- | Yes | M | Richard Jata | Campbell |
| 89 | C- | Yes | M | Sterling Flunder | Marshall |
| 90 | C- | Yes | M | Alex Grendi | Pennsylvania |
| 91 | C- | No | D | Ed Brand | SJ State |
| 92 | C- | Yes | M | Raphael Cox | Washington |
| 93 | C- | Yes | F | Peter Grasso | Georgetown |
| 94 | C- | Yes | F | Florian DeCamps | Dayton |
| 95 | C- | Yes | M | Alfonso Motagalvan | UCSB |
| 96 | C- | No | D | Daniel Leach | Oregon State |
| 97 | C- | No | D | Billy Gustafson | Niagara |
| 98 | C | Yes | GK | Brian Visser | DePaul |
| 99 | C | TV | GK | Tyrel Lacey | Tulsa |
| 100 | C- | No | D | Anthony Anzevui | Sacred Heart |
| 101 | C- | Yes | D | Pavelid Castaneda | Duke |
| 102 | C- | No | D | Bolade Ogunmade | Mercer |
| 103 | C- | No | D | Daniel Gwyther | Buffalo |
| 104 | C | TV | GK | Kevin Guppy | Cal State Northridge |
| 105 | C- | Yes | M | Phil Purdy | American |
| 106 | C- | Yes | M | Garry Lewis | UNC |
| 107 | C- | No | M | Jokull Elisabetarson | UNC Greensboro |
| 108 | D+ | Yes | D | Karol Wasielewski | Syracuse |
| 109 | D+ | No | D | Pat McMahon | Illinois – Chicago |
| 110 | D+ | Yes | D | Dirk Dittrich | VCU |
| 111 | D+ | Yes | F | Graciano Brito | Quinnipiac |
| 112 | D+ | Yes | D | Henry Kalungi | Winthrop |
| 113 | D+ | Yes | D | Richard Costanzo | Maryland |
| 114 | D+ | Yes | D | John Pardini | Fordham |
| 115 | D+ | No | M | Jona Andrade | W. Illinois |
| 116 | D+ | Yes | D | Douglas Nyame | Liberty |
| 117 | D+ | Yes | D | Graham Dugoni | Duke |
| 118 | D+ | No | F | Chris Wright | New Mexico |
| 119 | D+ | Yes | D | Barry Neville | Binghamton |
| 120 | D+ | Yes | D | David Tyrie | Central Connecticut State |
| 121 | D+ | TV | D | Ryan Imamura | Stanford |
| 122 | D+ | No | F | Kedan Crosby | Rhode Island |
| 123 | C | No | GK | Matthew Jones | Sacred Heart |
| 124 | C | TV | GK | Eric Branagan-Franco | Cal Poly |
| 125 | D | Yes | F | Daniel Revivo | Winthrop |
| 126 | D | Yes | D | Bryan Collier | Central Florida |
| 127 | D | Yes | F | Jim Taranto | Lehigh |
| 128 | D | Yes | M | Michael Konicoff | Boston College |
| 129 | D | Yes | M | Eric Sweetin | St. Louis |
| 130 | D | TV | M | Eric DeFreitas | Tulsa |
| 131 | D | Yes | M | Matt Poole | Virginia |
| 132 | D | TV | M | Anton Peterlin | Cal Poly |
| 133 | D | No | M | Dylan Curtis | UC Davis |
| 134 | D | No | D | Corey Heldreth | St. Mary’s |
| 135 | D | No | D | Jeff Russell | San Francisco |
| 136 | D | No | M | Jean Alexandre | Lynn |
| 137 | D | No | D | Stephen Carlson | Loyola-Marymount |
| 138 | D | Yes | D | Jonathan Borrajo | George Mason |
| 139 | D | No | D | Joe DeVito | Georgia State |
| 140 | D | Yes | M | Dan McGarry | Liberty |
| 141 | D | Yes | D | Matt Care | Princeton |
| 142 | D | TV | D | Timothy Jones | Stanford |
| 143 | D | TV | M | Masumi Turnbull | Kentucky |
| 144 | D | Yes | D | Angelo Amato | Monmouth |
| 145 | D | No | D | Alejandro Melean | Holy Cross |
| 146 | D | Yes | D | Tyler Barry | California |
| 147 | D | Yes | D | Ryan Roushandel | Central Florida |
| 148 | D | No | D | Connor Tobin | Vermont |
| 149 | D | Yes | D | Stephen Oyuga | Campbell |
| 150 | D | No | D | David Backman | Sacred Heart |
| 151 | D | No | D | Glenn Volk | Colgate |
| 152 | D | No | D | Kyle Schmid | UC Irvine |
| 153 | D+ | Yes | GK | Evan Bush | Akron |
| 154 | D | Yes | GK | Alec Dufty | Evansville |
| 155 | D | No | M | Brad Stisser | Loyola-Marymount |
| 156 | D- | Yes | M | Vinnie Berry | Mount St. Mary’s |
| 157 | D- | Yes | M | Pat Murray | Furman |
| 158 | D- | TV | F | Bryan Irwin | Portland |
| 159 | D- | Yes | F | Nick Perera | UCSB |
| 160 | D | Yes | GK | Andrew Dykstra | VCU |
| 161 | D- | No | M | Eddie Ahman | San Diego |
| 162 | D- | Yes | M | Keum Sung Kim | Loyola (Ill) |
| 163 | D | Yes | GK | Neal Kitson | St John’s |
| 164 | D- | No | M | Joe Taylor | Villanova |
| 165 | D | No | GK | Joe Zimka | NIU |
| 166 | D | TV | GK | Sean Milligan | Dartmouth |
| 167 | D | No | GK | Filipe Carvalho | Georgia State |
| 168 | D- | No | F | Aly Lo | Iona |
| 169 | D- | No | D | Kyle Russell | Coastal Carolina |
| 170 | D- | No | D | Paul Nicholson | Rio Grande University |
| 171 | F | No | F | Ross Schunk | Redlands University |
| 172 | F | No | D | Daniel Kerley | Colgate |
| 173 | F | TV | M | Daniel Lopez | SMU |
| 174 | F | No | D | Tom Clements | Fairfield |
Jan 10, 2009 at 5:12 pm
I think you did not accurately evaluate Trevor Banks from ODU accurately. I have watched this kid play at every levelfrom midwest regional odp team 5 years (captain the last year for 87 age group), 2 esp camps,14national team camp,ncaa tournament games and Trevor Banks has won huge games for ODU for example
Jan 10, 2009 at 5:14 pm
game winner versus UMASS. I think this kid has everything he needs to play in MLS,and I believe he will prove it at the combine.
Jan 11, 2009 at 7:54 am
It’s quite possible that I’m wrong about Banks. For most players, I only get a game or 2 to evaluate a player. However, I’ve seen ODU play 4 times this year and 4 times last year.
Consistently, Banks has not impressed me. This continued in the first combine game. Let’s see how he plays in the last two games.
Jan 14, 2009 at 12:02 am
I have seen many games in the midwest involving top and mid tier teams. St. Louis, Crieghton, Tulsa, UIC, Drake, and UConn from the east are just some of the teams. After watching so many games this summer I did find what I think is a diamond in the rough. He actually comes from a mid tier school UMKC. I was able to see a couple of games with UMKC this year. Brian Harris is his name. The player is very strong on the ball with shocking speed. Harris has a powerful shot too. Many teams he faced man marked him or tried to foul him when he got the ball. He scored the winning goal against Creighton, scored which should have been the winning goal against UIC, and always seemed to find the net against Oakland. Brian also tormented Tulsa in the NCAA tourney. It is hard to believe Harris put up the numbers he did with out the supporting cast of other teams that top players in the NCAA had. On his school profile it says he was a NJCAA(juco) all-America selection where he was Conference Most Valuable Player also in high school. He was once again Conference Most Valuable Player of the year at UMKC. He has suceeded at every level he has been on apparently. I wonder what kind of number this kid would have put up if he had gone to a D1 school for 4 years instead of 2. What are your thoughts or opinions on this player?
Jan 14, 2009 at 2:39 am
I haven’t seen Brian Harris play. Based upon his stats/resume, I ranked him as “C”. There are a few players that make it via the juco route but not many. Playing against top competition provides the highest profile for coaches/scouts.
Jan 14, 2009 at 7:15 pm
[...] Click here for Overall [...]
Jan 15, 2009 at 2:41 pm
[...] also gets a good review from scout Joe Mauceri on his Pro Player Pipeline blog, giving him a B+ and ranking him as the 13th best player in the draft. You may recall that [...]
Jan 15, 2009 at 2:56 pm
On the final rankings what happened to Matt Durand and Brian Harris?
Jan 15, 2009 at 6:34 pm
They were not on the MLS draft eligible list. According to MLS, only players on this list were eligible to be drafted. However, of course, the NAIA kid from Azusa wasn’t on the list.
Jan 15, 2009 at 8:46 pm
Why would these players not be draft eligible if they are seniors?