Photo by ISIPhotos.com
By IVES GALARCEP
The 2014 Generation adidas class has begun to take shape.
MLS revealed the first four members of the 2014 Generation adidas contracts on Thursday night, announcing the signings of Andre Blake (UConn), Marlon Hairston (Louisville), Eric Miller (Creighton) and Schillo Tshuma (Maryland).
The players are the first underclassmen to agree to Generation adidas deals this year, but more signings are expected to be announced in the coming days, with sources telling SBI that Cal defender Christian Dean and UConn forward Cyle Larin are also considering offers made by MLS.
Sources have confirmed to SBI that highly-regarded UCLA midfielder Leo Stolz has passed on a Generation adidas contract offer and will return to UCLA for his senior season.
In addition, MLS also announced that it has signed breakout forwards Patrick Mullins of Maryland and Steve Neumann of Georgetown. Mullins had won the coveted MAC Hermann Trophy in 2012 and is up again for the 2013 award that will be announced next week. Nuemann scored 10 goals this past season. Sources have confirmed to SBI that Cal defender Steve Birnbaum has also been made an offer by MLS but has yet to sign.
MLS also announced the addition of nine more college seniors to the annual adidas MLS Player Combine in South Florida, which is set to begin on Jan. 10.
Here is the list of added players:
Player Position Citizenship School
Tesho Akindele F USA/Canada Colorado School of Mines (Division II)
Chris Duvall D USA Wake Forest University
Oliver Gore F England Rocky Mountain College (NAIA)
Pierre Omanga F France Southern New Hampshire University (Division II)
Fabio Pereira MF Brazil University of Michigan
Kyle Renfro GK USA Virginia Tech University
Patrick Slogic D Brazil Cornell University
Wojciech Wojcik F USA Bradley University
Tomislav Zadro MF Canada University of Wisconsin
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The 2014 MLS SuperDraft will be held Jan. 16 in Philadelphia.
What do you think of the signings? Which player are you most excited to see coming to MLS?
Share your thoughts below.
It’s been many years since I have been involved in college advising but way back when, the Colorado School of Mines had a top five rating in salary earned by its graduating class.
As a Union fan I was really hoping Stolz would sign as he is a dude who would fill a major need. Dean is the only other GA candidate who does, and I worry the Union won’t get value out of the 2nd pick if Dean goes to DC.
+1 agree 100% Draft not looking promising for The U
Is there an upside to staying in college another year? Esp if you can sign a GA contract?
Stolz is talented but focused on getting his degree. He had several paths to a professional contract and decided long ago to get a degree first.. And UCLA is pretty special…Leo will carve his path just fine. I do not think Mullins at Maryland or Neumann at Georgetown regret their decisions. This is not a knock on MLS or the Generation Adidas program – the league is not “losing” these kids to other leagues and the kids all know the positives and negatives because their coaches ensure that.
Nice to see players from Div 2 and NAIA schools getting a shot at the MLS combine. Would love to see a pathway for the top CIS (Canada) players to the MLS combine. Maybe have a pre combine similar the Caribbean one where 50 or so of the top NCAA II, NAIA and CIS players are showcased, and then invite the top 10 or so to the MLS combine. Could be a good way ensure the draft remains strong as more and more NCAA D1 players bypass the combine/draft all-together to sign home grown deals.
The CIS is a different system entirely, though. There is no amateur rule in the CIS; Milos Kocic actually played college soccer in Canada during his first two or three MLS offseasons, and I’m pretty sure a couple other players have done so as well.
Colorado School of Mines!??!?!?
Huh?
A team might strike gold with that pick!
clever boy
It is an engineering school in Golden, Colorado, which used to (and may still) churn out lots of engineers who pursued careers in the mining industry.