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2013 Recruiting


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Any news on who Akron is going after?

I heard Riley Grant from Copley who played club ball for Everest along with Keith Dambrot's son on a very highly ranked team. Didn't play for Copley this year, played academy. Very talented player from what I've seen.

Anyone else? How many spots? Apologies if there is a thread elsewhere, I couldn't find one.

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Any news on who Akron is going after?

I heard Riley Grant from Copley who played club ball for Everest along with Keith Dambrot's son on a very highly ranked team. Didn't play for Copley this year, played academy. Very talented player from what I've seen.

Anyone else? How many spots? Apologies if there is a thread elsewhere, I couldn't find one.

I do not have much yet, but I will.

Keep this coming! I am ALL DAY on this shtuff!

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Very interesting to know Keith is a soccer dad! A diversely talented sporting family. Baseball, basketball, soccer. I know the Dambrots are keen observers of human behavior. I was a classmate of Keith's, and his sister was in a couple of my psych classes, one I think taught by their mom.

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  • 2 months later...

I posted this in another thread, but it seems more appropriate here.

From Travis Clark tweet:

2013 Akron recruiting class continues to take shape. IMG defender Brett Gravatt and Robbie Dambrot committed.

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How did we lose out on this guy? He went to same HS as Trapp and Abdul-Salaam.

http://www.topdrawersoccer.com/club-player...le/pid-10029434

If I had to go out on a limb, I'd say maybe it has something to do with that Porter guy leaving and the future of our program being totally uncertain.

Edit: That probably sounds harsh, but honestly, comparing our commits this year to previous years, it's obvious that Porter leaving led to a dip in a quality of our recruits. Recently it has been predominantly kids attached to MLS academies, the gold standard of youth talent in the US. Before the MLS academy program was big, the bigger recruits came from Bradenton and that's where we were picking them from. Padding out our recruiting classes were kids from Cleveland Internationals, a good local club that we had ties to. Without doing a breakdown of every recruit who has come in the past few years, it seems like the impact players have come from Bradenton/MLS academies, and kids from Cleveland have been the depth guys. Now, if we look at our commits for this year, most of them are from the Cleveland Internationals. I just can't help but wonder if there were more high profile recruits who were thinking about Akron, and when Porter announced he was leaving, maybe they decided they'd play it safe by going to team that wasn't going to be as much of a risk as Akron. The exception I see is Adam Najem. Maybe Gallego convinced him Akron was the place to go, and he'd play right away. Honestly, I'd be more concerned about this recruiting class if it weren't for the fact that we're a bringing back a real solid core: Gallego, Quinn, Brenes, Stevenson, Koroma (hopefully healthy), Derschang, Souders. Those guys all got significant minutes last year, and I'd say player-wise, we are in better shape than our last big exodus in 2010. This aside, I really believe the future of our program is hinging on our performance this year. All eyes are on Embick to see whether or not our program will maintain it's success or if it was just because of Porter. If we can be good again, then I think we get better recruits for the following year because the kids will know Akron is just a good program now, regardless of who is in charge.

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If I had to go out on a limb, I'd say maybe it has something to do with that Porter guy leaving and the future of our program being totally uncertain.

Edit: That probably sounds harsh, but honestly, comparing our commits this year to previous years, it's obvious that Porter leaving led to a dip in a quality of our recruits. Recently it has been predominantly kids attached to MLS academies, the gold standard of youth talent in the US. Before the MLS academy program was big, the bigger recruits came from Bradenton and that's where we were picking them from. Padding out our recruiting classes were kids from Cleveland Internationals, a good local club that we had ties to. Without doing a breakdown of every recruit who has come in the past few years, it seems like the impact players have come from Bradenton/MLS academies, and kids from Cleveland have been the depth guys. Now, if we look at our commits for this year, most of them are from the Cleveland Internationals. I just can't help but wonder if there were more high profile recruits who were thinking about Akron, and when Porter announced he was leaving, maybe they decided they'd play it safe by going to team that wasn't going to be as much of a risk as Akron. The exception I see is Adam Najem. Maybe Gallego convinced him Akron was the place to go, and he'd play right away. Honestly, I'd be more concerned about this recruiting class if it weren't for the fact that we're a bringing back a real solid core: Gallego, Quinn, Brenes, Stevenson, Koroma (hopefully healthy), Derschang, Souders. Those guys all got significant minutes last year, and I'd say player-wise, we are in better shape than our last big exodus in 2010. This aside, I really believe the future of our program is hinging on our performance this year. All eyes are on Embick to see whether or not our program will maintain it's success or if it was just because of Porter. If we can be good again, then I think we get better recruits for the following year because the kids will know Akron is just a good program now, regardless of who is in charge.

Do not forget Fernando Pina, potentially the best Zips GK ever. Seriously. No wink.

Honestly, 2013 recruiting class does not need to be TDS #1. TDS top 10 is good enough because 2012 was so strong. I am really pissed that Dillon Serna left.

Yes, 2013 squad is better than 2011 squad.

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with the recent developments of the USLPro and reserve league, it might become difficult to recruit MLS academy prospects. We could see MLS teams sign their academy players sooner so they can play them in the USL Pro/Reserve league. I don't believe college players can play USL Pro or NASL, but can play USL PDL or NPSL.

A stronger second and third league in the US could start decreasing the talent we see at the college level.

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old news....but interesting to see the quotes from the beacon journal article

Copley High School senior Riley Grant is staying local for college.

Grant has committed to continue his academic and soccer careers at the University of Akron.

“Akron is one of the best programs, if not the best program, in the country,” Grant said. “They play attractive soccer that people like to play. I like Jared [Embick], the coach, and the rest of the coaching staff. I also wanted to stay closer to home.”

Grant, 18, played this past season with the International Academy in Northeast Ohio. He played the previous three seasons on the varsity soccer team at Copley.

Grant is a 6-foot-1 and 160-pound forward. He has a 3.1 grade-point average, and said he is “looking into business, but still undecided” on a major.

Colleges such as Cincinnati, Ohio State, High Point, Cleveland State also recruited Grant.

“They have a great soccer program at Akron and I am excited to be part of it,” Grant said. “It is a no-brainer to go there.”

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