# National Signing Day - Boys DA College Commitments



## justneededaname (Nov 26, 2018)

The DA web site is keeping a list of the players that signed their letter of intent on National Signing Day, November 15th. I thought it would be interesting to take a look at how the clubs did.

First, what I care most about, San Diego DA clubs.

Albion - 3
Surf - 3
Nomads - 0

This is self-reporting, so I suspect Nomads 0 is more about them not reporting it. But that may be wrong. Breaking down Albion, they got two Cals and a Yale. Not bad. But there are 23 players on the roster graduating this year.

Since most people here care about the LA clubs more than San Diego:

FC Golden State  - 5
LAG - 4
Pateadores - 3
Arsenal - 0
Real So Cal - 0
Strikers - 0

Well done FCGSA! Again, I suspect the three zeros are from a lack of reporting.

Some DA clubs around the country did notably better. Here are the top 8 clubs for signings:

Baltimore Armour 11
Philadelphia Union 11
Columbus Crew 10
Indiana Fire 9
Oakwood SC 9
NYCFC 8
North Carolina FC Youth 8
Seattle Sounders 8

Lots of colleges were recruiting, but here are the ones picking the most players:

Penn State 6
Cornell 5
Old Dominion University 5
Xavier University 5
Butler 4
Mount St. Mary’s University 4
San Diego State University 4
University of Denver 4
University of North Carolina, Charlotte 4
University of California, Berkeley 3
Georgetown 3
Stanford University 3
University of Notre Dame 3
University of Pennsylvania 3

I don't know if there are really any takeaways from this, but for a parent whose player is not looking to go pro, but is hoping to play in college, I thought it was interesting.


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## Not A Player (Nov 26, 2018)

Two Cals and a Yale is indeed awesome.  Overall, the results are sobering in that they suggest that it is extraordinarily difficult to play in college, period, and that the prospects of playing at an academically top-tier institution seem downright remote.


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## timbuck (Nov 26, 2018)

That seems really low.  
I watched one of the NCAA men’s sweet 16 games this past weekend.   The soccer was really crappy.


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## justneededaname (Nov 26, 2018)

So breaking this down based on number of college soccer players (http://www.scholarshipstats.com/soccer.html).

Assuming most of those DA player commitments are going to D1 or D2 schools

6575 - Number of DI and DII men's college soccer players
2263 - Number of D1 and DII players that are foreign born
4312 - Number of US born players
1078 - Approximate number of Freshman soccer players (just totally made this number up by dividing by 4)
217 - Number of commitments listed on the DA web site
434 - Probable number of DA commitments - There are way more DA teams than are listed on the web site, so I think doubling it is a safe bet
40% - Percent of DI and DII Freshman coming from the DA


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## StrikerOC (Nov 27, 2018)

timbuck said:


> That seems really low.
> I watched one of the NCAA men’s sweet 16 games this past weekend.   The soccer was really crappy.


That's what I felt like watching Premier League then switching to MLS playoffs


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## Kante (Nov 27, 2018)

From a quick look, it seems like even the top soccer colleges strongly tend to only recruit regionally - i.e. northeast coast colleges recruit northeast players etc - rather than look at a national market for players. 

probably has to do with the existing relationships college soccer coaches have with local clubs plus the difficulty, expense and risk (with a lower ability for due diligence) of recruiting nationally. very different than college football or college basketball.


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## jpeter (Nov 27, 2018)

College coaches will look everywhere for players.   With all the highlight reel videos people make nowadys it's not that difficult to get intial notice but it's what you do after that matters.

Hopefully your player has great games when the coaches come out to take a look but they often won't give you a 2nd look if your GPA is not high enough.  Same with speed, if your 40's are not sub 5's some coaches not all that interested.

I don't want to generalize but your coaches connections and reputations go along way into the process but you have to take advantage of those opportunities.  Same with the grades, do a higher % of those in the top range of the GPA scale play DA or somewhere else? 

Does DA on a MLS team give players good college exposure I would say yes much more than normal da.   At the same token major tournaments like Surf, Dallas Disney, can give clubs good exposure.  

I'm the end it's all about the player(s) ability, their grades, how they handle the process, etc which leagues they play in not as much IMO.


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## timbuck (Nov 27, 2018)

Kante said:


> From a quick look, it seems like even the top soccer colleges strongly tend to only recruit regionally - i.e. northeast coast colleges recruit northeast players etc - rather than look at a national market for players.
> 
> probably has to do with the existing relationships college soccer coaches have with local clubs plus the difficulty, expense and risk (with a lower ability for due diligence) of recruiting nationally. very different than college football or college basketball.


I was watching the MSU vs Georgetown game.  It was streamed by Georgetown.  A single camera.  No replay.  2 guys announcing were actually decent.  I heard them mention that 60% of the MSU team was from within the state of Michigan.

And regarding MLS to Premier league -   After watching these 2 teams play to a 1-0 for MSU and then watching the NYRB v Atl MLS game -   The MLS game looked like a Champions League final.  
It was seriously really, really bad.  Must have been 100 throw-ins per half from each team.  Very little attempt at connecting more than a few passes in a row.


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## Kante (Nov 27, 2018)

jpeter said:


> College coaches will look everywhere for players.   With all the highlight reel videos people make nowadys it's not that difficult to get intial notice but it's what you do after that matters.
> 
> Hopefully your player has great games when the coaches come out to take a look but they often won't give you a 2nd look if your GPA is not high enough.  Same with speed, if your 40's are not sub 5's some coaches not all that interested.
> 
> ...


Jpeter,
Thanks for this insight. 

My sense is that the socal (SD + LA) teams at 04, 05 and 06 are significantly stronger than teams from east coast, florida, midwest and texas. I base this on recent showcase and tournament results Man City, Dallas Cup, Copa Rayados, Surf Cup (eg, at Man City, LAFC and SD Surf beat NE/Metro top team NYCFC 6-1 and 7-3 respectively. And even lower level teams in SoCal would give the Surf and LAFC games that were as least as competitive as NYCFC. ) Also Top Drawer rankings u13 thru 15 where about 1/3 of the top 15 teams are SoCal.

However, it seems like this is not the case, yet, for 03 and above, eg call-ups to national teams and top drawer rankings.

An argument could be made that LAFC - in the last two years - has forced all the SoCal teams 04 and younger to get much better/more aggressive re: recruitment and development (eg, 05 Surf added two new forwards after their first game against LAFC, and 05 LA Galaxy added nine new players for the 2018-019 season), and that this trend will continue. 

Or, in your opinion, is there something that happens (eg, in Washington, good players consolidate to the Sounders program at u15 and above) in the older age groups that increase the competitiveness of the non-SoCal groups?

Anecdotally, have heard an east coast bias among coaches, particularly those from the east coast ... eg, heard one doc from philadelphia talk about how all east coast players were "just better technically and tactically".


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## jpeter (Nov 27, 2018)

Kante said:


> Jpeter,
> My sense is that the socal (SD + LA) teams at 04, 05 and 06 are significantly stronger than teams from east coast, florida, midwest and texas. I base this on recent showcase and tournament results Man City, Dallas Cup, Copa Rayados, Surf Cup (eg, at Man City, LAFC and SD Surf beat NE/Metro top team NYCFC 6-1 and 7-3 respectively. And even lower level teams in SoCal would give the Surf and LAFC games that were as least as competitive as NYCFC. )
> 
> However, it seems like this is not the case, yet, for 03 and above.
> ...


Yeah those are good observations,  the nor cal, az, nv, texas teams evenutally seem to close the gap vs socal at the top level but not necessarily at any level below that.

What ends up happening is the international and MX teams at about u15+ get serious about tournment play and then you see the deficiency in the DA system;  not enough challenging play and games throughout the season.  Once those teams are forced to play at a higher speed where everyone can press and play defense they can struggle for the lack of experience or routine.   When you only get a few close competitive games during the season and blow teams out by 4x+ goals normally catch's up to teams sooner or later.

East coast & Midwest bias yeah some truth to that but that's partly due to exposure and where the coaches/orgs are based out of.  Besides east coast showcases or a playoff not that many times west coast players get looks or we seen those folks I recall.

Let's face it the souting system needs a lot more attention and a overall.   Instead of  insider recommendations there should be a lot more independent scouts casting a much wider net.

What happens after a certain age is that speed, soccer iq, and the player(s) / team playing sytle starts to make a bigger difference.

College coaches really love the speedy players especially those with some size.  If you have that, good grades, and play for a coach/team with some connections,  good reputation your chances at/ for college are increased vastly IMO.


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