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Some light developmental/academy news for you this morning. Yesterday was the big "Letter of Intent" day for college soccer, among other sports. While it's usually a big day for American football (held on a separate day), it's becoming increasingly more important to soccer as well as MLS as academies begin to prepare to ship off their youth prospects to the "loving hands" of the NCAA.
The Portland Timbers are no different. As of yesterday, the Portland Timbers have helped seven of their players sign commitments to six different universities, five of those being Division I universities.
Here are the players:
|
Name |
Class |
Position |
Hometown |
College Commitment |
|
Spencer Kleweno |
Sr. |
Forward |
Portland, Ore. |
Oregon State University |
|
Hector Martinez |
Sr. |
Defender |
Salem, Ore. |
Chemeketa Community College |
|
Kenton McGuire |
Sr. |
Midfielder |
Vancouver, Wash. |
U.S. Air Force Academy |
|
Mitch North |
Sr. |
Goalkeeper |
Medford, Ore. |
Oregon State University |
|
James Nosack |
Sr. |
Midfielder |
Ridgefield, Wash. |
University of Washington |
|
Cody Street |
Sr. |
Defender |
Beaverton, Ore. |
Gonzaga University |
|
Timur Zhividze |
Sr. |
Forward |
Vancouver, Wash. |
Concordia University |
It's nice to see Oregon State University picking up two of the players. As we know, they have had a bit of a habit of turning out solid soccer players in the past. Our own Portland Timbers' have two such players in Ryan Johnson and Danny Mwanga.
We wish all these players luck in their collegiate career. Hopefully they'll be able to perform well enough to earn a Timbers contract in a few years.
What do you think about the Timbers sending off seven academy players to college?