T2 Player Profile: Blair Gavin

With T2 opening their season on Sunday against Real Monarchs, we will be profiling the 14 players officially signed to the T2 roster.

We continue with midfielder Blair Gavin.

Number: 52
Position: Midfielder
Height: 6-0
Weight: 165
Born: Jan. 8, 1989
Hometown: Scottsdale, Ariz.
Last Club: Atlanta Silverbacks (NASL)
College: University of Akron

Blair Gavin, 26, joins T2 after spending last season with the Atlanta Silverbacks of the NASL.

Gavin scored 1 goal and added 4 assists over 23 appearances with Atlanta, helping them make a run to the quarterfinals of the 2014 U.S. Open Cup.

Prior to joining Atlanta, Gavin had a nomadic couple of seasons, splitting 2012 between Chivas USA, where he made 9 appearances (4 starts), recording an assist, and New England, where he made 2 appearances (1 start).  In August 2013, he signed with Seattle after a long trial, but did not make an appearance.  He was drafted out of Akron by the now-defunct Chivas USA in 2010, making 34 appearances (27 starts) between 2010 and 2011, scoring 3 goals and 4 assists.

Under the tutelage of Caleb Porter, Gavin was a three year starter at Akron.  In 68 appearances (65 starts) for the Zips, recording 7 goals and 6 assists.  Scoring the game-winning goal that propelled Akron to the 2009 NCAA Championship Game, Gavin was named to the All Mid-American Conference First Team and NSCAA Great Lakes Region First Team, while teaming up with current Timbers first teamers Michael Nanchoff, Darlington Nagbe,and Ben Zemanski.

Concurrent to his time at Akron, Gavin played three seasons with Bradenton Academics of the PDL, making 38 appearances and scoring 4 goals.  He capped his time Bradenton by helping lead his club to the PDL semifinals, after winning the Southern Conference championshi in 2009.

A member of the United States U18 and U20 squads from 2006-2008,  Gavin attended the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida from 2005-2006.

Gavin brings a solid veteran presence to T2 in the center of the pitch, and is greatly familiar with Timbers and T2 possession-based style of play.  Coming into MLS as an attacking midfielder, Gavin has played wide but is stronger in the middle of the pitch, where he can set up the attack through solid distribution.  During T2's preseason match against UP, Gavin was the primary distributor out of the midfield and took the majority of the free kicks and corner kicks.

While still relatively young at 26, Gavin is more likely a seasoned professional presence rather than a first team prospect, though he did appear for the Timbers in their preseason match against Stabæk, and given his familiarity with Porter and the Timbers system, he could find himself in the first team picture should the Timbers suffer from a string of injuries or suspensions.