Two More Blue Devils to the MLS (Maybe)

Last week's MLS Supplemental Draft, the less-than-Super cousin of the SuperDraft, doesn't get a glitzy page on MLSnet because it tends to be an afterthought. Instead of having an 8-round draft, MLS effectively splits it in two - the teams are given an additional 4 rounds a few days later to fill out their developmental rosters with more college talent. Considering that many 4th round picks don't pan out on the pro roster, there's not a lot of chance these guys will make an impact next year. Still, you never know unless you give them a shot - which begs the question, why didn't Toronto give anyone a shot?

The Blue Devils once again made a strong showing, with Zach Pope and Tim Jepson being selected 40th and 43rd, respectively, by Chicago and San Jose, respectively. I guess they can't all be Revs. Here's the Duke Athletics release, and the campus newspaper report.

Zach Pope was always a fan favorite. Blistering speed on the outside wing. Fun to watch. He kicks a pretty nice cross and got a fair number of assists at Duke but he'll need to make some big plays for the developmental side to impress his way into the big time.

Tim Jepson missed a lot of this year with a muscle pull which could be why he fell this low. He'll be a rookie on his next team, but this four year senior captain is a leader through and through. He's a tall-ish central defender who doesn't make mistakes. I have higher hopes for him than for Pope - a lot can happen on an expansion team, so there's a shot Jepson could get some minutes for the Quakes next year. That pulled muscle kept taking longer than announced to heal, and I felt like he was a half-step slow the whole rest of the year even once he was back - he'll need to get back to where he was before plus a little more, but if he can make the leap skillwise then I'm confident his leadership will translate.

So that makes 5 Dukies in this year's draft... throw in Joshua Medcalf (grad student from Vanderbilt who's eligibility is up), Paul Dudley (imagine Peter Crouch with less ballskill - tall guy who was intimidating and a scorer but unfortunately inexplicably bad on the headers), Justin Papadakis (excellent goaltender), Tomek Charowski (took the corners, and what a fun name to say!), the backup keeper and three depth midfielders. Those are the 13 seniors leaving the team. Throw in a new coach and you've got the definition of a "rebuilding year." Upside - we've still got Mike Grella and last year's #1 recruiting class... we'll have to see but for now I'm gonna say that a winning ACC season next year would transcend even the Ewing Theory.