He may have already been one of the hottest MLS prospects, but Friday's announcement that defender Brandon Vincent has been called up for the US national team's annual January training camp certainly turned heads.
The Stanford product, who won College Cup with the Cardinal, is being projected as a high pick in next week's 2016 MLS SuperDraft. But what do MLS general managers and coaches, the people who actually select the draft picks, think of Vincent? Here are selected quotes about the left back, given on the condition on anonymity, from several GMs and coaches.
GM 1: “Vincent’s just a prototypical MLS defensive guy. He’s going to have longevity, takes care of his body, super mature, good leadership. Quite frankly, he’s never going to be the superstar, but is always going to be the guy you can count on.”
Head coach 1: “In terms of left backs in the past few years, it’s hard to think of one that has the full package of things that he has. He’s athletic, he has a good engine, he can get up and down, he’s got good feet, serves a good ball, pretty good 1-v-1 defender. So you would think that in terms of outside backs, this is a place to often get good players in that position and he’s a guy that I think could make the transition pretty quickly. I would expect him to go pretty high.”
GM 2: “Good, got much better as the year went on, a good, solid player.”
Head coach 2: “Very good, an excellent cross. The thing with him, and it’s like a lot of guys that come into our league, is going to be the pace and everything is going to be a lot faster. But I think he’s a solid left back, one of the better ones in this draft.”
Head coach 3: “He gets up and down the line, you can tell he’s committed to getting forward, he’s intelligent, he doesn’t look to try to dribble and take guys on in silly spots, he’ll just serve a good ball into the box. He just kind of fits that mold of the guy that makes you sleep well at night. He’s intelligent out there, he’s not going to be the flashiest, but he’s an honest, hardworking, MLS effective guy.”
