All this week, we’re taking a look at the five best U.S. youth national team-aged boys players who’ve yet to be capped by the full team from each of the four positions on the field.

We started with the goalkeepers, which you can see here. Now it’s the defenders’ turn.

The pool for defenders is arguably the strongest of the lot, with a handful of high end talents plying their trade professionally both in the U.S. and abroad. While the U.S. has historically struggled to produce players of more outstanding technical quality higher upfield, they’ve cranked out some top notch defenders in the past.

Here’s a look at my pick for the top five of the moment based on their projected future.