Top college commits flock to pro ranks

Top college commits flock to pro ranks
by Will Parchman
August 24, 2016

For as long as men’s college players have been talented enough to test the waters, professional opportunity has forever lingered as the next rung in the ladder.

College players looking for their chance at a life in pro soccer may not be particularly new, but the recent uptick in major prospects spurning commits to join pro clubs certainly is. Even as recently as a few years ago, only an elite few programs could expect to lose commits they’d seemingly locked down on signing day in February. And even then, the numbers were low. There was no particular reason to worry. If you signed a player, there was a more than reasonable chance you’d have him on campus come August.

Those times, at would seem, are swiftly drawing to a close. And if a new era is upon us, then 2016 was the year it began in earnest.

The 2016 class has been, for a few years now, more professionally inclined than any before it. By the time the calendar flipped over in January, nine of the top 10 recruits in the TopDrawerSoccer.com IMG Top 150 were already installed in professional academies. No. 1 Christian Pulisic was well on his way to debuting for the full national team while four others were already entrenched in European academies.

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