A little more than a year ago, American soccer fans were not likely to have heard of Ben Speas.

Unless they followed the fortunes of Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy or Everest SC in Northeastern Ohio, it’s doubtful Speas would have been a blip on their radar, but things have changed and the diminutive attacking player is TopDrawerSoccer’s®  #1 ranked recruit for the Class of 2009. The recruiting process is already over for Speas, as he’s committed to play nearby at the University of Akron for Caleb Porter.

The decision culminates a whirlwind of activity over the last 12 months for Speas.

It began when he was invited to accompany the U.S. Youth Soccer Region II ODP team to Argentina in February of last year. Speas had missed nearly a year of playing time after twice suffering broken bones in both feet, the rash of injuries beginning in 2005 while he was still in junior high school.

He battled back from the injuries to make a good enough showing at the summer, 2006 state and regional ODP events, earning an invitation for the Argentina trip. His high school coach, Jason Spodnuck, describes what he saw from Speas when this opportunity presented itself.

“He worked tremendously hard once he was invited to Argentina,” he said. “I’ve never seen a kid go after it like that, knowing that this was his chance. He went absolutely bananas.”

Spodnuck said Speas was beginning to transition from “a good player for his size” to a good player for any size. The coach began leading Speas through extra workouts every day at 6 a.m.

“As a smaller player he started working on his first step, to be stronger and more explosive. That was the athletic end,” Spodnuck said. “Then he would work on the technical and tactical end. Every morning he would take an hour and a half and just work on something. That’s uncommon from a high school kid. At 6 a.m., everybody wants to get a little more sleep, but he was out there every day.”

The effort paid off. Speas was one of the top performers among the 1991 birth year players who made the trip to Argentina. That and a good performance at the summer’s adidas ESP camp helped secure a berth to the U.S. U17 National Team residency program in Bradenton, FL. Although the world championship cycle for his age group had passed, Speas was looking forward to at least a year in a soccer-rich environment, getting top-level training every day and competing internationally.

But it didn’t quite work out that way. With the departure of U17 head coach John Hackworth and the hiring of new boss Wilmer Cabrera, a decision was made to only keep the 91s who were set to graduate by this spring, something not possible for Speas and a few other players who had just been invited in as juniors, meaning they had to leave the program at the Christmas break. Speas admitted the reversal was tough to take.

“They made sure we knew it was not because of how we were playing, but that was a big adjustment to leave home and then come right back,” he said.

It was also a big soccer adjustment, but Speas, who has been called to a pair of U18 Men’s National Team camps in the meantime, says joining the Columbus Crew Academy team has made the transition much easier.

“Once I started playing with the Crew it was fine,” he said.

Eric Nichols, Speas’ coach with the Crew U18 Academy squad, is very positive about the player’s potential.

“He’s incredibly dangerous on the attacking end. He’s got great balance and technique and he’s good with both feet,” Nichols said. “He’s shifty and explosive. He can tear teams apart by finding the seams in defenses and just exploiting them. I haven’t seen him for that long, but I’ve seen him rip defenses apart on the dribble and with penetrating passes.

“He’s got the vision and the technique to match the vision,” Nichols continued. “You see some players who can see the pass but can’t match it with technique, or guys who have technique but don’t see the opportunity. He’s somewhat of a tweener in that he doesn’t fit any one position. He’s sort of not a forward and not a true center mid.”

Speas agreed that he likes to play stylish soccer, and said he chose Akron in part because of the team’s interest in playing the ball on the ground as opposed to the more exclusively direct style many college teams prefer.

He aspires to play at the highest level but said he is willing to be patient.

“I’m just trying to make it there sometime,” is about as specific as Speas gets on his pro dream. Spodnuck is willing to be a bit more explicit.

“He’s seen the direct result of hard work. We all try to live by faith, but in truth we all want to see it and then we’ll believe it,” he said. “Well, he’s put in not just time, but quality time. Now to see what he’s done and see his continued growth even during the time he was in Florida, you know that kind of improvement will just continue to happen when he goes to the next level.”

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