Please note: The Summer 2013 update is the last IMG Academy 150 update that will be free. Starting with the Fall 2013 update, the IMG Academy 150 will only be accessible with a Premier Membership. Click here to be come a Premier Member. 

The IMG Academy 150 Rankings summer update for boys in the 2015 graduating class is out today, and there are two new players in the top 25. Chicago Magic midfielder Abuchi Obinwa and De Anza Force defender David Chavez rise to #19 and #22, respectively with this update. Obinwa is a full-time starter for the Magic, and has had multiple call-ups to U.S. U15 and U17 camps. Chavez was part of the U.S. U17 Men’s National Team that won the International Tournament in Japan, and both Obinwa and Chavez were named to the Development Academy Conference Starting XI for the 2012-13 season.

A new addition to the IMG Academy 150 this quarter is New York Red Bulls midfielder/forward Derrick Etienne, at #65. Etienne was the leading scorer for the Red Bulls U16 Development Academy team this season (17 goals), and is one of the club’s top pro prospects. He was also the top player at the TDS Combines held in New York in June.

In addition to the IMG Academy 150 update, we have made key changes to the regional rankings which will be unveiled throughout the week. Some of the additions include Albertson SC defender/midfielder David Manzanares, Real So Cal midfielder Collin Hyatt, Charlotte Soccer Academy goalkeeper Dylan Biggerstaff, and Texans SC Houston midfielder Jelani Mark.

As far as how we arrive at the rankings, it’s no simple task.

We keep a national database of players as the starting point for our rankings (if you’re not in it, enter a profile here).

We track an extensive list of selections to national team camps and other honors including USSF Development Academy (Boys), ECNL (Girls), and U.S. Youth Soccer National League event and season awards, plus U.S. Soccer Training Centers, ODP, id2 and other player identification programs.

From there we look at additional signs of top player performance in a club environment, with the help of an extensive network of observers around the country. The priority here is for club, college, national team and other select team coaches on the ground, but especially when we can gain corroborating opinions. The more layers of opinions we can gain accumulate the better, as our role is primarily to aggregate those viewpoints, rather than making our own determination as to a player’s quality.

As a matter of policy, we never share which coaches said what about whom so that coaches will be freer to share their assessments. Another policy is that parents’ opinions about their own children are not considered, but you are welcome to provide feedback about honors and other details that may be of help to us in keeping their profiles up to date as well as our challenge of sifting through thousands of players nationwide. That kind of data can be helpful, but the: “How can you not have rated my kid? He is awesome” communique, while compelling, will be consigned to the virtual trash.

In the end, there’s always some level of subjectivity about players, because after all, how good someone is relative to someone else is largely a matter of opinion, but we do our best to make our rankings as educated an opinion as can be.

The rankings will be updated every quarter. Keeping current rankings for 8 classes of 150 players each is no small task, and it is counterintuitive to think the rankings would change daily or weekly. We will announce each update.

So that’s it. You can see the newest version of the rankings here.