Atlanta United Academy alumni 2024 college season recap

How did Atlanta United’s growing pool of college prospects fare in 2024, and who could be on the road back to Atlanta?

Thank you for joining me for another NCAA Men’s College Soccer season recap, taking a deep dive into some of the academy’s graduates and former prospects as they pursue their passion for soccer at the collegiate level. Over the last five years at DirtySouthSoccer before the transition to Scarves and Spikes, we explored the remarkable oddity of American men’s college soccer and the MLS SuperDraft. Every year, we hear about the impending demise and irrelevance of these uniquely American aspects of the beautiful game, and yet America’s best U-23 endures and continues to produce quality players who are making a difference in the professional game.

Four trends to keep an eye on are (1) the influx of an international player pool who developed at top academies in Europe, Africa, and South America, (2) the restructuring of SuperDraft eligibility opening the pathway to the pros to younger players outside of the MLS system, while also protecting them and the drafting club’s investment in them through a 2-year development window in which they can return to school, (3) a renewed push by the top conferences in college soccer to implement a year-round competition calendar featuring a Spring season, and (4) the growth of player development by MLS and non-MLS academies in the US leading to a larger pool of players than MLS clubs can or are willing to sign to Homegrown or MLS NEXT Pro contracts. All of that is to say that more and more quality players are slipping through the cracks, so if a club is willing to invest in scouting domestic college, youth, and semi-pro leagues and fully using their MLS NEXT Pro team, they can build a strong talent acquisition and development pipeline to compliment their academy.

With that TedTalk out of the way, let’s dive into our season review.

Top 6 Players

If you are a scout looking for consistency and continued growth across all levels of development ahead of the SuperDraft, Will Reilly is your guy. While I hope that Reilly will not be anywhere near the draft this year, he could act as a free first-round pick for Atlanta United. In our season preview back in August, we talked about Reilly’s big leaps forward at Stanford since switching to the box-to-box role in partnership with the featured #10 Zach Bohane. Now, as the undisputed senior captain of this team, Reilly continued to show his dependability and quiet determination. He is a very smart player with a good awareness of what is happening around him on the field and has improved in his ability to track runners through the midfield in transition. He continues to improve his 1-v-1 ability on the ball and line-splitting passes. Something he has clearly been working on is his placement of corner kicks and free kicks. He routinely wracks up assists from the corner flag. After about 6 years of listing him in our “Next Homegrown” articles, it may finally be time to welcome Will Reilly to Atlanta United as a professional soccer player.

Another player who could potentially return to Atlanta as a professional this winter is Northwestern University’s defensive leader, Nigel Prince. In our season preview of defenders and goalkeepers, we discussed how the highly athletic Prince could be a welcomed addition to Atlanta’s young defensive depth chart. As a 3-year start for Northwester, Prince developed from a raw defender who relied heavily on his athleticism into an overall team leader and composed defender who takes an active role in organizing his teammates and keeping things tidy at the back. On an otherwise lackluster team, Northwestern’s stingy defense kept them in a lot of matches holding opponents to 1.12 goals per match. It will be interesting to see where Prince ends up in the year-end rankings and awards in his third season after being named to the 2023 First Team All-Big Ten and 2023 Big Ten All-Tournament Team. He might not need his Senior season to be ready to start his professional career.

After winning a College Championship in his freshman season, Remi Okunlola hoped to continue his success with the Clemson Tigers in 2024. His versatility was on full display this season, lining up in at least three positions across 21 matches for the 3rd ranked attacking team in the country. Okunlola played as a right centerback in a back-3, a right-back in a 4-man backline, and a right forward. Starting 20 of the 21 matches he played this season (1631 minutes), Okunlola scored two goals and added four assists despite playing the majority of his minutes at centerback. The right-back position looks far from settled in Atlanta so a strong 2025 could bring an invitation to return as a Homegrown Player.

One of the most incisive passers in this group is the University of Virginia’s 5-year player, Daniel Mangarov. When he’s feeling the game and in rhythm with his attacking partners, Mangarov can be one of the most fun players to watch in college soccer. Positioned primarily on the wing this season, he was highly effective in unlocking defenses and creating opportunities for his teammates. Across 21 starts, Mangarov had 10 goal contributions, including two goals and eight assists. This was also his highest volume of minutes played across his 5 seasons of college soccer with 1711 total minutes of play. After going undrafted last year, Mangarov could be a strong candidate to sign outright to an MLS NEXT Pro deal with a chance to earn a promotion. Atlanta loves converting dynamic college attackers into wingbacks and Mangarov could be an ideal candidate for that ongoing experiment.

Mangarov’s teammate, Brendan Lambe, had a quieter but equally impressive season with UVA. Lambe is the epitome of a metronomic holding midfielder. He is incredibly calm with the ball and receiving it in dangerous spaces. He is the kind of player who holds everything together, keeps the ball moving in possession, quietly does a lot of the dirty work, and is the kind of player who you notice more in his absence than in his presence on the field. As just a Sophomore, he started 20 matches (1,563 minutes) and would have started all 21 if an injury hadn’t shortened his playoff run.

The breakout player of the year from this group has to be Dayton’s 5th-year left-back Geni Kanyane. The South African Youth International had his best season so far with Dayton after consistently developing each summer with 4th division sides like the Dayton Dutch Lions. He is a composed and experienced traditional fullback who likes to get forward and fight in the opponent’s half of the field. His stout defense and relentless work up the left flank helped the #5 ranked Dayton Flyers make their deepest run in the playoffs in a long time and become the second-highest-scoring team in college soccer with a 2.70 goals-per-match average. For his part, Kanyane added 6 goal contributions between two goals and four assists across 1738 minutes in 20 starts. Scouts will notice his movement off of the ball and ability to combine with his flank partners to progress play and combine well with motivated attackers in the final third. He has a professional future, but it remains to be seen whether that will be in the United States or abroad.

Seniors & Grad Students

Other than Reilly, Mangarov, and Kanyane, there isn’t a lot left in this age group for MLS scouts. The two players with the greatest chance of being drafted out of this group are Georgia State’s Josh Hangi and Northwestern’s Brandon Clagette.

Hangi reset his college career after leaving a bad situation at Akron and found a good home at Georgia State. After going undrafted last year, he returned for a final season where he held opponents to 20 goals across 1068 minutes (1.68 goals per 90). These stats are a bit skewed by a horrific late-season blowout to Kentucky, where Georgia State gave up seven goals on 21 shots. Putting that outlier aside, 13 goals in 978 minutes for a 1.2 goals per 90 average is a bit more palatable. He could be a third-round pick in the draft or an undrafted signing for an MLS NEXT Pro or USL side.

Brandon Clagette also had a bit of a reset early in his college career, moving from Pitt to Northwestern, where he found a stable home to consistently play and become a leader. Clagette mostly plays on the flank as a wingback or fullback. Northwestern prioritizes defense, so he did not get a lot of opportunities to show the attacking side of his game. He went undrafted last year and will likely be available in the third round this year.

In Division II, Alexis Iturria had a strong final season for Clayton State. Fully entrenched as the team’s #10, Itturria scored six goals and added fourteen assists across 1744 minutes (21 starts). It is hard to say whether MLS clubs will consider a Division II player who never made the jump to a higher-level program. While the SuperDraft may not be part of his story, Itturria could take the longer and harder path to the pros through the Southeast’s growing network of lower-division leagues. Several local standouts from Georgia Gwinnett College have made it to the 2s so there is precedent there.

Juniors

Justin McLean is a very interesting player. He doesn’t play a ton of minutes, but he has started nearly every match for the past three seasons for Georgia State. He is exactly what you want a college attacking midfielder to be, consistently harassing opposing defenders and making an overall nuisance of himself in the opponent’s half. After coming up short of 1000 minutes in each of his first two seasons but still adding seven goals and ten assists across those approximately 1900 minutes, I was hoping for a breakout year. In 2024, McLean started twelve of fifteen matches for 968 minutes, scoring five and adding one assist. While those are still good numbers, it isn’t enough to elevate him and his team to the college playoffs or the SuperDraft conversation.

Cristiano Bruletti is one of those guys who is deeply important for his team but will probably not get much attention in draft coverage or highlights. He started all seventeen matches in the Michigan State Spartans midfield this season, scoring his first goal as MSU against powerhouse rival Indiana. I watched him play against former Atlanta United (and University of South Carolina) teammates at the University of Michigan in late October. Like Reilly, Bruletti calmly moves around the middle of the field, covering a ton of ground with seemingly little effort. He is always right where he needs to be and creates opportunities for teammates to shine. If he can have a big season at MSU in 2025, he could hear his name called in the SuperDraft.

Grant Howard had a big challenge to overcome this season. After playing as the underdog for two years at Virginia Tech, he transferred to in-state rivals, the University of Virginia, to try to take the next big step in his development. Admittedly, this was a quieter year for him, taking until October to make his debut, but he immediately followed that up with seven starts, of which UVA won 6 while giving up just five goals. Atlanta United 2 fans may remember Howard during his strong half-season as a hybrid right-back/centerback. He still has that versatility and moves around the field as ended, but his strongest position seems to be as an undersized wide centerback in a back-3. Next season will be a pivotal year for him as he pursues a career in professional soccer. There is a lot to like, but he needs to put it all together in one comprehensive body of work.

Sophomores

I’ll go ahead and say it. I don’t understand why no one has offered Andrew De Gannes a professional contract yet. Before leaving for Oregon State, De Gannes was a reliable backup for Caleb Wiley with the 2s and was the eventual successor. As a freshman, he started seventeen of twenty matches at left-back for one of the best teams in the country and still went undrafted. Conference realignment and the collapse of the Pac-12 hurt Oregon State this season, decreasing the quality of competition and the overall draw of talent to the program. Despite all of that, De Gannes put together a solid second season, starting all 18 matches for over 1,500 minutes, and adding three assists. I hope he gets his chance to play at the next level because he is already in the upper half of left-backs that could be playing in MLS NEXT PRO.

Joel Gonzalez may not have put up the same numbers as his freshman campaign but he still had a good season. Starting eight out of twelve matches, Gonzalez played just 739 minutes with an assist. There is still a lot to like about Gonzalez, so hopefully another summer in the fourth division will put behind him whatever injury or issues kept him off of the field this season.

Italo Jenkins moved to Omaha from Oregon State this offseason looking for new opportunities. As a competitive mid-major program in the Summit League, Omaha is a perennial contender to go to the College Playoffs. The only problem is that this year, the league was led by Denver’s generational talent Cole Bassett. That issue aside, this was a good year for Jenkins. He got his first seven starts across seventeen appearances, playing 737 minutes. The biggest issue for Jenkins throughout his development has been his ability to consistently earn playing time. He has a massive frame, moves decently well, and could be a commanding center forward like Daryl Dike if he can just put it together. If Jenkins can find stability in Omaha, and can make earn outright the starting spot for the next two seasons, he could become the most coveted college center forward since Duncan McGuire.

It must be challenging waiting your turn behind upperclassmen but having to be mentally and physically ready for your moment. For Clemson left-back Mathieu Brick, that moment came in penalty kicks in his second season against ACC rivals Wake Forest for the ACC Championship. Coming in cold, without playing a single minute in a month, Brick stood over the ball on the penalty spot. He was the sixth penalty take for Clemson against Wake Forest’s veteran Trace Alphin. Calmly and professionally, Brick smashed his penalty kick home to keep Clemson alive. That took an immense amount of trust for his coach to put him in that position, so hopefully that leads to a breakout season in 2025. Brick is too good of a player to be riding the bench of a college program.

Freshmen

Furman’s Freshman duo of Malachi Grant and Luke Hutzell hit the ground running this season. Grant played most of his academy career for Atlanta United before leaving for Barcelona’s Arizona academy. This Fall, he reconnected with former teammate Luke Hutzell to lead an exciting run in the Southern Conference that bodes well for the future of the program. After finishing fourth in the Southern Conference regular season, Hutzell and Grant took Furman on a dream run, winning the Southern Conference Tournament and upsetting the University of North Carolina in penalties to make it to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Their season ended in a convincing loss to Marshall, but they have plenty to be proud of and to build on for next year. And speaking of next year, Furman will add more Atlanta United talent with defender Braden Dunham committed for the 2025 season.

After impressing Atlanta United 2s fans in his early-season appearances last Spring, Miles Hadley stepped immediately into a starting role at Army. There’s a lot to like about Hadley as an option at centerback and fullback, with a nice mix of athleticism, flair, and intensity. In his freshman season, Hadley accrued 1264 minutes of playing time across 16 starts. It is rare for players to enter the professional game from one of the military academies. Tristan Trager is one of those rare few. If Hadley continues showcasing the skills and relentless energy he showed for Atlanta United 2 last Spring, he could join that small list of players who pursued a professional playing career before their national service.

Another player who used his 2s experience to have a big freshman season was Pavel Romero. While Romero did not get many starts for Georgia State in his first season (8), he contributed early and often with 16 total appearances for 754 minutes. This is a great start to his young career and should position him well to earn a starting spot in his second season.

It isn’t easy finding minutes as a freshman, especially as a goalkeeper. Atlanta’s fantastic group of freshman goalkeepers had quiet years behind entrenched incumbents, with Owen Barnett blocked by Wake Forest’s Trace Alphin, Kyle Jansen waiting patiently in Syracuse, and Nash Skoglund in an open competition at South Carolina. With Alphin likely headed to the professional ranks in 2025, Barnett has a golden opportunity to win the coveted starting spot for Wake Forest.

That wraps up this year’s Atlanta United Academy Alumni season review. Let us know who you are excited about, who you think could return as a Homegrown Player, and which college teams you might add to your watchlist next Fall.