In this interview, a Columbus‑based Ohio State men’s soccer player explains how he was recruited to the university, emphasizing the importance of playing in elite youth clubs rather than high‑school soccer. He outlines his collegiate progression—limited minutes as a freshman and sophomore, then a breakout junior season that helped the team reach the College Cup Final Four. He details his youth career: starting with Crew Juniors, advancing to the Crew Academy (part of MLS NEXT), and later playing for OP, a club known for producing high‑level college talent. The conversation underscores that club affiliation and exposure in MLS NEXT/ECNL are the primary pathways for local players to attract Division I interest.
How can you get recruited to Ohio State? This player right now who I'm going to introduce you to got recruited to Ohio State and he kind of goes into detail of how that was done, particularly if you are local and you're playing ECNL or MLS NEXT.
Talk about your college career so far here at Ohio State. So coming in as a freshman, we had a pretty big class, so freshman year was kind of battling, um, with positions. And then as a sophomore, I was kind of still building on getting more minutes.
And then sophomore year, he also did not play all the time. He did play in some games. He's a very good soccer player, and he didn't start that often. But then in his junior year—
my junior is when I really took off, started to start more games, started to play more, and our team had a lot of success as well, being able to make the College Cup and unfortunately losing in the Final Four. But we had a very good year this year and hoping to build more for next year as well. What teams did you play for growing up in this area, and how did that help you get recruited? I'm a Columbus kid. This is the most important part as well. So growing up, I was always kind of in the Crew building, so I was in Crew Juniors, and then I was able to play for the Crew Academy for quite years. And then after that, I was able to play for OP, and we had a pretty special team there. So I've always kind of—
so when he says a special team, that particular team had most of their kids play college soccer at a very high level. And if you don't recognize that he was playing within the Crew system, which is MLS Next, and then went to a club that has a huge reputation for producing talent, particularly in his year, then that's how you do go to these teams. Your club obviously matters. And you see how he did not mention high school? High school did not matter.
