2016 Boys Top 150 Player Rankings

by Caroline Yort

November 3, 2014

The IMG Academy Top 150 fall update for boys in the 2016 graduating class is out today, and as far as we are concerned, the top 25 is pretty set. One small change to the top ten moves Luca de la Torre from No. 6 to No. 5. De la Torre is seeing regular playing time (and starts) with Fulham’s U18s, and has made several appearances on the bench for their U21 squad, all at the age of 16.

We have given the rest of the rankings a once over as well, and a couple of players moved up significantly as a result. Indiana Fire defensive mid Jeremiah Gutjahr has been a solid starter for the 18s this season, helping his team to a 5-0-3 record and first place in the Mid-America Division. Gutjahr, who has given his verbal commitment to Indiana, impressed national team staff at last week’s U.S. U18 Men’s National Team Camp and climbs to No. 46 in our rankings. Pateadores midfielder Ronaldo Escudero, a former U17 Residency member who decided to spend last spring back in southern California, is in Florida again this fall with Hugo Perez’s group, and climbs from No. 58 to No. 45.

MORE: Club Scores | U17 MNT mid trains in UK | Perez discusses U18 MNT camp

Players new to the rankings this quarter come from coach recommendations, national team scouting, and our TDS Combines, and we highlight a few of those here. Anathasios Scheidt has started every match in the midfield for PDA’s 16s, was highly recommended by several sources for his play, and debuts at No. 57. Another midfielder getting a lot of attention this fall is Oakwood’s Michael Boakye. Boakye joined Oakwood’s Development Academy last season, but spent much of the year injured. Now healthy, he is getting noticed by multiple top college programs, was one of the standouts at the U18 MNT camp, and debuts at No. 62. Chivas USA winger Ivan Gutierrez, at No. 80, is eligible to play for both the United States and Mexico but opted to play with Mexico’s U17s at the Copa de Naciones in August where he performed well. Finally, BSC CT goalkeeper Noah Lawrence, at No. 145, has started all 10 matches for BSC CT’s 16s who currently sit second in the Northeast Division standings. Lawrence was also a standout at the TDS Tri-State Combine, earning a Best XI nod at the event.

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 St. Louis Scott Gallagher right back Aidan Dunne, Bethesda Olney midfielder Max Graham, Shattuck St. Mary’s midfielder Robbie Dee, FC Wisconsin Nationals midfielder Zak Wegner, BW Gottschee forward Matthew Swain, Lonestar striker Eli Petrik, and many more.

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 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.

Related Topics: IMG Academy Top 150