Signing Day may not be the final word in setting college soccer recruiting classes, but it’s close. And it provides a glimpse at a handful of incoming freshmen with designs of making an impact from the start. This group of eight talented freshmen has the chance to do just that.
More: Top eight impact 2014 women's freshmen | Top men's 2014 recruiting classes | IMG Academy 150 destinations
This is a list of eight men’s college freshmen in 2014 with the ability to make an immediate impact on their respective programs. From defenders to forwards, each of these players has the talent to navigate the choppy waters of talent-clogged depth charts and come out the other side with meaning minutes in hand.
F Ahinga Selemani, Michigan
Selemani represented one of the few surprises around deadline day when he switched his commitment first from Michigan State to UC Santa Barbara last year and then to Michigan on the eve of signing day. It was an enormous coup that will rattle the conference to its foundations. Now that Selemani is finally Ann Arbor-bound, the forward with no small amount of technical ability gets a chance to sink his teeth into the Big 10 with a program seemingly on the ascendency. As long as Michigan can build the midfield scaffolding around him, the Wolverines just got a massive weapon.
M Christopher Lema/Arun Basuljevic, Georgetown
The pipeline from the New York Red Bulls academy to the capital is alive and well. Lema and Basuljevic form arguably the best U18 central midfield in the Development Academy, with the two working off each other with dazzling results. It’s rare that two players of this caliber from the same academy commit to the same program, but it’s even rarer that they come from the same place from the same locale on the field. Georgetown hit the lottery here.
