"Two years ago, Joe Scally, Gio Reyna, Malik Tillman, Ricardo Pepi, and Yunus Musah all made the list. Then, time passed, they all got older, and nobody rose up to take their places. With those guys in the mix, my top tier of this 21-and-under ranking was labeled "USMNT stars -- and potentially European stars, too." By last year, that tier was empty."
"Tier 1: USMNT stars -- and potentially European stars, too 1. Noahkai Banks, 19, centerback, Augsburg Most prospect evaluators are concerned with tools -- what skills do you have that project to the next level? I'm not going to tell you that "tools" aren't important, but rather that I think actually identifying "tools" is quite difficult at the youth level, where the competition and the athleticism is so different than"
The U.S. 21-and-under player pool has lacked top-tier prospects in recent years, leaving previously populated top tiers empty by last year. Two years earlier, Joe Scally, Gio Reyna, Malik Tillman, Ricardo Pepi, and Yunus Musah were among top prospects. The current re-rank seeks to identify emergent talent after the U.S. men's national team ceased January camps. Noahkai Banks, 19, is listed at the top as a centerback with Augsburg. Evaluators emphasize "tools," but identifying those tools at youth level is difficult because competition and athleticism differ greatly.
Read at ESPN.com
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