List of Akron Zips in the MLS Draft

The University of Akron men's soccer team. has had 23 players drafted in Major League Soccer (MLS) as well as seven non-drafted players (most due to homegrown rights). Youth New Zealand international Cameron Knowles was the first 'Zip' to be drafted and play in MLS when he appeared for the Real Salt Lake against the Los Angeles Galaxy on June 22, 2007. In the 2011 draft, the University of Akron made MLS history when five players were selected in the first round, including picks number two through four (as well as pick seven and eight).[1]

Steve Zakuani playing for the Seattle Sounders FC in 2010

Steve Zakuani made an appearance on the DR Congo National Team, and Teal Bunbury, DeAndre Yedlin, Wil Trapp, Perry Kitchen, and Darlington Nagbe have all featured for the United States Men's National Team. Kofi Sarkodie and Zarek Valentin have played for the United States U-20's while Jonathan Lewis, Blair Gavin and Anthony Ampaipitakwong have played for the U-20's and U-17's. Cameron Knowles was part of the New Zealand U-17 squad during the 1999 FIFA U-17 World Championship

Player selection

MLS draft

Year	Round	Pick	Overall	Player	Position	MLS team	Current team	Notes
2005	4	1	37	Cameron Knowles	Defender	Real Salt Lake	Retired
2007	3	7	33	Siniša Ubiparipović	Midfielder	New York Red Bulls	Retired
2009	1	1	1	Steve Zakuani	Midfielder	Seattle Sounders FC	Retired	[2]
2010	1	4	4	Teal Bunbury	Forward	Sporting Kansas City	New England Revolution
2010	1	10	10	Blair Gavin	Midfielder	Chivas USA	Retired
2010	3	16	47	Ben Zemanski	Midfielder	Chivas USA	Retired	[3]
2011	1	2	2	Darlington Nagbe	Midfielder	Portland Timbers	Columbus Crew SC	[4]
2011	1	3	3	Perry Kitchen	Midfielder	D.C. United	LA Galaxy	[5]
2011	1	4	4	Zarek Valentin	Defender	Chivas USA	Houston Dynamo
2011	1	7	7	Kofi Sarkodie	Defender	Houston Dynamo	Unattached	[6]
2011	1	8	8	Michael Nanchoff	Midfielder	Vancouver Whitecaps FC	Retired	[7]
2011	2	13	31	Chris Korb	Defender	D.C. United	Unattached	[5]
2011	2	15	33	Anthony Ampaipitakwong	Midfielder	San Jose Earthquakes	Bangkok United
2012	1	2	2	Darren Mattocks	Forward	Vancouver Whitecaps FC	FC Cincinnati	[8]
2013	3	3	41	David Meves	Goalkeeper	Portland Timbers	Unattached
2014	2	8	27	Robbie Derschang	Defender	Philadelphia Union	Unattached
2014	2	15	34	Eric Stevenson	Midfielder	New York Red Bulls	Retired
2014	3	14	52	Aodhan Quinn	Midfielder	Philadelphia Union	Orange County SC
2014	4	19	76	Reinaldo Brenes	Forward	Sporting Kansas City	Unattached
2015	1	12	12	Saad Abdul-Salaam	Defender	Sporting Kansas City	FC Cincinnati
2016	1	7	7	Richie Laryea	Midfielder	Orlando City SC	Toronto FC
2017	1	3	3	Jonathan Lewis	Forward	New York City FC	Colorado Rapids
2017	2	14	36	Danilo Radjen	Defender	Houston Dynamo	Unattached
2018	1	1	1	João Moutinho	Defender	Los Angeles FC	Orlando City SC
2018	2	8	31	Niko De Vera	Defender	New York Red Bulls	Portland Timbers 2
2018	3	2	48	Nate Shultz	Defender	LA Galaxy	Unattached
2018	3	18	31	Stuart Holthusen	Forward	Portland Timbers	Unattached
2019	2	13	37	Ben Lundt	Goalkeeper	FC Cincinnati	FC Cincinnati
2019	2	19	43	Abdi Mohamed	Defender	New York City FC	Unattached

Non-draft MLS players

Date	Player	Position	MLS team	Current team	Notes
October 21, 2011	Evan Bush	Goalkeeper	Montreal Impact	Montreal Impact	Signed for 2012 season[9]
December 13, 2012	Wil Trapp	Midfielder	Columbus Crew SC	Columbus Crew SC	Signed as Home Grown Player[10]
January 10, 2013	Chad Barson	Defender	Columbus Crew SC	Retired	Signed as Home Grown Player[11]
January 11, 2013	DeAndre Yedlin	Defender	Seattle Sounders FC	Newcastle United F.C.	Signed as Home Grown Player[12]
January 18, 2013	Dillon Serna	Midfielder	Colorado Rapids	Colorado Rapids	Signed as Home Grown Player[13]
January 21, 2013	Scott Caldwell	Midfielder	New England Revolution	New England Revolution	Signed as Home Grown Player[14]
February 8, 2017	Adam Najem	Midfielder	New York Red Bulls	Memphis 901 FC	Traded Red Bulls Homegrown Rights to Philadelphia Union

References

1. Travis Clark (2011-01-13). "Akron sets new record for SuperDraft success". Mlssoccer.com. Retrieved 2012-09-14.
2. Gaschk, Matt. "Gaschk on the SuperDraft". Soundersfc.com. Retrieved 2012-09-14.
3. Portland Timbers (2013-02-13). "Timbers acquire midfielder Ben Zemanski from Chivas USA in exchange for allocation money, right of first refusal to Jonathan Bornstein". Portlandtimbers.com. Archived from the original on 2013-02-15. Retrieved 2013-02-13.
4. Portland Timbers (2011-01-12). "Timbers Select Nagbe, Taylor in 2011 MLS SuperDraft". Portlandtimbers.com. Archived from the original on 2011-01-17. Retrieved 2012-09-14.
5. D.C. United selects Kitchen and Korb in 2011 MLS SuperDraft
6. Jonathan Yardley (2011-01-13). "Sarkodie part of Akron's big day". Houstondynamo.com. Retrieved 2012-09-14.
7. "Timbers sign midfielder Michael Nanchoff". Portlandtimbers.com. 2013-02-21. Archived from the original on 2013-03-28. Retrieved 2013-03-15.
8. "Whitecaps FC select Darren Mattocks in the 2012 MLS SuperDraft". Whitecapsfc.com. 2012-01-12. Retrieved 2012-09-14.
9. Impact Media (2011-10-20). "Impact signs goalkeeper Evan Bush for 2012 MLS roster". Impactmontreal.com. Retrieved 2012-09-14.
10. Impact Media (2012-12-13). "Crew Signs Wil Trapp to Homegrown Contract". TheCrew.com. Retrieved 2012-12-14.
11. Crew Communications (2012-01-10). "Crew signs Defender Chad Barson to Homegrown contract". Thecrew.com. Retrieved 2012-02-18.
12. Sounders FC Public Relations (2013-01-11). "Sounders FC Signs First Homegrown Player". SoundersFC.com. Retrieved 2013-02-18.
13. Denver Post (2013-01-18). "Rapids sign homegrown player Dillon Serna". denverpost.com. Retrieved 2013-01-22.
14. New England Revolution (2013-12-21). "Revs sign Scott Caldwell as Homegrown player". RevolutionSoccer.net. Retrieved 2013-03-08.