BALTIMORE – Jack Harrison made some history on Thursday at the 2016 MLS SuperDraft.
Not only was he the first player from Wake Forest to be taken No. 1 overall in a draft, but he was also the first player in MLS history to be selected with the top pick and then traded on the same day.
The Chicago Fire held on to their top selection and surprised many observers by taking Harrison, but they later turned around and traded the Generation adidas player to New York City FC in exchange for allocation money and the No. 4 pick in the draft, which they used to select Stanford defender Brandon Vincent, who was recently called into Jurgen Klinsmann's US national team camp.
It was the first of eight trades on the day and the next one wasn't too far behind. The Philadelphia Union moved up to acquire the No. 2 overall pick from the Colorado Rapids and selected Georgetown defender Josh Yaro – like Harrison, a Generation adidas signee – who was projected by many observers as a No. 1 pick.
The Union then kept the Georgetown theme running with their natural No. 3 selection in the draft, selecting Yaro's running mate in the Hoyas backline, right back Keegan Rosenberry. Just a few picks later the Union also claimed Creighton University midfielder and Generation adidas signee Fabian Herbers with the No. 6 overall pick.
- DRAFT TRACKER: Follow all the picks in the 2016 MLS SuperDraft right here
Generation adidas players continued to come off the board early and all seven members of the 2016 class were claimed in the first 11 picks of the SuperDraft: Jamaican international Omar Holness went No. 5 to Real Salt Lake, Akron University midfielder Richie Laryea was taken No. 7 by Orlando City SC, Clemson goalkeeper Andrew Tarbell went No. 8 to the San Jose Earthquakes and D.C. United traded up to take Syracuse defender Julian Buescher at No. 11.
A total of 29 colleges and universities were represented in the 41 overall selections in Round 1 and 2. There were also players selected from 10 different countries: USA, Canada, Jamaica, England, Germany, Japan, Brazil, Guatemala, Costa Rica and Belize.
Rounds 3 and 4 of the SuperDraft will take place on Tuesday afternoon via conference call.
Among the other notable trades on the day, the Seattle Sounders acquired Chicago's Trinidadian left back Joevin Jones and the Colorado Rapids took over the No. 1 spot in the Allocation Rankings with reports claiming that the clubs is targeting US national team midfielder Alejandro Bedoya.
TEAM-BY-TEAM SELECTIONS:
Chicago Fire (4): Jack Harrison (1), Brandon Vincent (4), Jonathan Campbell (12), Alex Morrell (22)
Colorado Rapids (2): Emmanuel Appiah (15), Dennis Castillo (37)
Columbus Crew SC (4): Chase Minter (21); Kyle Parker (31), Rodrigo Saravia (19), Marshall Hollingsworth (41)
D.C. United (2): Julian Buescher (11), Paul Clowes (32)
FC Dallas (2): Ryan Herman (17), Timo Pitter (33)
Houston Dynamo (1): Ivan Magalhaes (26)
Sporting Kansas City (0)
LA Galaxy (0)
Montreal Impact (4): Kyle Fisher (14), Michael Salazar (24), Eric Verso (34), Keegan Smith (39)
New England Revolution (2): Jordan McCrary (10), Michael Gamble (30)
New York Red Bulls (2): Justin Bilyeu (18), Zach Carroll (38)
New York City FC (0)
Orlando City SC (2): Richmond Laryea (7), Hadji Barry (13)
Philadelphia Union (4): Joshua Yaro (2), Keegan Rosenberry (3), Fabian Herbers (6), Taylor Washington (23)
Portland Timbers (2): Ben Polk (20), Neco Brett (40)
Real Salt Lake (2): Omar Holness (5), Max Lachowecki (25)
San Jose Earthquakes (2): Andrew Tarbell (8), Patrick Hodan (28)
Seattle Sounders FC (2): Tony Alfaro (27), Zach Mathers (35)
Toronto FC (1): Tsubasa Endoh (9)
Vancouver Whitecaps FC (3): Cole Seiler (16), Christopher Hellmann (29), Thomas Sanner (36)
COLLEGE-BY-COLLEGE SELECTIONS:
Univ. of Akron (1): Richmond Laryea
Univ. of California, Riverside (1): Michael Salazar
California Polytechnic State Univ. (1): Chase Minter
California State Univ., Dominguez Hills (1): Tony Alfaro
Univ. of Central Florida (1): Hadji Barry
Univ. of Cincinnati (1): Emmanuel Appiah
Clemson Univ. (3): Paul Clowes, Kyle Fisher, Andrew Tarbell
Creighton Univ. (2): Fabian Herbers, Timo Pitter
Duke Univ. (1): Zach Mathers
Florida Gulf Coast Univ. (1): Rodrigo Saravia
George Mason Univ. (1): Taylor Washington
Georgetown Univ. (3): Keegan Rosenberry, Cole Seiler, Joshua Yaro
Lynn Univ. (1): Christopher Hellmann
Univ. of Maryland (2): Tsubasa Endoh, Ivan Magalhaes
Michigan State Univ. (1): Zach Carroll
Univ. of North Carolina (3): Jonathan Campbell, Omar Holness, Jordan McCrary
Univ. of North Carolina at Charlotte (1): Kyle Parker
Univ. of North Florida (1): Alex Morrell
Univ. of Notre Dame (2): Patrick Hodan, Max Lachowecki
Princeton Univ. (1): Thomas Sanner
Robert Morris Univ. (1): Neco Brett
Univ. of San Diego (1): Keegan Smith
Southern Illinois Univ. Edwardsville (1): Justin Bilyeu
Stanford Univ. (2): Eric Verso, Brandon Vincent
Syracuse Univ. (2): Julian Buescher, Ben Polk
Virginia Commonwealth Univ. (1): Dennis Castillo
Wake Forest Univ. (2): Michael Gamble, Jack Harrison
Univ. of Washington (1): Ryan Herman
Wheaton College (1): Marshall Hollingsworth
