The New England Revolution bolstered their offense at Thursday’s MLS SuperDraft by taking two of the most dangerous attackers in the college game, Steve Neumann of Georgetown and Patrick Mullins of Maryland. Both players could make an immediate impact with the Revs since Juan Agudelo, a lynchpin in last year’s attack, has officially moved to Europe.
Neumann, 22, was a reliable attacker in college and never scored less than ten goals in a given year. In his capstone season, the Pennsylvania native collected ten goals and six assists en route to earning BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Year honors. Spending time as both a second forward and an attacking midfielder, Neumann feels comfortable in the offensive third.
“I consider myself a playmaking midfielder and forward and I think growing up I was always a center midfielder so I kind of developed the playmaking creative skills as a midfielder,” Neumann explained. Throughout my college years, I developed that consistency with scoring goals so I think those are good assets to have for the position you’re playing.”
Originally evaluated as the potential first choice in the draft, Patrick Mullins, 21, wasn’t called to the podium until the Revs used their 11th pick. Mullins amassed 47 goals and 25 assists during his four years in Maryland and earned back-to-back Herman Trophies. Mullins was unfazed by being drafted later than expected because he believes that the Revs are the right fit.
“Crazy things happen on draft day and you can’t control what happens,” Mullins reflected. “You just want to land in the best fit possible and I think I really did that by coming to New England and I’m just excited to get to work.”
Head coach Jay Heaps was happy with the draft day haul since Neumann and Mullins were on his radar for a number of years, granted for different reasons. Heaps commented that he likes Neumann’s versatility in the midfield. Meanwhile, Mullins is a natural goal scorer as confirmed by his college stats. Although Neumann and Mullins have different qualities, Heaps believes that they should both mesh with the Revs current style of play.
“I think both of them are smart players,” Heaps remarked. “Both of them are fluid players and both are going to have to work hard. I think that’s something we value.”
The jump from college to the professional realm is difficult, but having a coaching staff that believes in giving young players an opportunity to play should help ease the transition. Neumann and Mullins will join a Revolution squad that only lists one player over the age of 30.
“It’s definitely refreshing to see them give these young guys a chance,” Neumann noted. “It’s definitely a good feeling for me to go somewhere where the coaches believe in a young crew and their talent.”
The rookies will have little time to take in the wirlwind that was the 2014 SuperDraft as the Revs will open preseason camp on January 25th before making trips to Bradenton, FL and Tucson, AZ.
(Image courtesy of Revolutionsoccer.net)
