Before the 2017 MLS SuperDraft gets rolling when Minnesota United FC makes the first selection on Friday, Real Salt Lake may have already walked away with one of the draft’s biggest coups. Although RSL doesn’t pick until 13th in the first round, the club has already locked up what many think is a top-three level pick in signing RSL Academy product Jose Hernandez.
“We consider him our No. 1 draft pick and the 13th pick is going to be fantastic for us because it’s a complement to a guy that we already believe is one of the top guys in college soccer,” RSL General Manager Craig Waibel said. “If he’s in the draft, he’s a top five pick. With the knowledge of our development of him and his love of the club, it’s nice to have one of the top picks in college soccer on our roster.”
A playmaking midfielder that makes up for his lack of size – he’s just 5-foot-6 and 140 pounds – with a deft control of the ball and keen eye for scoring options all over the field, Hernandez earned plaudits galore in the last three seasons he has played.
In his final season with RSL’s Academy in 2015, he led one of the best Academy teams in the USSDA’s recent history and was named the USSDA Western Conference Player of the Year after netting 25 goals and helping contribute the setup play to aid teammates Damian German and Brooks Lennon to score 32 goals apiece.
He followed that up with an extremely impressive freshman campaign at UCLA, earning Pac-12 Freshman of the Year honors with 11 goals and four assists in 21 matches. If that wasn’t enough to show his readiness for the professional level, he earned Pac-12 Co-Player of the Year honors as a sophomore in 2016 with five goals and six assists in 20 matches for the Bruins.
“He’s got a lot of qualities that you don’t see typically in American-raised players,” Waibel said. “What’s really unique about Jose is his first touch. He just has an innate understanding of pressure on the field and his first touch generally takes him away from that pressure.”
His play with college and academy teams isn’t the only barometer that RSL can use to gauge his progress though. Over the course of the last few years, he has made a smattering of appearances for RSL in the reserve league and with the Monarchs as a guest player and, according to Head Scout Andy Williams, hasn’t looked out of place among professionals, even as a 16-year-old.
“Ever since he’s been playing with us – with the reserves or when he was with the Academy – sometimes he’s the best player on the team and that was three or four years ago before he went to UCLA,” Williams said. “A lot of people judge his size, but he’s proven that size doesn’t matter. He can fit in pretty well with the talent we have and he’ll get a lot of games with the Monarchs and he’ll be able to prove he’s a special talent.”
Real Salt Lake is slated to pick 13th overall in the first round of Friday’s draft.
