As the leader in the Homegrown movement across Major League Soccer, Real Salt Lake enters 2020 boasting 11 Homegrown stars on its roster for its 16th season in MLS.
From veteran leaders like Donny Toia, Justen Glad and Aaron Herrera to newcomers Chris Garcia and Milan Iloski, the RSL Homegrown roster covers an immense range of disciplines and experience on a team that is committed to youth development and building from within.
Glad – who signed an MLS contract as RSL’s youngest ever player at just 16 – enters his seventh professional season with the club and is widely considered the young veteran in the locker room. The 22-year-old defender has seen 9,632 minutes in his professional career with RSL and has been a regular call-up to the U.S. Men’s National Team’s U-23 and senior camps over the last two seasons. As his experience continues to grow, Glad now pushes himself to lead by example like the other veterans on the roster and continues to pave the path for prospective Homegrowns just like him.
“I feel like I have a different role to fill in 2020,” Glad explained. “I’d like to take a more vocal role in the locker room and speak my mind a bit more. Emulating what leaders like Kyle [Beckerman] and Nedum [Onuoha] do on a daily basis is also something I can do this season to lead by example.”
Herrera enjoyed a breakout season in 2019, leading RSL in minutes played while establishing himself among the league’s best right backs. He, too, is expected to play regularly with the U.S. U-23s as they gear up for Olympic qualifying later this month.
Entering their second and third seasons as RSL Homegrowns are players like Tate Schmitt and Corey Baird who have gotten the taste of the professional environment and have seen success through their first few years as professionals. Last season, Schmitt helped the Monarchs to the 2019 USL Championship title, playing a versatile role within the team while also earning minutes with RSL along the way. Similarly, goalkeeper David Ochoa and defender Erik Holt earned valuable experience at the USL level in 2019 and will look to break into the first team in 2020.
Entering his third season with RSL, Baird now aims to become a leader – much like Glad – inside the RSL locker room after his highly publicized MLS Rookie of the Year title he earned in 2018.
Newer faces in the RSL squad will also be looking to make an impact for the club in 2020 with Iloski and Garcia entering the fray. Iloski – standout at UCLA – led the PAC 12 conference in 2019 in goals scored with 17 and decided to make the move to the professional ranks instead of playing his senior season. Garcia – a dynamic forward at the RSL Academy – earned a spot on the 2020 roster after his impressive performances at the Academy level over past seasons as well as the 2020 preseason.
In addition to the list of Homegrowns that reside on RSL’s roster, RSL has seen nine players make the jump to the MLS level after first signing for Real Monarchs in the USL Championship. The pipeline between the RSL Academy and the first team hinges on the Monarchs and has seen success within the youth development model with the Monarchs having claimed the 2019 USL Championship title with a relatively young roster.
All of the club’s Homegrown stars bring their own unique assets to the team and over the past two MLS regular seasons, RSL has led the league in Homegrown minutes played – totaling an astounding 23,100 minutes – and looks poised to lead the league once again in 2020.
