Jeremy Ebobisse, SuperDraft picked up
Jeremy Ebobisse, a pre-signed underclassman who went to the Portland Timbers as the No. 4 pick in Friday’s SuperDraft. Fresh off a US U-20 training camp in Florida last week, the Duke product arrived late at this year’s MLS Combine.
He scored the game-winner for Team Copa in his only Combine match, when his side came out winning 2-1 on Thursday afternoon vs. Team Control.
Ebobisse’s path to MLS bucks the usual draft-class trend – he eschewed his junior year at Duke to sign a pro contract with MLS, spending the fall at USL side the Charleston Battery.
He told MLSsoccer.com on Thursday afternoon, after his Combine match. “I think it’s really important for us to use our platform to spread our message,” he said. “As long as we’re not encouraging any kind of dangerous behavior, and just conveying information to our followers, I think it’s really important that we stay true to ourselves. That’s kind of the way I’ve approached the last six months as a professional.”
In fact, he said, he’s become more outspoken since turning pro. “I guess a lot has happened, both on and off the field,” he said. “I just feel as if there’s so much divide – and so many people are holding their emotions back, holding what they think – that they don’t want to have these conversations.”
On the athletic side, he says, playing with Duke in the ACC provided the highest possible level of competition and quality of play, Ebobisse said. “Each year, at least eight ACC teams make it to the NCAA tournament. So that’s just a testament to the level of games, week in and week out,” he said. “And for my individual development, it worked out perfectly for me.”
“At the time, I felt as if I didn’t feel comfortable stepping up, and I felt as though there were people better suited to take the lead on that. And in hindsight, I wish I had taken a little more part in that,” he said. But that’s changed for the future.
“I think the way I handle myself now is a testament to how far I’ve come since being kind of a young freshman at Duke,” he added, “to being confident in what I think of and trying to articulate in as appropriate of a way as possible.”
“I grew up in a pretty affluent area, so I had a good education and it kind of pains me that so many other people from so many other different kinds of neighborhoods aren’t getting the same opportunity.
