Even though D.C. United had the worst record in MLS last season, it didn’t get the first pick in next month’s college draft due to the pair of expansion teams in Vancouver and Portland that will join the league in 2011. Turns out, D.C. didn’t need it.
Thanks to Major League Soccer’s “Homegrown Rule,” United already had the rights to Maryland defender Ethan White as soon as the 19-year-old sophomore decided to turn pro with MLS because he had come up through the D.C. United academy prior to college, representing D.C.’s Under-18 academy team.
White, who is also a product of Potomac Soccer and Bethesda-Chevy Chase High, is the fourth homegrown signing for D.C., joining 2010 MLS rookie of the year Andy Najar, goalkeeper Bill Hamid and midfielder Conor Shanosky.
At Maryland, White started 20 games at centerback this season for a Terrapins team that matched a program record with 15 shutouts, and he earned an All-ACC second team nod in the process. He was an All-ACC freshman team selection last year, one of only three players to start all 23 matches.
This past summer, White was a part of the U.S. Under-20 national team, along with Shanosky and Maryland goalkeeper Zac MacMath, which won the Milk Cup in Northern Ireland.
In any other MLS offseason before this one, a highly regarded local prospect like White, a 6-foot, 183-pound native of Kensington, Md., might’ve been poached in the draft by another team. But under the homegrown rule, United had the priority to reap the benefits of signing a player it had played a role in developing, and White had the chance to sign with the team he had rooted for since he was a boy.
United will still pick third in the college draft, too.
D.C. United’s week of signings also should be far from over with the second stage of the MLS re-entry draft taking place on Wednesday afternoon. D.C.’s selection of Joseph Ngwenya last week supported the back end of my piece on the choices available, and the top prospects this week remain the same for United, which again has the first pick. The key thing to remember is that if a negotiated salary cannot be reached, the MLS team that selects a player will retain that player’s rights. That’s limited free agency in a nutshell.
