List of Akron Zips in the MLS Draft

The University of Akron men's soccer team. has had 23 players drafted in Major League Soccer (MLS) as well as seven non-drafted players (most due to homegrown rights). Youth New Zealand international Cameron Knowles was the first 'Zip' to be drafted and play in MLS when he appeared for the Real Salt Lake against the Los Angeles Galaxy on June 22, 2007. In the 2011 draft, the University of Akron made MLS history when five players were selected in the first round, including picks number two through four (as well as pick seven and eight). ^[1]

Steve Zakuani playing for the Seattle Sounders FC in 2010

Steve Zakuani made an appearance on the DR Congo National Team, and Teal Bunbury, DeAndre Yedlin, Wil Trapp, Perry Kitchen, and Darlington Nagbe have all featured for the United States Men's National Team. Kofi Sarkodie and Zarek Valentin have played for the United States U-20's while Jonathan Lewis, Blair Gavin and Anthony Ampaipitakwong have played for the U-20's and U-17's. Cameron Knowles was part of the New Zealand U-17 squad during the 1999 FIFA U-17 World Championship

Player selection

MLS draft

Year	Round	Pick	Overall	Player	Position	MLS team	Current team	Notes
2005	4	1	37	Cameron Knowles	Defender	Real Salt Lake	Retired
2007	3	7	33	Siniša Ubiparipović	Midfielder	New York Red Bulls	Retired
2009	1	1	1	Steve Zakuani	Midfielder	Seattle Sounders FC	Retired	[2]
2010	1	4	4	Teal Bunbury	Forward	Sporting Kansas City	New England Revolution
2010	1	10	10	Blair Gavin	Midfielder	Chivas USA	Retired
2010	3	16	47	Ben Zemanski	Midfielder	Chivas USA	Retired	[3]
2011	1	2	2	Darlington Nagbe	Midfielder	Portland Timbers	Columbus Crew SC	[4]
2011	1	3	3	Perry Kitchen	Midfielder	D.C. United	LA Galaxy	[5]
2011	1	4	4	Zarek Valentin	Defender	Chivas USA	Houston Dynamo
2011	1	7	7	Kofi Sarkodie	Defender	Houston Dynamo	Unattached	[6]
2011	1	8	8	Michael Nanchoff	Midfielder	Vancouver Whitecaps FC	Retired	[7]
2011	2	13	31	Chris Korb	Defender	D.C. United	Unattached	[5]
2011	2	15	33	Anthony Ampaipitakwong	Midfielder	San Jose Earthquakes	Bangkok United
2012	1	2	2	Darren Mattocks	Forward	Vancouver Whitecaps FC	FC Cincinnati	[8]
2013	3	3	41	David Meves	Goalkeeper	Portland Timbers	Unattached
2014	2	8	27	Robbie Derschang	Defender	Philadelphia Union	Unattached
2014	2	15	34	Eric Stevenson	Midfielder	New York Red Bulls	Retired
2014	3	14	52	Aodhan Quinn	Midfielder	Philadelphia Union	Orange County SC
2014	4	19	76	Reinaldo Brenes	Forward	Sporting Kansas City	Unattached
2015	1	12	12	Saad Abdul-Salaam	Defender	Sporting Kansas City	FC Cincinnati
2016	1	7	7	Richie Laryea	Midfielder	Orlando City SC	Toronto FC
2017	1	3	3	Jonathan Lewis	Forward	New York City FC	Colorado Rapids
2017	2	14	36	Danilo Radjen	Defender	Houston Dynamo	Unattached
2018	1	1	1	João Moutinho	Defender	Los Angeles FC	Orlando City SC
2018	2	8	31	Niko De Vera	Defender	New York Red Bulls	Portland Timbers 2
2018	3	2	48	Nate Shultz	Defender	LA Galaxy	Unattached
2018	3	18	31	Stuart Holthusen	Forward	Portland Timbers	Unattached
2019	2	13	37	Ben Lundt	Goalkeeper	FC Cincinnati	FC Cincinnati
2019	2	19	43	Abdi Mohamed	Defender	New York City FC	New Mexico United
2020	2	19	45	Tom Smart	Defender	LA Galaxy	Unattached
2021	1	9	9	David Egbo	Forward	Vancouver Whitecaps FC	Unattached
2022	2	10	38	Will Meyer	Goalkeeper	Nashville SC	Rhode Island FC
2022	3	7	63	Carlo Ritaccio	Defender	Chicago Fire SC	Long Island Rough Riders
2024	2	6	35	Jason Shokalook	Forward	Chicago Fire SC	Chicago Fire FC II
2024	2	10	39	Malik Henry	Midfielder	CF Montréal	Toronto FC II
2024	2	22	51	Dyson Clapier	Midfielder	Sporting Kansas City	Orlando City B
2025	1	7	7	Emil Jääskeläinen	Forward	St. Louis City SC	St. Louis City SC 2

Non-draft MLS players

Date	Player	Position	MLS team	Current team	Notes
October 21, 2011	Evan Bush	Goalkeeper	Montreal Impact	Columbus Crew SC	Signed for 2012 season [9]
December 13, 2012	Wil Trapp	Midfielder	Columbus Crew SC	Inter Miami CF	Signed as Home Grown Player [10]
January 10, 2013	Chad Barson	Defender	Columbus Crew SC	Retired	Signed as Home Grown Player [11]
January 11, 2013	DeAndre Yedlin	Defender	Seattle Sounders FC	Newcastle United F.C.	Signed as Home Grown Player [12]
January 18, 2013	Dillon Serna	Midfielder	Colorado Rapids	Colorado Rapids	Signed as Home Grown Player [13]
January 21, 2013	Scott Caldwell	Midfielder	New England Revolution	New England Revolution	Signed as Home Grown Player [14]
February 8, 2017	Adam Najem	Midfielder	New York Red Bulls	Memphis 901 FC	Traded Red Bulls Homegrown Rights to Philadelphia Union

References

1. Travis Clark (January 13, 2011). "Akron sets new record for SuperDraft success". Mlssoccer.com. Retrieved September 14, 2012.
2. Gaschk, Matt. "Gaschk on the SuperDraft". Soundersfc.com. Retrieved September 14, 2012.
3. Portland Timbers (February 13, 2013). "Timbers acquire midfielder Ben Zemanski from Chivas USA in exchange for allocation money, right of first refusal to Jonathan Bornstein". Portlandtimbers.com. Archived from the original on February 15, 2013. Retrieved February 13, 2013.
4. Portland Timbers (January 12, 2011). "Timbers Select Nagbe, Taylor in 2011 MLS SuperDraft". Portlandtimbers.com. Archived from the original on January 17, 2011. Retrieved September 14, 2012.
5. D.C. United selects Kitchen and Korb in 2011 MLS SuperDraft ^{[ dead link ]}
6. Jonathan Yardley (January 13, 2011). "Sarkodie part of Akron's big day". Houstondynamo.com. Retrieved September 14, 2012.
7. "Timbers sign midfielder Michael Nanchoff". Portlandtimbers.com. February 21, 2013. Archived from the original on March 28, 2013. Retrieved March 15, 2013.
8. "Whitecaps FC select Darren Mattocks in the 2012 MLS SuperDraft". Whitecapsfc.com. January 12, 2012. Retrieved September 14, 2012.
9. Impact Media (October 20, 2011). "Impact signs goalkeeper Evan Bush for 2012 MLS roster". Impactmontreal.com. Retrieved September 14, 2012.
10. Impact Media (December 13, 2012). "Crew Signs Wil Trapp to Homegrown Contract". TheCrew.com. Retrieved December 14, 2012.
11. Crew Communications (January 10, 2012). "Crew signs Defender Chad Barson to Homegrown contract". Thecrew.com. Retrieved February 18, 2012.
12. Sounders FC Public Relations (January 11, 2013). "Sounders FC Signs First Homegrown Player". SoundersFC.com. Retrieved February 18, 2013.
13. Denver Post (January 18, 2013). "Rapids sign homegrown player Dillon Serna". denverpost.com. Retrieved January 22, 2013.
14. New England Revolution (December 21, 2013). "Revs sign Scott Caldwell as Homegrown player". RevolutionSoccer.net. Retrieved March 8, 2013.