Hey y'all. As we barrel towards the title game in the Championship and the offseason immediately after that, I wanted to establish a new writing routine. I'll be posting a weekly piece musing on a few things that caught my eye across the USL in addition to whatever I'm doing at Backheeled or The USL Show. Cheers.
Number One: Bradley Bourgeois and the Tulsa re-tool
Above, you'll see Bradley Bourgeois compared to three other leading centerbacks in the USL. By Goals Above Replacement, defensive activity and efficiency, and passing contributions, Bourgeois is comfortably in the mix. Who's the competition?
Player A is Aaron Guillen
Player B is Mitchell Taintor
Player C is Sean Totsch
Pit Bourgeois against the three nominees for Defender of the Year, and he fits right in.
The recently concluded season was tumultuous in Tulsa, but the end product - Sam Doerr and Blair Gavin running the show - is an unabashed win. This week, the club announced that Bourgeois would be coming back on a multi-year deal. He was a huge difference maker as Tulsa recovered from a midseason lull into a fringe playoff shout, anchoring a back three as the centermost centerback, doing well a late-season back four, and often captaining the side.
Pair the return of the defensive talisman with a great new coaching staff, and there's a lot to look forward to in Oklahoma. We already know Marcus Epps is coming back on his multi-year Phoenix deal that was acquired during the summer. The youngsters from Luca Sowinski in attack to Christopher Pearson in the pivot to Angel Bernal at right back are all going to grow and improve. I'd stake my life on some mix of Rodrigo Da Costa and Dario Suarez returning, and Austin Wormell (97th percentile Goals Saved Above Average) was the breakout goalie of 2022.
Tulsa is also cutting dead weight. Brian Brown is out after returning just three goals on 28th percentile conversion, and expensive but middling names like Ronald Rodriguez and Matheus Silva have also departed. Upgrading in those sorts of spots is the key to a real run at the postseason, but there's a great, Bourgeois-centric base to build upon.
Number Two: Detroit City joins the USL Academy fold
As we've seen with clubs like El Paso and Orange County, developing talent to sell on is the quickest route to establishing a talent pipeline and profit center in the USL. Detroit City took a step in that direction this week in confirming their participation in the USL Academy setup.
I broke down the state of the academy landscape across the league at Backheeled a few months back, and it's a bit of a mixed bag. Most clubs - Detroit included - had a full youth setup. The lion's share of the rest at least maintained numerous local partenrships with outside organizations. Still, centralizing league efforts and working Le Rouge into the developed USL Academy League is a step in the right direction.
On one hand, it's another example of Detroit City walking the walk and investing to meet the standard of leading USL teams. We've seen them work players like the Tanyi brothers into the first-team fold, and their youth network is already impressive. The team directly operates - or at least licenses their name - to something like half-a-dozen Detroit-area youth programs. The leading players from those setups will comprise the Academy League entrant side.
As the USL grows, I hope to see more of this. Having a centerpiece national competition with regional sub-units is the right way to build academies for the time being, and Detroit can help be a leader in the next wave of stellar youth apparatuses.
Number Three: El Paso's no-nonsense offseason
I'm keeping a transaction tracker for the USL Championship again this offseason, and the big takeaway right now is that the Locomotive mean business. No other team in the league has announced half as many moves. There are certainly a few major exits - this team can't win if they don't replace Dylan Mares and Richie Ryan, for instance - but I generally like the messaging of it all.
Last year was unaccetpable, to be frank. The Locmotive, notwithstading a first-round playoff exit, were the class of the Western Conference in 2021. John Hutchinson lost a lot of favor in the public eye during the Richie Ryan freeze-out, and his tactical style was tilted towards offense and pressure in a manner that didn't recognize a slow midfield and defensive corps.
That's why the pace of action is important. Hutchinson is establishing a spine, making the hard choice to rebuild a talented midfield in his image, and, just maybe, working to fix the team's biggest problems from 2022. Take the play I've broke down below as an example of what ailed El Paso.
I focus on the right back and centerback in my notes here, but there's disconnection in the defensive midfield and a lack of support from the wing to boot. Still, this is a problem of the back line first and foremost.
Enter Marc Navarro. He's the first new face inked for 2023, and he's comfortable at either spot on the right side of a back four. Navarro brings experience in the Premier League and La Liga, and his addition is a statement of positive intent. Will things work about better with a refresh driven by players like Navarro? Hutchinson needs to show more flexibility and personability, but it's not out of the question if the roster construction continues in this manner.
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