New England Revolution New Guy(s) Report: The Wake Forest Contingent

By: Jeff | March 9th, 2007

(NOTE: I’m going to postpone my “background search” of Wells Thompson till Monday. This strays from the current practice and, as I see it, makes for a slightly clunky rollout to these posts, but, given what comes below - e.g. first-hand dish - I don’t think anyone should mind.)

At some point - about two years ago judging by the MLSnet.com profiles of James Riley and Michael Parkhurst (who, as my colleague points out, is getting some love from the soccer community) - Steve Nicol, head coach of the New England Revolution, seemed to take a liking to the way Wake Forest University runs its soccer program. That may or may not explain why their 2007 Superdraft class added two more Wake players to the New England Revolution roster.

While I’d have to ask Steve Nicol what he sees in the Demon Deacons’ program (that’s Wake’s mascot in case you don’t know - best dang mascot in the country), Carson Porter, an assistant coach at Wake Forest, was good enough to take care of the opposite side - e.g. providing some first-hand background information about the two players the Revs picked up: Wells Thompson and Ryan Solle (for whom I’ve already written a backgrounder). So, with a big thanks to Porter, what follows is a verbatim copy/paste of a Q & A that took place over email (OK, full disclosure: I numbered my questions in the original communication and am changing them to “Q’s” below…the shame…).

Q) Where did Ryan Solle/Wells Thompson play during their time at Wake Forest - and did it change? What strengths did these players bring to the position they played?
A) Ryan Solle was our “playmaking” central midfielder, he led the country in assists his junior year and has always been known for the timing of his passing and finding the right players at the perfect moments. Wells Thompson played the majority of his career out wide on the left, but also spent time up front and wide right. He was a right-footed player playing wide left because of his ability to “slash” inside and create very dangerous opportunities.

Q) What do you count as Solle’s and Thompson’s greatest assets as players?
A)Ryan can attack, he can defend, he can play pretty or he can dig his heels in get a result, but probably Ryan’s greatest assett is his passing ability in the attack. We always spoke about how he always made the players around him better. Ryan also has a lot of intangible qualities that add to his game. Solle is a born winner.

Wells is a player that you can’t really compare to too many others. His game is based around his workrate and his grit. He plays with a chip on his shoulder and if he looses the ball he will work to get it back as if
the defender just said something bad about his mother. Wells’s greatest assets are a result of this attitude. He loves to take players on the dribble he is willing to defend and “fight” for a game, and he has the ability to create some special moments and special goals.

The other thing that both of these players have is versatility. Wells can play up front, has spent some time with PDL teams in the center of midfield and is a natural winger. Solle can play center back and has the ability to play attacking or defensive midfielder.

Q) What part of both players’ games need most improvement as they embark on their professional careers?
At this point Ryan and Wells both need to take their overall game, and make it better. They are both very solid players who have been successful at every level they’ve played at, but the MLS is a level that, regardless of Final Fours and Youth National Team appearances, these guys have not yet been at. When we speak to them we talk to them about being good professionals, we remind them that they are only as good as their last practice or game and to do everything they can to learn. The other main thing that these two need is experience. This will hopefully come with preseason games, training sessions and hopefully some appearances with the first team.

So, that’s that. On a personal level, I like what I’m reading enough here to 1) feel a bit more optimistic about Solle, given what Porter viewed as his chief strength - e.g. “making those around him better”, something I’m looking forward on the field; 2) Porter’s comments on Thompson recalls Justin Mapp’s “conceptual” game and it’s hard not to like that - especially when you add that “chip” to the equation.

I’ll be back Monday to fill in the profile on Thompson.