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SANDY — Real Salt Lake went into the 2015 MLS SuperDraft in Philadelphia with one pick and needing relief on the back line.
The club got it — and also gained some allocation money as well Thursday.
After trading out of the first round, RSL used the No. 27 overall pick on 5-foot-9, 170-pound defender Boyd Okwuonu from the University of North Carolina. Okwuonu, who hails from Edmond, Oklahoma, is the brother of former Weber State safety Willie Okwuonu, who had 130 tackles and 6.5 tackles for loss for the Wildcats and still lives in Ogden.
“I’m very excited to dedicating my life, and putting my heart on the field every day,” Okwuonu said at the draft. “I’m so excited.”
MLS also announced that it had renamed its annual Most Valuable Player award to the Landon Donovan MVP.
RSL also picked up allocation money from Seattle in a trade that saw its first-round pick go to the Sounders.
Orlando City SC: F Cyle Larin, Connecticut
New York City FC: F Khiry Shelton, Oregon State
Montreal Impact: F Romario Williams, Central Florida
San Jose Earthquakes: MF Fatai Asashe, Michigan State
Portland Timbers: MF Nick Besler, Notre Dame
Toronto FC: GK Alex Bono, Syracuse
Chicago Fire: D Matt Polster, SIU-Edwardsville
Houston Dynamo: MF Zach Steinberg, Butler
Toronto FC: D Clement Simonin, North Carolina State
Sporting Kansas City: MF Connor Hallisey, Cal
Toronto FC: D Skylar Thomas, Syracuse
Sporting KC: D Saad Abdul-Salaam, Akron
Vancouver Whitecaps: D Tim Parker, St. John's
Colorado Rapids (from Columbus): D Axel Sjoberg, Marquette
FC Dallas: D Otis Earle, UC Riverside
Seattle Sounders (from Real Salt Lake): MF Cristian Roldan, Washington
D.C. United: F Miguel Aguilar, San Francisco
New York Red Bulls: MF Leo Stolz, UCLA
Columbus Crew (from Colorado): D Sergio Campbell, Connecticut
Sporting KC: MF Amadou Dia, Clemson
LA Galaxy: F Ignacio Maganto, Iona
The 21-year-old Okwuonu played center back in college, but he also has experience at right back. Okwuonu was a three-time NSCAA All-American and All-Atlantic Coast Conference first-team selection as a senior in 2014, when he started all 22 matches at center back for the Tar Heels.
The FC Dallas academy product helped the UNC defense to a 0.72 goals-against average in his four years in Chapel Hill, N.C. He also earned ACC defensive player of the year honors in 2013 as a junior.
With RSL on the clock and University of Washington midfielder Cristian Roldan tumbling down the table from his projected No. 2 overall prediction, newly signed Seattle general manager Garth Lagerwey walked over to the table of his former club, shaking hands with Real Salt Lake technical director Craig Waibel and head coach Jeff Cassar before chatting for a short spell with his colleagues.
Less than catching up, though, this conversation was all business.
Moments later, MLS Commissioner Don Garber announced a trade. RSL was shipping its only first-round pick, No. 16 overall, to Seattle in exchange for the Sounders’ No. 27-overall, second-round pick and allocation money.
With its newly acquired pick, Seattle kept Roldan, a sophomore standout for the Huskies, in familiar territory.
Waibel, who took over the technical director job after Lagerwey left for Seattle, coached Roldan for a year in college before making the jump to RSL’s coaching staff.
“Cristian is one of the most technically sound young players in college,” Waibel told MLSsoccer.com earlier in the week. “But more so than his physical attributes, it’s his humility and his individual drive that really make him as special as he is. He’s a great human being, and that complements his ability to play soccer.
“His balance, his ball striking and his field vision in my opinion are what drive him as a player to make him as good as he is.”
Roldan was an NSCAA third-team All-American in 2014, his sophomore season, after tallying three goals and two assists in 17 starts. He finished his college career with 10 goals and seven assists in 48 appearances, including 31 starts.
Okwuonu was RSL’s only pick in the first two rounds of the SuperDraft on Thursday. The Salt Lake club traded its own second-round pick to Toronto FC in a deal that sent Joao Plata to RSL in 2013. The 22-year-old Plata was RSL’s top scorer last year with 13 goals and six assists.
Real Salt Lake introduced Okwuonu to the club via its Twitter account.
Welcome to the #RSLfamily@Oc_Okwuonu! #BELIEVE#AsOne (physicals / fitness testing in 2 weeks!) pic.twitter.com/ucbMaewYcR — Real Salt Lake (@RealSaltLake) January 15, 2015
The SuperDraft concludes Tuesday with the third and fourth rounds, held via conference call. Expansion club Orlando City SC selected Cyle Larin of Connecticut with the No. 1 overall pick. The 6-2, 190-pound striker from Ontario, Canada, became the second-straight UCONN product to go No. 1 overall after the Philadelphia Union took goalkeeper Andres Blake in last year’s SuperDraft.
Former RSL coach Jason Kreis and New York City FC selected Oregon State striker Khiry Shelton with the second pick, followed by UCF forward Romario Williams to Montreal, Michigan State midfielder Fatai Alashe to San Jose, and Notre Dame midfielder Nick Besler to Portland. Besler is the younger brother of U.S. men’s national team and Sporting Kansas City defender Matt Besler.
Okwuonu becomes the ninth defender on RSL’s official roster, which now stands at 22 players officially, and 24 players with two acquisitions that are reportedly in the pipeline.
RSL signed Highland High alum Phanuel Kavita to a homegrown contract on Tuesday after the RSL-Arizona Academy defender started the bulk of his four years at Clemson. The club also announced the re-signing of defenders Abdoulie Mansally and Aaron Maund to new deals.
