Wasatch Soccer Sentinel
Real Salt Lake has a growing need for creative box-to-box midfielders following the absences of key figure Ned Grabavoy this season, and with that in mind, Eric Bird was our man.
Graduating from the University of Virginia, Bird was captain of this year's NCAA College Cup winners and 2013 semifinalists. He played 73 matches across the five years, and in 2013, he led the team in goals (7) and tied RSL midfielder Jordan Allen in assists (5).
He's a crafty kid, but he's also not the sort to provoke a highlight reel of stepovers and Cruyff turns — or at least that's the impression one gets from watching Virginia match highlights. (Scouting these players is difficult. It's more that he legitimately fits the Grabavoy mold: He's a little on the shorter side, but his control is excellent and he seems to have a good awareness of what's happening around him. He sits a little deeper in the midfield, dictating play more than anything, but he also shows well with late runs.
Bird, however, might not be quite ready for the big time. It's difficult to tell how skills like this translate, but it's no less difficult than figuring out how a purely creative player works out. It's unclear whether he'd be the best pick for Real Salt Lake, but with defenders starting to line up, Bird's midfield play wouldn't go amiss for a team needing midfield reinforcements.
Our selection wasn't because he has experience with Allen, although that doesn't really hurt anything. And it's not because we're hoping he'll bring Riggs Lennon along with him, a Real Salt Lake academy graduate and a player we've had our eye on — but so have Aston Villa. (That's tangential at best to this, of course.) But hey, those things are nice to think about, and Bird ticks a lot of boxes for us.
Below: Complete SB Nation mock draft selections.
Pick
Team
Player
1
Orlando City SC
Cyle Larin
2
New York City FC
Cristian Roldan
3
Montreal Impact
Khiry Shelton
4
San Jose Earthquakes
Ramon Martin del Campo
5
Portland Timbers
Conor Donovan
6
Toronto FC
Leo Stolz
7
Chicago Fire SC
Fatai Alashe
8
Houston Dynamo
Oumar Ballo
9
Toronto FC
Alex Bono
10
Sporting Kansas City
Nick Besler
11
Toronto FC
Romario Williams
12
Sporting Kansas City
Otis Earle
13
Vancouver Whitecaps
Skylar Thomas
14
Columbus Crew SC
Aaron Simmons
15
FC Dallas
Dan Metzger
16
Real Salt Lake
Eric Bird
17
D.C. United
Andy Thoma
18
NY Red Bulls
Tim Parker
19
Colorado Rapids
Boyd Okwuonu
20
Sporting Kansas City
Andy Craven
21
LA Galaxy
Tyler Miller
Pick
Team
Player
22
Orlando City SC
Andrew Wolverton
23
New York City FC
Ricky Garbanzo
24
Portland Timbers
Seth Casiple
25
Orlando City SC
Jose Ribas
26
Colorado Rapids
Jordan Murrell
27
Seattle Sounders
Dzenan Catic
28
Chicago Fire SC
Saad Abdul-Salaam
29
Toronto FC
Adam Montague
30
Sporting Kansas City
Luke Mishu
31
Philadelphia Union
Manolo Sanchez
32
Portland Timbers
Andy Bevin
33
New England Revolution
Sergio Campbell
34
Portland Timbers
Anthony Manning
35
Columbus Crew SC
Axel Sjoberg
36
Houston Dynamo
Kyler Sullivan
37
Toronto FC
Dennis Castillo
38
Vancouver Whitecaps
Tyler Arnone
39
NY Red Bulls
Connor Hallisey
40
Seattle Sounders
Spencer Richey
41
Philadelphia Union
Alex Shinsky
42
D.C. United
Akeil Barrett
