The Generation adidas Class just announced the first player selections of the year, giving plenty of fans time to speculate who will be picked up by which teams and which NCAA underclassmen will have a shot at becoming the newest fan favorites during the 2016 season. This year’s picks are from all around the world, from California to Germany.

For those unfamiliar with the program, Generation adidas is a program that has replaced the Nike Project-40 since 2005. It is designed to help encourage young soccer players by having them join an MLS team without finishing college first. Home Grown players are included in the Generation adidas class. Players who join via the program not only do not count toward the senior roster, but they are also paid handsomely—much more than the minimum wage of the league, in most cases. And with the sponsorships, the wages do not count toward team budgets, making it less of a risk for teams to take on newbies like this.

It sounds too good to be true, but the only real drawback to joining the program is forgoing the opportunity to play college soccer. So any player who agrees to the contract cannot go back to college to play; instead, he is known as a professional player from that moment forward. Players who continue to play professionally are usually pretty grateful for the opportunity to play earlier in their careers, not minding the fast track so much.

If fans are following the class, they already know the names of the players selected so far. They include Omar Holness, a midfielder from North Carolina; defender Josh Yaro of Georgetown; forward Fabian Herbers of Creighton University; goalkeeper Andrew Tarbell of Clemson and midfielder Julian Buescher of Syracuse (originally from Germany). English midfielder Jack Harrison and Richie Laryea of Toronto were also named. Click here to find out more details about each of the picks, including hometown, college, conference honors, team selections and other cool highlights.

Each of these lucky fellows will have the chance to work with a professional Major League Soccer club to develop his skills and learn about what it takes to play the sport professionally from the players who already do just that.  Which of the players do you think has the most potential? Who would you like to see play for the Seattle Sounders? Note your comments in the box below.

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia