DC United selects Odoi-Atsem in first round

Chris Odoi-Atsem became the 19th Terp to be selected in the first round of the MLS Draft.

Chris Odoi-Atsem won’t be going far to start his professional soccer career. The offensively-skilled Terps right back was selected with the 12th overall pick in the 2017 MLS SuperDraft by DC United on Friday.

Odoi-Atsem’s selection continues a 14-year streak of Terps getting drafted in the MLS. He is the 41st Terp in history to be selected going back to 1998 and 19th first round draft pick.

Odoi-Atsem has anchored the Terps defense since his arrival at college park in 2013. As a senior he was a first team All-Big Ten selection as he helped guide Maryland to a third-straight Big Ten tournament title and fourth-straight conference championship overall. Maryland was undefeated in the regular season and Odoi-Atsem was a huge reason the team enjoyed a school record five-game shutout streak.

As a senior Odoi-Atsem scored on goal and had six assists. He finished his collegiate career with three goals and eight assists.

DC United currently has Sean Franklin as their right back. He has been a solid feature for the squad but has been hampered by injuries the past two seasons. Odoi-Atsem figures to become his eventual replacement in the starting XI.

Suli Dainkeh figures to be selected in the third or fourth round of the MLS Draft after being among the 53 NCAA Division I college players who participated in the 2017 adidas MLS Player Combine. Dainkeh started all 21 matches for the Terps on the back line with Odoi-Atsem. The captain of the Terps and anchoring center back Alex Crognale signed a Homegrown contract with the Columbus Crew in late December.

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Corey Johns

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You could say Corey was born to become a sports journalist. His father won a national championship coaching college soccer. His mother is a baseball fanatic who hasn't missed seeing an Orioles game since 1983 (literally, sometimes it's annoying). His great uncle was a big-time boxing promoter and his maternal grandfather was once a department head at the Baltimore Sun. Basically, sports and journalism run through his blood. He played just about every little league sports there was when he was a kid and was a multi-sport athlete in high school; even playing in the first-ever high school sanction Rugby game in the country. Eventually he retired from sports as an undefeated Maryland state Rugby champion as a high school senior. Perhaps lack of athletic talent has more to do with the retirement, but he will tell you that it more had to do with a great desire to jump right into media. Upon his graduation from University of Maryland, Baltimore County as a triple communications major, Corey started the So Much Sports network and has continued to grow his websites and continues to work to make them premier sports media outlets.

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