In 54 minutes of his first action at the MLS combine, Jeremy Ebobisse showed on Thursday why he will likely be taken as one of the first three picks in Friday’s SuperDraft. Atlanta United holds the second pick.
In the 54th minute, Ebobisse ran onto a pass in the penalty box, took a touch, and then fired a hard left-footed shot into the right corner to help his team take a 2-0 lead. Ebobisse didn't play in the combine's first two days because he had to be cleared medically after arriving late.
“No idea (where I’ll be picked),” he said. “Lot of rumors going around. I try to stay away from the whole thing or I’ll go crazy.”
Ebobisse described himself as a complete forward, one who is all about scoring or assisting on goals, but also willing to take fouls or serve as a passing outlet to take pressure off the defense.
He’s big and strong enough to also be useful in hold-up play with his back to the goal. He showed that skill in the second half when taking a pass and turning to play on a teammate, who missed a goal-scoring chance.
He also showed one of his self-described weaker parts of his game, staying in plays mentally, when he missed a point-blank opportunity in the first half. Two teammates had missed shots. The second miss ricocheted to Ebobisse, who was standing just a few yards from the goal with no one but the goalkeeper to beat. He tried to pass it into the goal and the keeper recovered to make his third consecutive save.
“It was an unacceptable miss,” he said. “But I’m really happy with the way I reacted. I worked hard and got on same page with my teammates and that showed itself at end of first half and beginning of the second half.”
Ebobisse left Duke after the 2015 season to sign with MLS, which assigned him to Charleston in the USL. The Battery were Atlanta United’s affiliate in the league. There, he played with Atlanta United loanees Alex Tambakis, Jeffrey Otoo and Andrew Carleton. He also spent a week with Minnesota, which holds the No. 1 pick, just before the MLS playoffs, and with New York Red Bulls for a week during the playoffs.
He said that familiarity would be helpful should Atlanta United select him on Friday.
“If they were to pick me I would know that I have some friends and colleagues that I’m already comfortable with for the greater part of two months,” he said.
Charleston coach Mike Anhaeuser was complimentary of Ebobisse in a story I published earlier this week .
“A lot of tools around the goal that make any striker… that’s what people pay money for,” Anhaeuser said of Ebobisse.
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