The San Jose Earthquakes spent much of the day during Friday's 2005 MLS SuperDraft moving players and picks, adding nine new faces to a roster ripe for replenishment after a busy offseason.
Wasting no time, San Jose made a big splash early in order to acquire Hermann Trophy winner Danny O'Rourke with the fourth overall selection. To garner the selection, San Jose sent Richard Mulrooney and Arturo Alvarez, as well as the sixth and 29th picks, to FC Dallas in exchange for the fourth pick, an allocation and promising young midfielder Brad Davis. The Quakes then used the fourth overall pick to take O'Rourke, a player head coach Dominic Kinnear coveted.
The Quakes also traded their final pick in the first round to the MetroStars for Ricardo Clark. Only two years ago, Clark found himself as a finalist for the MLS Rookie of the Year award.
"Obviously, with Richard Mulrooney departing we needed to find someone to play in the central midfield, and Ricardo Clark is a player that I have always respected and had my eye on for some time," said Kinnear. "We immediately liked him at the combine [in 2003] and hoped that we would be able to get him in that draft. Since then, we have watched his progress with the MetroStars from afar, and have always liked the way he plays. I am excited to be able to bring him to San Jose and I believe he is really going to be able to help this team."
As if that wasn't enough, the Quakes drafted an additional six players that, in addition to the players acquired in a trade with Los Angeles earlier this week, gives the Quakes a whole new look heading into 2005.
Kevin Goldthwaite, a 6-foot-1 defender from Notre Dame, was the club's second round selection but only provided the appetizer for a hectic third and fourth round. With three straight selections, the 31st, 32nd and 33rd, San Jose acquired help all over the field. Victor Arbelaez, a 5-foot-11 midfielder from UNLV went first followed by 6-foot forward Orlando Ramierz from Fresno Pacific. Craig (C.J.) Klass, a 5-foot-7 defender from the University of Washington, rounded out the Quakes third round picks.
With back-to-back picks in the fourth round, general manager Alexi Lalas and Kinnear picked up promising young forward Antouman Jallow from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and, last but not least, James Twellman, brother of New England's Taylor Twellman, a 5-foot-10 defender from Stanford with the club's final fourth-round selection.
Danny Polinsky is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
