Thomas Spragg (Portland U23s)

Thomas Spragg (Portland U23s)

The Portland Timbers U-23s today announced the commitments of four players for the 2012 Premier Development League season. Forwards Thomas Spragg and Emery Welshman and defender Marc Tonkel enter their first seasons with the team, while defender Chris Harms returns for another season with the Timbers U-23s.

http://www.portlandtimbers.com/news/2012/04/timbers-u-23s-announce-four-more-roster-additions

Taking the same route as Jake the Snake Gleeson.

Timber's Kiwi count now up to four.

He's only 19 too so I assume he has left his gig at Uni of Washington. 2ndBest2012-04-13 22:21:43

was he one of the youth scholarship nominees a few years back?

Wasn't he a winner..?

Medically Redshirted in his first year at Washington Uni

I thought that year there were two winners, but could be wrong (it's happened before)

Yup him and prately won it.

what does redshirted mean?

So basically he has taken the option to suspend his studies to have a crack at picking up a FT contract with Portland.

In the US college system, you get a certain amount of years you are eligible to play (normally 4 years). Players can be 'redshirted' so they can sit out a year for various reasons, and not have it count against the time they are eligible to play.

It looks like he was redshirted because of injuries this season, but linking up with the Timbers may make him ineligible. Alex Smith mentioned he lost his eligibility by going for a trial at a UK club. Things may have changed since then tho.

[Edit: looking at the wiki page for the league, it doesn't affect eligibility]
Ryan's Rovers2012-04-15 00:43:05

Thomas Spragg suffered an injury at UW and will miss the 2012 PDL summer season.