Predicting the Huntsville City FC 2023 Squad

by Ronan Briscoe

Huntsville, we have liftoff.

As we look on MLS preseason, and await news on the MLS Next Pro schedule, we do know who Jack Collison’s coaching staff for Huntsville City FC will be heading into their inaugural campaign, the next thing we should know for sure as far as Huntsville City is concerned is the roster.

By MLS Next Pro rules, 35 players can be included on any roster, with 24 of them being professional players, and 11 being amateurs, with a maximum of five coming from the parent club’s academy system.seven international slots to allot among players.

There are seven international slots for clubs to allot among players. However, if a player receives their green card before the Secondary Transfer Window opens, they don’t require an international slot.

MLS Next Pro’s rosters last year needed to be in compliance on March 18th, one week before the first match of the season. It’s not unrealistic to suggest MLS Next Pro may also begin play some time in March, but we don’t know that for sure yet.

What we can begin to speculate on is some of the makeup of the Huntsville squad. Some of the professional roster slots may be left open for short term stints from first team players, perhaps during an international break.

With that being said, we can start with Nashville SC’s 2023 MLS Superdraft picks. We can also reasonably expect a couple signings made since the SuperDraft, as well as some first team fringe players to spend significant time in Huntsville, if not the whole season. We also know Huntsville signing Isaiah Johnston will be with the squad. They have also been included in the list below.

Goalkeepers: Ben Martino

Defenders: Joey Skinner, Sean Suber, Makel Rasheed, Ahmed Longmire

Midfielders: Rory O’Driscoll, Kemy Amiche, Nebiyou Perry, Isaiah Johnston, Nick Law

Forwards: Alex Meinhard, Lyam MacKinnon, Tyler Freeman

This is 13 players, leaving 11 professional spots to fill, in addition to all eleven amateur slots. However, as far as the amateur slots go, we’ll leave five of them open in our hypothetical to allow impressive academy players the chance to play with Huntsville.

This means realistically, when open tryouts commence on January 28th and 29th, dozens of prospects will be competing for six open roster spots.