NEW YORK – UCLA forward Abu Danladi and midfielder Jackson Yueill have been selected as members of the 2017 Generation adidas class, announced Major League Soccer (MLS) on Wednesday. The pair will enter the professional ranks through the 2017 MLS SuperDraft presented by adidas on Jan. 13 in Los Angeles.
Danladi and Yueill become the 13th and 14th UCLA players to sign with Generation adidas and the first since Chandler Hoffman and Kelyn Rowe in 2012. They join teammates Jose Hernandez and Reggie Cannon at the MLS level as both players signed MLS homegrown contracts last month. Since 2004, UCLA will have sent 52 players to the MLS with 41 coming from the MLS SuperDraft, including twice having the No. 1 draft pick in Chance Myers (2008) and Marvell Wynne (2006).
Danladi, a native of Takoradi, Ghana, led the Bruins in goals this season with a career-high seven despite only playing in 11 of the team's 20 matches. He was a three-time All-Pac-12 honoree including being tabbed to the first team in 2015. In 2014, Danladi was named the Top Drawer Soccer Freshman of the Year. This season he was second on the team in points with 16 and ranked tops in the Pac-12 in points per game at 1.45. Danladi scored twice in 11 seconds against then No. 1 Akron on Sept. 5, the third-fastest consecutive goals scored in NCAA history. He finishes his three-year career with 54 points on 18 goals and 18 assists.
Yueill a native of Bloomington, Minn., was a two-time All-Pac-12 first team selection and two-time NSCAA All-Far West Region first team honoree. He led the Pac-12 with 11 assists and ranked fifth in the NCAA in both total assists and assists per game. Yueill finished the season with 15 points, good for fourth on the team. He was ranked No. 5 on Top Drawer Soccer's Top 100 Players postseason list. Yueill tied a UCLA-record with four assists in a single game on Sept. 5 against then No.-1 Akron. In two seasons in Westwood, Yueill totaled 35 points with 17 assists and nine goals, including three game winners.
Rounding out the 2017 Generation adidas class are Syracuse defender Miles Robinson and Generation adidas Canadian signings Shamit Shome and Adonijah Reid.
Generation adidas is a joint program between MLS and adidas that is dedicated to developing exceptional domestic talent in the U.S. and Canada in a professional environment. Each year, a handful of top domestic collegiate underclassmen and youth national team players are signed by the league and placed in the SuperDraft. Generation adidas players do not count against an MLS team's salary budget.