‘It’s a dream come true.’
Depleted Memphis 901 FC calls upon four academy players
Meet the four Memphis teenagers playing for 901 FC.
When Matt Brucker and Tycho Collins entered Memphis 901 FC'S win over Indy Eleven on June 5, the two became the club's first academy players to see the pitch in a professional match.
Down six players due to injury, red card suspensions and international duty, Memphis only had 11 contract players available for the match. Coach Ben Pirmann knew heading into the game the academy signees would likely play a role.
“(It was an) incredible experience obviously, super stoked,” Brucker said after the match, though he admitted watching himself take the field on the video screen was a little nerve-wracking. “Just super happy to get on the field, super happy to help the team and overall just super happy we won.”
Brucker, 17, and Collins, 19, are two of the four academy players on 901 FC'S roster, along with Simeon Betapudi, 17, and Max Talley, 17. As academy signings, who are not paid, the players can train with and play for the USL Championship club without giving up their college eligibility.
Assistant sporting director James Roeling said Brucker, Talley and Betapudi will remain available to the team when they return to high school in the fall for their senior years — Collins has graduated — depending on what each player wants to do.
The four help flesh out a relatively thin roster — 22 contract players as of July 9 including John Berner, who will be out for the season with a torn Achilles tendon, and Roland Lamah, who has been injured since preseason.
“Matt and Tycho, awesome to not
only play but play and to win,” Pirmann said after the Indy Eleven match. “They’re part of that. And Max and Simeon didn’t play but they were there as big a part of the team . ... But for them, just like the rest of the team improving, they have a long, long way to go.”
Pirmann said the players have taken major steps forward and have been pushing one another and their teammates in training each day.
“The older guys, they ain’t letting little kids come in and take their spots, and the (academy players) are saying, ‘Hey, I want these jobs,’ ” he said. “Iron sharpens iron. It’s the reason you constantly are improving the squad, and they’re a big part of that.”
‘A dream come true’
The four players were either born in Memphis or have lived in the area for much of their lives.
“It’s a dream come true. Honestly, it’s really fun to play with all these guys,” Talley said. “I have already learned so much and I’m still learning more every day . ... they’re really good players and it’s a pleasure to be here, especially in my hometown.”
The midfielder was born in Houston but moved to Memphis at age 6. He’s been part of four consecutive state championships with the Germantown Legends on the club level and won a state championship with Houston High.
Betapudi was a ball boy for the club in 2019. The Memphis native, who plays as a winger, has played for Memphis FC since 2013 and has trained with the Olympic Development Program. He attends Memphis University School.
“Even just six months ago, I never would have dreamed that I would have an opportunity to get to play with professionals, especially in my hometown,” he said. “Every day you have to come out with the attitude that you might not be the best on the field but you got to learn the most.”
Collins is unique among the academy players in that he has already trained with professional teams. He was 901 FC’S first academy player, signing on May 14 after spending preseason with the club. Born in Shanghai, the defender spent much of his childhood in Memphis, before heading overseas at 14 to pursue playing opportunities.
He spent four years playing exhibition matches, training with or having trials with Shanghai SIPG’S U19 squad, Chelsea, Vvv-velno academy in the Netherlands and Shanghai Shenhua FC ’s U19 and reserve squad. Collins returned to the U.S. in 2019 and finished high school in Boca Raton, Florida, where he played with Team Boca and Spanish River High School. After graduation, he trained for six months with Houston Dynamo FC’S U19 team.
When he was signed with 901 FC, sporting director Tim Howard said it was an example of the club’s desire to promote the game at a youth level locally and create “a pathway to professional soccer in the Memphis area.”
“We have a large population of highly talented young players that can compete at the next level,” he said.
Building a pipeline
Pirmann said providing that pipeline for youth talent was important for the club and the community, and something he talks about with Howard, Roeling and club president Craig Unger. The team also has other young players training with the club who have not been signed to academy contracts.
“Big picture, it’s very important for this community, it’s very important for the Mid-south, Shelby County, the city of Memphis. There are a lot of very good players, and we do a lot of work to identify (them) and we work with the local clubs and youth coaches. We’re out at trainings,” he said.
The academy signings have improved in the weeks and months they’ve been training with their contracted counterparts.
For Talley, the biggest differences between the level he was playing at only a few weeks ago and the level of play he’s facing now in training are the physicality of the play — defender Skyler Thomas, for example, has about 6 inches and 60 pounds on Talley — and the pace of the game. But he said after training last week he had already seen himself starting to adapt to the speed of play and making quicker decisions.
Brucker said initially, training with the older players, and trying to adapt to their level of play, wasn’t intimidating, but it did make him a little nervous.
“For me personally, you know it’s coming out here, given my best every day. Every day I’m trying to get better. And there’s guys in this team who are incredible soccer players so it’s really just learning from them, doing what I can do,” he said. “The tempo is different, everything’s different. So it’s really just playing up to their standard getting used to it.”
The older players have helped the academy players settle in and learn, all four said. They don’t take it easy on them on the field, Betapudi said, but they’re never hard to approach to ask for advice.
Earlier in the season, Berner, who Pirmann and his fellow teammates described as a leader at the club from the moment he signed with 901 FC, said he and other players would give tips or pep talks to the academy players during training.
“Younger guys, it’s just about helping them on, right? You know when I was 17 I certainly wasn’t training with a professional team so I can only imagine how they feel and it’s obviously a different level for them so I think they understand that,” he said.
For all four, it’s a step closer to achieving the goal so many dream of: turning their passion into a career.
“It just feels a lot more tangible, a lot closer,” Betapudi said. “It used to be a dream but now it’s close to being a reality, so that gives me just more motivation to go out there.”