Colorado Rapids SuperDraft Review: Pids Take NINE Players

COMMERCE CITY – That was exhausting. The 2025 MLS SuperDraft is over. In the end Colorado Rapids selected nine college players, including five in the first round, and a top Generation Adidas player. Here’s a Rapids SuperDraft review so you don’t have to deal with MLS’s BROKEN Draft Tracker.

Firstly, Colorado made two trades to move up in the first round. They acquired the #6 pick from Nashville SC for $125,000 in 2025 GAM as well as $25,000 in conditional 2026 GAM. Then they got the #4 pick from Sporting KC for $162,500 in 2025 GAM and the #8 pick. Colorado also got the #12 pick from Austin FC for a 2025 International Roster Spot and $75,000 in 2026 GAM. With that, Colorado had five first round picks, one sixth of the first round.

Player Profiles:

#4 Alex Harris: Generation Adidas forward out of Cornell. He was Colorado’s top target in the draft. The scouting team specifically liked his nose for where the ball is going to go in the box. He reads crosses well. He played alongside Rapids DA midfielder Connor Miller. Whomever was keeping tabs on Miller has seen plenty of Harris’ film.

#6 Matthew Senanou: Center back out of Xavier. Junior. Colorado was thrilled to get two of their top targets. Probably the best central defender available. The Rapids are stacked with five center back prospects. One of them has to hit, just like last year: “Senanou’s ceiling is very high we think. All he wanted to talk about during his call was Moïse Bombito,” President Padraig Smith told Burgundy Wave. Senanou is from Canada like Bombito but Colorado believes his youth past will make him eligible to be a domestic player in 2025.

#12 Efetobo Aror: Sophomore defensive midfielder from University of Portland (Conor Casey went to Portland). He has a torn MCL. They’d discuss whether he rehabs at school while going back for the spring semester or coming to Colorado to do his rehab. Don’t expect him until the summer probably. He was still the standout No. 6 of this class according to multiple sources.

#16 Sydney Wathuta: Sophomore Canadian winger from the National Champions, Vermont Catamounts. Was second in D1 this year with 14 assists. Watching his film, he’s most like Calvin Harris, but good in tight spaces. Very press resistant. “He can glide by people. Big lad. He’s a different type of profile. He’s got first team potential,” Smith said. They now have a variety of wingers at the club before that rumored U22 signing.

#26 Joshua Copeland: Sophomore attacker from the University of Detroit Mercy. He had 3g/5a this past year in 1,234 minutes. This after just 1g/1a as a freshman. That’s a nice upward trajectory. Might be a bit of a pet project for Erik Bushey.

#38 Charlie Harper: Junior center back from North Carolina. He might have the most interesting back story of this draft class. Born in Australia. Dad’s English, mom’s from Japan. Went to school in Japan, fluent in Japanese, crushed it at the youth level there. He’ll be an international. When asked about him, Smith said “Solid two-footed center back. He’s an incredibly mature person. Will bring a maturity to the backline.” Take the best of Harper and Senanou and put them together, you’ve got Moïse Bombito when he was a junior at New Hampshire.

#62 Donovan Phillip: Forward/midfielder, sophomore from NC State. He will be an international. Transferred from Oakland. Bit of an all around player positionally. NC State was mid table in the ACC this year. In 1,172 minutes, he had 6g/4a. Another year in school might do him some good.

#68 Shawn Smart: Right back who is with Las Vegas Lights. Played at Clemson. He is under contract for 2025 with Lights in the USL Championship. He will be playing there. Colorado just acquired his MLS rights. Smith is happy for him to stay with Lights. He played all but four games for them last year. Didn’t make the squad for the WCF loss to Swithbacks. Transfer Market has his value at 125K.

#75 Matthew Van Horn: Central midfielder from Georgetown. Sophomore. Brian Wiese has been running Hoyas Men’s Soccer since 2005 and I’m sure Keegan Rosenberry still has his number. He played almost 1,200 minutes this year after little playing time as a freshman when the team won the division. He’s originally from North Pole, Alaska and went to high school in Minnesota. He’s already ready for his first Snow Clasico.

Breaking down the class as a whole:

Nine players, four attackers, two center mids, two center backs, and a right back. With hopefully seven of them counting as domestic players. They got some very Rapids-y center backs, some versatile wide players, and some forward who just want to put the ball in the net place.

Throw in Sam Bassett at the No. 10 and Adam Beaudry in goal, and that’s an MLS NEXT Pro starting lineup.

The Rapids scouting team and FO are very happy with their draft. They got two of their top targets in Harris and Senanou. They got most of the guys they had in their next tier. This is one of Smith’s favorite days of the year. This went as well if not better than 2023 (Bombito) and 2024. Add Sam Bassett as a Homegrown (BW has heard that might be close) and this is a stellar class.

Expect the last four guys to not join the club next month. Harper, Phillip, and Van Horn should return to school. Smart will be with Las Vegas. The rest of the group before them should be in preseason. Most of them will probably end up with Rapids 2 this year. Bushey will have a better and older team next year.

Last Word: No stream made the SuperDraft not so super

This was the first year in awhile MLS did not have a stream broadcasting the SuperDraft. Boy did it flop. The league website’s draft tracker wasn’t updated regularly. Club comms staff scrambled to post updates on social media, in some classes out of order.

This was nigh impossible to follow live as media covering it. As a fan, it must have been as confusing. If you’re not going to stream the draft, just make it an email. Unlike the Rapids, MLS fumbled the bag.

Photo Credit: Mark Shaiken

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