FirstTouch’s Topher Hegngi sat down with Portland Timbers’ forward, Jeremy Ebobisee to discuss everything collegiate soccer, MLS, becoming a pro, the state of US Soccer and more. Below is a rare but comprehensive transcript of their chat which definitely breaks down and helps shape America’s soccer landscape.

INTRODUCTION

The instant Jeremy Ebobisse picked up the phone, I could hear the adjusted tone in his voice, letting me know that he was still finding a spot to chat. I, sitting slumped in the passenger's seat of my brother’s car watching rain furiously pelt the windshield, immediately empathized with him. After a late evening bus ride from NYC to DC, the rainstorm had only grown in severity, so I was just happy he seemed to be able to hear me clearly. Jeremy, on the other hand, was experiencing much better weather in Chula Vista, CA, on his debut camp with the U.S. National Team, and was having a much more exciting evening.

One of the first things you notice when speaking to Jeremy is his poise, which is impressive given how his 2019 started and concluded. Selected as the No. 4 overall pick in the 2017 MLS SuperDraft, Jeremy initially had a tough time breaking into the Portland Timbers rotation in his rookie season. After registering just eight minutes over the first 26 games of the 2018 season, the forward made the most of a surprise start against the Colorado Rapids in September, netting a goal in the Timbers’ 2-0 victory. He went on to start all six of Portland’s playoff games, bagging a goal and an assist as the Timbers made an eventual run to the MLS Cup Final. The breakout performance earned Jebo, now aged 21, his first-ever call-up to the U.S. Men’s National Team in January, which he christened with a debut start against Panama.

Now after his third season with Portland, it was one of true breakout for the French-born forward of Cameroonian and Malagasy descent. Jeremy appeared in all 34 matches for the Timbers, starting in 25 of them. Cementing his importance for the club, he’s scored a career-high 11 goals in the process. “I think the team’s gotten more confident in allowing me to express myself a little bit more on the field,” Ebobisse said in an interview with the MLS regarding whether he’s playing with more confidence now. “I think sometimes when young players come to a team, they don’t want to ruffle any feathers. They kind of want to defer to other people and I think that’s natural. I think you have to earn the respect from players around you but myself and a lot of other young guys who have come in this year have done so very quickly.”

Confidence is perhaps the next thing you notice with Jeremy, but with a foundation of humility well beyond his years. Well, maybe not if you ask anyone in his direct family, who can all attest to the type of young man he is. They’d probably bring up a 12-year-old Jeremy audaciously announcing to his family that he was going to be a professional soccer player. While that might have sounded lofty to them at the time, Jeremy was about to back up his affirmations through his exploits for the Bethesda Soccer Club, a top youth program in the Washington, D.C., metro area.

By 15, Ebobisse had developed into a rather prolific goal scorer, and soon after, he accepted an invitation to train with the academy program at English Premier League club Fulham. Remember the humility I mentioned earlier? Even though Jeremy was beginning to live the dream that so many young athletes hope to experience in their young careers, you couldn’t tell his parents that any of that mattered more than his education. Well, at least not at first. His father Alain, who met Jeremy’s mother, Lisa, at an engineering school in France, continued on to earn an MBA in Switzerland. His life became a distinguished example of how education can open doors, ultimately giving him the opportunity to join the World Bank Group and bring his family to the States.

At home, the family would spend their time together engaging over a variety of topics, from sports or food to delving deep into challenging discussions about politics and current affairs. “We were definitely an education-first family for large portions of my childhood,” Ebobisse said. “But then slowly, as I started to play in more competitive tournaments and I started to be evaluated by scouts for professional teams overseas, it began to open different doors.”

If education opens doors, then the same can be said of humility. In the esteemed words of the late T.S. Eliot, “The only wisdom we can hope to acquire is the wisdom of humility.” Alain made the trip to England to tour the Fulham facilities and watch his son play. When he saw Jeremy score against Chelsea’s academy team, he realized in that moment that his son actually had the ability to compete at the highest level. Even if visa issues eventually prevented Ebobisse from staying with Fulham, Alain was sold. Convinced. “I believe that either you do something fully or you don’t do it at all,” Alain said. “I realized that he had to decide to either pursue education studies fully or pursue soccer fully. At this level, where everyone is so good, you have to be fully there if you want to have a chance.” With the blessing and encouragement of his family, Jeremy immersed himself in the game with unrelenting confidence.

THE INTERVIEW

Topher: I know we talked about that moment when you're in high school and sort of made that realization, not only that you might have the talent to do it but more importantly it was kind of a realization of your work ethic and your drive that could give you the opportunity to make it. When did you make that kind of realization for yourself?

Jeremy: I can tell you we all have that dream, as a kid you’re watching morning soccer or whatever it might be and you envision yourself in the biggest stadium. It doesn’t become a reality until you know later on in life when we are given that opportunity you’ve been working for. In my sophomore year of high school, I had to go on trial in England. And my coach helped prepare me in a way where it took all the pressure off of me.

Topher: That is a surreal moment for a kid, isn’t it? When you’re starting to take your craft seriously.

Jeremy: You know what I mean? Anyways, my coach said I have a training opportunity for you, it will be really cool for you know to like get some training overseas and see what it's like over there and then when I get there I’m thinking you know like, whatever happens, I'm not staying. It’s not permanent. I’m not signing papers. I just needed to tell myself, “OK, take a deep breath, I'm here on trial, it’s whatever.” Approaching it like that helped calm me down and I ended up playing really well. I think I scored like 7 goals in 4 games.

Topher: Well after performances like that, there had to be interest right?

Jeremy: Yeah, immediately they really wanted to sign me and next match I scored against Chelsea coming off the bench, then scored against a couple of league one academies. They even flew my dad out, to the following trial that I went to two months later. And oh my God, it had been a really big education for this guy! He got to see the facility, the infrastructure, the outline and the goal that they set for me. And I bought into the idea that under the right circumstances, with the right tools and with the right drive that I could actually make it.

Topher: That sounds like quite a moment for both of you.

Jeremy: Probably the biggest moment for me and him. What he always preached to me was that he didn't care what I did, what field I went into, but that he wanted me to make sure that whatever I chose to do, I do it 100 percent. I think he always knew I was going to go the soccer route, and he was happy and very supportive.

Topher: What advice did they give you?

Jeremy: At the end of the day, you're going to have to work really hard in anything you do if you want to make it in life.

Topher: When in high school was this trip?

Jeremy: That was the summer after my freshman year, going into my sophomore year.

Topher: That’s pretty early. How did that end up impacting college recruitment for you?

Jeremy: My college recruiting process was a little bit more unique. I graduated a year early from high school and my whole youth career. So you know I remember getting letters and emails as early as 8th grade just because scouts would come to watch the sophomores and they would realize I was a strong athlete for my age, let me get on some radars. Even though coaches monitor high school soccer, they kind of needed to work around that. Slowly but surely, I started getting interest but it was all going through my coach because at that point they couldn’t contact me. Sophomore year, I got more interest after I started doing a few college camps as well.

Topher: Is that when Duke came into the picture?

Jeremy: Yeah, a couple of months into my sophomore year, Duke floated the idea to my club team at the time, that I graduate early from high school. I remember jumping at it because I liked the idea of having to find a new club team from my high school. So from that moment, you know word got to the college coaches that I was going to graduate early and that's when everything started to flood in and from there.

Topher: Were you considering any other schools?

Jeremy: I really only considered could Duke and Stanford and then Maryland a little bit as well, but I realized that Maryland was going to be a little bit tough for me being so close to home and maybe having a more distracting environment since I still knew so many people in the area. Between November and my sophomore high school that's when everything really got rolling.

Topher: That’s an exciting time. It’s really cool to hear how level-headed you were at just approaching that process. Like you said, graduating early would impact the decision that you're making but it's also cool to figure out how high you have the bar raised for yourself in terms of limiting the distractions. I feel like that is kind of an underrated perspective, for young players. It's so exciting and easy to kind of be attracted to where the most excitement is. But you also want to be yourself, prepare yourself up for success and not limit yourself with distractions too early you know.

Jeremy: Yeah, I mean it would have been really cool to play for Maryland, you know they’ve got 8,000 fans a game, I mean that's exciting. You know that was definitely a big draw towards the school but I was talking to one of my friends one year earlier before college and he was telling me how much harder it was to focus for him in that environment. I’ve heard the stories about people making it hard on themselves by letting the attention go to their head too early and by going out spending too much money and time on things that fill up their heads up and gives them an over-inflated sense of self.

Topher: So how did you analyze both opportunities at the time?

Jeremy: So, on one hand, mostly in Europe, you have all the tools to succeed. You have all the coaches, the fields, and equipment to get you there. You have the scouts watching you for the second you’re ready to jump into the next level but then you also have all the glamour that comes with that. And unfortunately, young players definitely diverge off the path. And that's when you know then who is going to make it and who is not. And I say that with college, because college although you don't have that immediate path to the 1st team, you have other positives.

A lot of these schools have state of the art facilities. I know Duke has an unbelievable practice field. You also have coaches and advisors that want to help you get the next level, but then it’s up to you to actually take matters into your own hands or do you fall for the regular college student life which I'll tell you I'm sure you experienced it as well. It’s attractive but at the same time can be short-sighted for someone who has the potential to at least experience a few years of the game.

Topher: It really is an opportunity to say hey, I have to maximize the time that I'm here because again you don't know how long you're going to be in school.

Jeremy: Definitely. I'm not saying to kids who want to go to college that they can’t have fun and go pro. But there’s a right place and time for that. Figure out what works for you and don't go with the flow, know what your goals are and then from there organize yourself accordingly. But there’s no reason why you can’t have fun as well.

Topher: Tell me when did you get your 1st National Team call up?

Jeremy: So I did a big ID camp when I was 14, it was like a big pool camp with 120 players, and was under a lot of pressure from my club coach and the regional U.S. national team scout at the time. I got called into a U-17 camp but ended up getting hurt 2 weeks beforehand. I didn't feel right to rush myself back into it with the back injury and ended up going to my 1st camp as a U-18 player. Slowly but surely I worked my way back into the fold.

Topher: What would you say to other younger players about what you learned from your experience being recruited and how you made your decision and I guess college soccer's overall role in the development of youth in the United States and kind of how you kept an eye on that and let it influence and impact decisions?

Jeremy: I think when I was recruited we were looking at a different landscape of the professional level in this country and the collegiate level. Unfortunately, I don't think the collegiate level is progressing as quickly as it could. So it only becomes harder. You find a USL team and takes a bet on you. Whether you to go college and try to balance the best of both worlds or take your luck in the draft which who knows where it's going to be as well in the next 4 or 5 years, the landscape isn’t the clearest right now.

Topher: Any advice to them?

Jeremy: My advice to a young player would be to honestly reflect on their own career and their trajectory and what they want as well. Do they want to be the best player that they can be? If that's the case, you have to find a professional team, be it in the second Division in Sweden or USL or somewhere in Mexico.

There are so many teams as well, if you have the right talent level you will find the right team. Now the flip side of that is do they want to just go to college, go with the flow and whatever happens, happens and by all means that's where colleges can still continue to help players. Programs that are turning out quality professional players, there’s no reason why you can completely discount college soccer, but I would admit that guys going to college tend to fall behind and I fell in that category 100 percent.

Topher: How did it make you feel watching some of your peers who chose to forego college?

Jeremy: While I was figuring how to prove myself in the next year and a half, I watched peers who signed pro at 17, and started breaking into the MLS. Their development trajectory was 2 years ahead of mine. And by that time I realized I'm 20 years old and I'm not even playing at all and so on the flip side there are 20 years-olds who by their 2nd season are full-time starters.

I don't hold any regrets because Duke taught me a lot of things and I have a lot of important relationships that I made while at Duke. I still have attained the level that I’m proud of and I can still get to where I hope to be.

I also recognize that this is potentially my 1st season as a starter, and if I win the job going forward, I'm looking at guys my age again now 3-4 years of starters. It’s important to recognize that in terms of experience around the world if I'm going to be competing in the Olympic cycle, I'm going to be behind the ball and I have to mature a lot quicker than some of the other guys out there.

Topher: You make a lot of good points. Young players are becoming more educated and empowered to understand that they have choices.

Jeremy: It was still taboo even as a young player when the people in your life are telling you to go and skip college, go overseas and play wherever you can play. That is a complicated decision and one that you have to weigh up. But I fully understand coming out of college and even spent like 4 seasons in college but you know what I mean? Again, like you said, it doesn't diminish you as a player because you still learn things and you develop, but as you said, you do look around and you're like hey even though I’m still talented, even though I trust myself and I have my dream of where I want to get to, you look around and see other players around your age and players that you played with or again who may have been outside of the system for a long year and you feel like you might be behind.

Topher: You said it perfectly! You do need to bust your butt that much more to catch up and then get ahead. It's great to hear how humble you are in that experience and the progress that you've made.

Jeremy: You look at guys around the world, a 19-year-old is starting in the Bundesliga, the Premier League and whereas here on the flip side, a 19-year-old is playing in college and naturally the guy in the Bundesliga is going to grow exponentially and the guy in college might grow linearly. When you look around in the Bundesliga, guys my age, to name a few, Justin Black, Tyler Adams, these guys have been playing since they were 16-17 in the league. And now Tyler finds himself breaking into the first team.

It's a little bit fascinating and also it just tells you that you know there is a reward and obviously for every Tyler, there's 100 kids who don't make it, if you want to be that person who takes a chance or do you want to be a person who was asking what if and we're in different ages now. You know we're in an age where a lot of these young athletes if you’re putting in the work in training, a lot of them or a handful of them will be given the opportunity to play because they recognize that they can make a profit off selling you. So you know, there's more infrastructure, there's more of a foundation for you to succeed and again Tyler was one of the 1st who signed for the Red Bull team and then in his next year signed with the 1st team and slowly but surely he’s integrating.

Again your path may be playing in an academy at 16 and then going to college. For others, USL may be better than college and you're already experiencing that as a young teenager. You know it's different for everyone and another piece of advice that I think is important is that everyone's path is different, I watched some of my best friends go pro at 14/15 and then I watched some guys and I've heard stories about guys who perhaps went D3, went D2, played NAIA and had to grind USL and NAFL and all that in order to get their shot, but they made it work too. So everyone’s path is different and you shouldn’t be ashamed of your path, that’s something important to mention.

Topher: It’s definitely important to keep in mind that at the end of the day as a pro or even an aspiring pro you do have to kind of take it with a grain of salt and focus on yourself and make sure that you're in tune with your own process.

Jeremy: I think that’s something that I hope to continue seeing change with younger players and their decision making. Whether it's pressure from parents or pressure from other people for whom the education and collegiate experience has been important, America still has the stereotype that there is one way to make it.

If you don't go to college, you don't do it this way, then people kind of make you feel like you're losing out on something, whereas I think that over the last 3-5 years in terms of self-education; many colleges and companies are accepting different certifications that are out there to empower yourself. If you're diligent and work hard enough you can still get a lot of opportunities to develop your professional career off the field. I think that will be something that continues to empower young athletes and to think, “Hey, if I have a talent, this is my window, I can go for it as hard as I want to, and as long as I have a plan later in life to kind of make up the ground and get to where you want to get to as a professional in your working career, I can still reach my goals.

Topher: Do you think this an issue specific to soccer in the U.S. or something athletes from all sports have to asses?

Jeremy: I think in a country this big and diverse in terms of sports, we’ve got to change. The soccer culture in the world is different than the NFL and NBA culture here. You know in the NBA and the NFL, the stars have to go to college but soccer players around the world don’t. So we're going to see young kids who are ambitious and who are watching the Christian Pulisic’s of the world, etc. all these young guys skip college and they're going to say I'm sorry, but I’m not saying it's going to work out for every single one of those kids, but I'm never going to shoot a kid down who has the talent and who has the drive.

I can look at a kid… I can look at a 16-year-old and tell you if he has that mentality to make it and it’s the same way I can look at an 18-year-old or a 19-year-old because I went through it.  I'm going to relive some really hard moments again; drop my career and I have some tough moments as well where I didn’t know if I was going to make it, but it's how you react to these moments that define where you’ll be in the next 6 months or a year. If a young athlete is willing to sacrifice the immediate benefits of social life, then there's no reason why you can't get to some sort of level. College will not run away from you and you don't need your body in peak physical condition to be in college. So that’s my wrap.

Topher: You’re definitely right, the culture is slowly changing That being said, it's good preparation for life because as a young driven person with a good head on your shoulders, you're proving to yourself that you can do the things that you set your mind and your heart towards. The periphery people in your life will always have their opinion.

Jeremy: There’s a lot of time off the field to figure out your life after your career. There's no reason to shut the door on the ball just because you're scared of what might happen or some else’s opinion on the matter. Like I said, there’s so many teams in this world, there’s one team that will fit you if you’ve worked hard enough from a young enough age and obviously you have some sort of talent. It's about how hard you're willing to go for it. I’ve got guys that are grinding in Slovakia. A friend of mine was working in Slovenia and now he’s moved on to Slovakia which is a solid league in Europe, even though not as glamorous as Ligue 1 or the Belgium one. But top football leagues in Europe know that Slovakia is a tough league and one that has a lot of benefits, so I’m happy for him.

When he was leaving college, he left before senior year and there were definitely people including coaches that were saying, “Why are you leaving?” That he didn’t have a guarantee there and he should be waiting and hoping to go to the MLS. For me, he's just a living example of what drive and determination can do. He tells me stories about how hard it was in Slovenia, and how he always wanted to come home. Not everyone is cut off for that, but he made it work and then he had an offer to come back and play in the USL which is closer to MLS. At the same time, he was able to land an important deal in Slovakia which is going to only further springboard his career because from Slovakia if he can play well, which I have no doubt that he will, he can bounce into Denmark or Sweden or the MLS and continue his journey to his own personal mountain top.

It doesn't mean that that's going to be a thing for everyone, everyone is different and that really excites me to see him go through that journey and then watching him grow from afar as a person and player.

Topher: What an inspiring journey. As you said, that's something that you do have to come to a realization for yourself and your personal mountain top. So I totally agree with you man. Touching on your journey from college to Portland, I feel like you've seen a lot of change in U.S. Soccer in terms of the collegiate experience and its role in developing young talent. U.S. Soccer is currently trying to find itself after a huge identity shift. With what you’ve seen, how has that impacted your experience with U.S. Soccer?

Jeremy: I mean it goes further back than that. Just watching the World Cup in the country that you live in and watching that country play, it’s something that inspires everyone. It creates a sense of bonding and appreciation for that and I'm sure that's what the players felt when France won. Slowly but surely you see the US making its own progress.

With highs like winning the Gold Cup and lows like losing to Mexico in the World Cup or even failing to qualify for the World Cup, we are seeing a rebirth and it’s exciting. There are a lot of players from the past who have inspired my generation of players to take soccer to a new heights and you see it with U-20 national team and U-17 in the last 2-3 cycles, they want to win, but they want to play, they want to run, and they want to show that we're just as talented as some of these other nations.

Topher: How is that culture being manifested in this first initial period with Berhalter?

Jeremy: We want to try and impose ourselves, I think that kind of fearlessness is going to drive us into what I'm going to say will be our most prosperous era. We have an ambitious coach who is set on changing the way that the world sees U.S. Soccer, and we have players who not only have the talent but have the mentality ready to fight hard against the hardest of situations that they could be in and then also bring joy that, quite frankly is uninspired right now. We’re taking it upon ourselves, whether it's the U-23 or the U-20 or both, to push the culture to a new level.

Building steps for the finished product there were some rough moments, but at the end of the day, you also saw some highs. From a national team standpoint, that's been exciting but even from a from a club standpoint, I've seen a lot too. I mean the rise for us, the rise in our academy system. The shifting demographic in college soccer to more homegrown findings in USL and the massive impact from our Women’s National Team has led the way. All of this is only good for soccer in this country. You know you have more options for young players to play in. You have more opportunities for local teams to get nationwide coverage. You have more money being spent on the sport and that's only going to improve and with the World Cup coming in 2026, I think that will be a unique referendum on the state of U.S. Soccer in general because we’re looking at 6-7 years from now, when we will be well into “this new era of rebirth.” And it's really exciting you know to watch as a fan but also hopefully as a player.

Topher: It's very exciting to see and I have no doubt that you will be playing an awesome part of that. Getting your most recent front-row seat being a part of Berhalter’s initial camp and initial games, what are some of the differences in playing style and identity in comparison to Klinsmann?

Jeremy: I can't speak for Klinsmann’s teams, but I can speak for Greg and his staff and they've been very clear about the identity that we want to have. They've been hammering it home every single day at that camp. We want to break lines, we want to control the game, we want to manipulate the defenders to open up certain passing patterns and crossing options for ourselves. Obviously the execution wasn't always there because it is a new system, this is a work in progress but all our laws are clear, we knew exactly what to do on the field. And that’s not a clarity I've always had in my youth and collegiate career, I didn't have that kind of clarity and that’s really refreshing.

In the camp, you really get to see what Greg is about. It's super exciting, getting my 1st cap was something surreal even if I was playing out of position. I think it spoke to the confidence the staff put in me, in an international game out of position and I just took it all in stride. It was really special and it just makes me want more. I can't harp on it enough, you get a taste of something, you get a taste of the next level and all you want to do is just continue to prove yourself, to show that you deserve to be back there and so on a personal front, I hope to be back in the senior national team when it's my time again. I understand I'm lucky because U-23 is going to be really important to US Soccer run each eligible player and for that again, we're talking about righting wrongs and inspiring the fan-base, I think this is going to be a unique opportunity.

Topher: Definitely man. I respect and appreciate your humility talking about the opportunity for yourself. Props to you and I have no doubt that you will continue to have your opportunities to show all of your talent and your work ethic in the upcoming U.S. Soccer events.

Jeremy: I mean there can be ups and downs as you know, but I think it's important to acknowledge from the get-go that it's about trying to limit the downs.

With that I can position myself in a place where you know my club coach has to play me, whether it's out wide, whether it's in the center or whether it's in a different position than I might have never played before, I just want to make sure that I'm doing everything I can to be on the field and ultimately to be a part of that national team because you know I think again there’s so many special moments to be having in the future, at the club and international level and I need to do what I can to try and be a part of all that. It's exciting, you know. It's something that professional players feel and I'm just lucky and I know that I worked hard and I fully believe I deserve everything that I've gotten following the good and the bad, but I think there's a lot to come and I need to be ready for it.

Topher: Acknowledging some of those down periods can be important for a young player. What have been some tough times that you've had along your career so far?

Jeremy: I would say my first year at Duke was one for sure. Coming in after a long season, laboring with some soft tissue problems. I was unable to take a break really and I took a week off and then I had to get in shape and then I didn’t pass the fitness test. Then they had me running 2-3 days for a few weeks which not only made my body feel worse but eventually broke my body down halfway through the year. The coaches were extremely disappointed and so was I.

The way they were treating me, they felt that they wasted a full ride. In the summer I was demoted to the second team and the assistant coach didn’t feel like I was performing to my potential. Personally, I thought I was being scapegoated and that was a really low moment in my career. I was wondering if I was even gonna make it anymore. It’s in those moments where you have some dangerous thoughts.

Topher: Was there anything you learned that allowed you to kind of pull forward and continue to build on the form and the work ethic that put you to where you even ended this most recent season?

Jeremy: Yeah I just think you take a step back and especially for this year I started meditating more. It's the little things like that, that definitely helped me stay focused. It's taking it day by day, like understanding that there’s going to struggle through your successes and not being too hypersensitive to everything that goes on.

Topher: How have figures like Giovanni or Michael helped with your development over the last few years?

Jeremy: I think they made it hard on me but in a way that benefitted me. Guys always come into the league and they feel that they're ready to start, they're ready to be the man, ready to get sold, ready to be whatever it might be and I think sometimes you know you've got coaches that have to humble you. And I'm not going to say that I was the most level headed player to come into the league, but I think I experienced that same kind of humbling under various coaches at various levels.

Topher: Some of the best coaches and developers in our youth teams today know how to do that. They know how to recognize the players that do need that and what level they kind of need to give it to those players to draw the best out of them and so it's kind of like showing it to the players.

Jeremy: Right? I’d even add that a lot of times that you have to take matters into your own hands. Again, because the coaches have to worry about the team as well, so you can't rely on the coach to be looking after you, you have to be willing to do what you have to do to get that for yourself and ready to force yourself into the conversation.

Topher: Speaking on that “conversation”, after being in the MLS for a few years, what are your thoughts on the MLS, it’s the current model of DP’s and clubs investing in older and more experienced players and how that affects the sustainability for young players?

Jeremy: I mean, being in this league as a young player, I think that you know the league is in a tricky spot where it's trying to grow a lot while still attracting the big-name players. And that's something that as a young player you have to deal with because you could go anywhere in the world and you're going to have that same issue. At the same time, you know there's a lot of complexity with that on how clubs spend money and invest in players. It gets everyone to raise their level, it makes it more attractive to the fans as well.

Topher: What are some of the players that you looked up to while you're growing up, whether that was in the U.S. or abroad?

Jeremy: I’d definitely say Karim Benzema. I grew up watching the French team a lot with my family having ties to the country.

Topher: True, definitely a top player but also an underrated one. I feel like it's taken Cristiano leaving Madrid for him to get even more space on the field and the offense is kind of centered around him a bit more.

Jeremy: His presence has been very understated. He's been there since Ronaldo was there and dealt with Ronaldo being seen as the best man in the world. Benzema has always been someone who has good chemistry, plays well with his teammates and can score goals. When I was younger, I didn't always understand that when he wasn’t always scoring. When I got older and I realized he does a lot of things. I aimed to replicate that at whatever level I played at because it makes the game a lot easier for your teammates.

Topher: Who have been your mentors in the MLS during your time with the Timbers and what are some of the most important lessons that you've learned so far?

Jeremy: You know I don't think one specific mentor in this league. I think the young guys who are Tyler Adams, and some other guys with the youth national team that I played with for a long time, you know we drive each other and we try to learn off each other's mistakes, you know we look up to each other for guidance and experience. Obviously a lot of organizing, a lot more is fully invested in that as well. We learn by taking it step by step and going through the process because it's going to be a long career hopefully for all of us and we are going to reach heights that you know might have seemed impossible as a kid or as a dream but in time with the right mindset and surrounding yourself with the right people, I think we all have the potential to be where we want to be.