Real Salt Lake selected rookie forward Devon Sandoval in the second round of last Thursday’s SuperDraft, trading up two spots to take the University of New Mexico striker 29th overall. An Albuquerque, N.M. native, Sandoval was incredibly excited to join RSL after training with the club for a week last summer.
Here are 10 things you (probably) didn’t know about Devon:
As told to Sam Stejskal:
- The past few weeks have been crazy, going from the MLS Combine in Florida, back home to Albuquerque for a couple of days, then to Salt Lake City and now here in Casa Grande, Ariz. for preseason. It’s a little hard to describe what it’s all felt like but I’m just really happy to be here and I feel really blessed.
- I got to train with RSL for a week last summer on RSL-AZ Academy director Martin Vasquez’s recommendation and it went really well and I really enjoyed my time in Utah. I loved the coaches and I loved the team; it really is like a family and that’s the type of environment I wanted to play in. I think that this is the type of environment that can push me to be the best I can be. Coach Kreis has put together a really special place here and I’m really happy to be a part of it.
- Going into the draft I was hoping RSL would pick me up. Once I saw that in the second round they traded up I was really, really hoping they were going to call my name and when they did it was a really great feeling.
- I watched the draft at my Dad’s condo in Albuquerque. I was watching it with my Mom – my Dad was actually out of town – but my Mom, my grandparents, my girlfriend, my sister, one of my aunts and cousins and one of our family friends were there. It was nuts when I got picked. My girlfriend was recording the draft and when they said “University of New Me…,” you couldn’t even hear the rest, my family just went crazy. I was just sitting there, happy, smiling, but they went crazy, jumping up and down and screaming and all that.
- I played college soccer at the University of New Mexico in my hometown of Albuquerque. Being able to play there was a dream come true. I had grown up watching the Lobos play and just being able to play there in front of my family and friends, just the home crowd, it was really cool.
- Part of the reason I’m super excited about coming to Salt Lake is that my family will be able to come support me. They’ll be making trips out there and they can always drive to Colorado and Dallas when we’re on the road too, so I’m really happy with where I’m at.
- I’ve only spent a week there, but so far I like Salt Lake a lot. I love the snow; flying in and seeing all of it was really cool.
- I’m definitely a target forward. Obviously I want to make myself known for scoring goals and just being someone who works hard, never gives up and fights for the ball and my team. That’s how I try to play, just give 100 percent effort the whole time.
- There’s been a lot of talk about cutting my hair by some of the guys at camp. I started growing it out my freshman year in high school and they shaved it then, so my sophomore year it was long. Then I went to college and freshman year they shaved it again, so – again – it took until my sophomore year for it to get grown back out. Now they’re talking about cutting it again so I’m going to avoid them as much as I can.
- My main focus is definitely soccer. Everything I do is done to be the best player I can be and helping this team hopefully win Cup. I used to snowboard but I gave that up a few years ago because I didn’t want any freak injuries or anything. I do like to watch other sports, I like to watch football and I’m a big 49ers fan, so I’m pretty happy with where they are right now. I also love watching extreme sports like snowboarding and skateboarding - I grew up doing both. Other than that I’m a family guy. When I’m not playing soccer I’m either hanging out with my girlfriend or with my family.
