The Mustangs’ Adrian Chevannes battles to clear the ball. (John Schreiber)

SMU’s men’s soccer player Adrian Chevannes was drafted in the Major League Soccer SuperDraft last Friday. He was taken with 36th overall pick in the third round by the Colorado Rapids.

As expected, Chevannes was excited that he was drafted by an MLS team. “It feels really good to finally be able to say that I am a professional soccer player,” commented Chevannes.

Even though getting drafted was an exciting moment, Chevannes never lost focus on the importance of graduating. “I am happy to be given the opportunity to prove myself as a professional,” Chevannes said, but “I am also glad that the Rapids are going to let me graduate this spring.”

Chevannes is the fourth player who has been drafted to the MLS from SMU in as many years, and will join SMU graduates Ugo Ihemelu and Colin Clark. The Mustangs have had a player drafted to the MLS in every year since the 2005 season.

Last year, SMU’s Jay Needham was drafted in the third round by D.C. United. Instead of playing in the MLS in his first season, Needham decided to play in Puerto Rico where he played in nearly every game.

In spite of his versatility, Chevannes expects he will be used almost exclusively as a defender when he reaches the MLS.

Chevannes helped SMU get to the College Cup Tournament in all three years at SMU. In 2004, he started in 18 games while scoring three gamewinning goals.

In 2005, Chevannes took a year off to spend time evaluating his potential as a professional by training with Real Salt Lake. “This experience helped me when I came back to SMU,” commented Chevannes. Along with helping his collegiate career, the training helped set the bar for the amount of effort it takes to play in the MLS.

The 2006 season was one of Chevannes’ best seasons as a Mustang. He led the team in scoring with 18 points by scoring six goals, while adding six assists. He was elected to second-team All Conference USA as a forward.

Chevannes was SMU’s most versatile player on the roster, considering he played on the backline, in the midfield and at forward during his career at SMU. In 2007, he started nearly every game at defender. While his scoring obviously suffered, Chevannes anchored a defensive unit that had eight shutouts on the season. He made first-team All Conference USA as a defender.

That is not the route that Chevannes plans on taking, though. He fully expects to spend his first professional season on the roster of the Rapids.