The Columbus crew used his 2021 MLS SuperDraft second round selection for a player just around the corner in Columbus. With the 54th overall victory in the SuperDraft, the MLS Cup champion chose defender Joshua Jackson ketchup from the Ohio StateMen’s soccer team.
A native of Miami, Florida, Ketchup played high school soccer at the Montverde Academy in Florida and was a teammate in high school with tThe selection of the first round of the crew, Justin Malou. He won the team’s Most Valuable Player award in his 2017 senior season and was placed on the All-American Watch List that same year. After his time in his home state, Jackson ketchup went to Columbus and became a horse chestnut.
In the state of Ohio, ketchup played with the team every three seasons from 2017 to 2019. He couldn’t play in his senior year after the Big Ten canceled fall sports due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
As a freshman, Jackson-Ketchup started 14 games as an attacking midfielder, scoring three goals and providing two assists in his college debut season. He started all 17 games in his sophomore year, scored once and assisted once in 23 shots.
Ketchup started all 19 games for Ohio State in his junior and senior college seasons when he began moving from an attacking midfielder to a full-back. He was a three-time OSU scholar and was named the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week once in 2017.
Although no Big Ten was played last fall, the crew have seen ketchup in action many times. He previously trained for the Black & Gold senior team while playing in the Ohio state of Columbus for the past four years. Pat Onstad, the crew’s technical director and vice president of football operations, sees him as “sort of an attacking right-back” after playing in attacking midfield early on at Ohio State.
The crew picked two picks in the MLS SuperDraft on Thursday afternoon and they can both play again. The position currently lacks depth. The only right-back option on the Columbus roster is veteran Harrison Afful, who is nearing the end of his career at 34. Jackson ketchup adds more depth to the roster in this position and would likely be low on the depth map as a round two draft pick.
Columbus also had a selection for the third round but decided to pass the selection on. With the SuperDraft in the books, the crew is now waiting for the publication of the regular season schedule for 2021 and for further information on the start of the preseason.
