Nov 27, 2016; Commerce City, CO, USA; Seattle Sounders forward Jordan Morris (13) scores a goal past Colorado Rapids goalkeeper Zac MacMath (18) in the second half in the second leg of the MLS Western Conference Championship at Dick's Sporting Goods Park. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports

Seattle Sounders’ homegrown player Jordan Morris was the MLS 2016 Rookie of the Year. Who will he be in this upcoming season?

Jordan Morris, the record breaking homegrown player from Stanford, ended the 2016 MLS season very differently than how he started. He was under much scrutiny for not scoring and really not living up to the expectations fans and the club put on him. Eventually, though, he found his rhythm, scoring his first goal against the Philadelphia Union in game 6 and went on to win the MLS Rookie of the Year as well as lead the Sounders to their first ever MLS Cup.

Now, with all this confidence built up from last season, what can we expect from Jordan Morris this upcoming season? He ended the MLS regular season with 12 goals and 4 assists and it is pretty obvious that those numbers will only go up.

Where Will He Play?

Throughout the season, Morris played in a number of different roles for the Rave Green, including point striker as well as on the wing. But now with the departure of Nelson Valdez, who’s role in the starting line up pushed Morris to the wing during the final stretch of games in the MLS Cup, it seems more likely that we will see Morris back to his more comfortable striker role up top, where he had success throughout the season scoring 11 of his 14 goals including playoffs.

As of now, we can expect the attacking four on opening day to look something like this:

Morris

Shipp——–Dempsey——-Lodeiro

This lineup, though, all depends on the health status of Clint Dempsey. If he in fact is not ready to play, Lodeiro might have to tuck inside and play as a number 10 while Morris pushes out wide and Will Bruin takes up the point striker role:

Bruin

Shipp——–Lodeiro——-Morris

We saw what kind of damage Morris could do from the wing in games like the home tie of the Western Conference Semi-final against FC Dallas but this still wouldn’t be ideal. If Dempsey isn’t fit to play, Seattle might have to look to the transfer market to find another winger.

What Will His Stats Look Like?

We have a little more than a month until the first match week of the MLS 2017 season. Morris is currently with the US Men’s National Team, building confidence and learning from some of the best players from the MLS. If Morris takes what he learns from the National Team camp and brings it back to Seattle, he could easily start off the season scoring like crazy.

It is hard to tell how certain players will play when they have only been around the league for a year, but seeing how Lodeiro, Alonso and Roldan started figuring out how to take advantage of Morris’ pace going forward, it is highly possible that Morris scored 6 or 7 goals in the opening 10 games.

Keeping in mind Morris will most likely be called up for the Gold Cup and will miss at least 4 or 5 games Sounders matches, I predict that Morris will end the season with 15 goals in regular season play and will also have 5 assists as he keeps learning how to set up his teammates around him.

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