HAMTRAMCK, Mich. — Steve Horn was going through the routine rounds of offseason high school soccer this past December when his attention was taken elsewhere.



Horn, a Lansing-area coach, was propped up on the metal bleachers of a local Soccerzone, watching the development of one of his current players, when a quick peek over his shoulder put his eyes on a former one.



The field parallel to where Horn was sitting was absent the game chaos right in front of him. The simulated green grass was as tranquil as a Montana pasture. The only thing disrupting the serenity on the other side of the walkway was the zeal of Cyrus Saydee, who was working out by himself, galloping end to end, with little regard for what was going on around him.



“I talked to a couple of parents and they say he’s doing that every night,” said Horn, who coached Saydee a decade prior.



In Lansing, Saydee is known as a one-of-kind talent. By many accounts, the product...