By Kristan Heneage

It is 8am and Mo Adams has already been up for three hours. It was dark when his day started, the sun still some way from breaking through the window of his apartment in Syracuse, New York. The midfielder is a long way from the Derby County academy he grew up in, chasing a dream of professional football via American college soccer.

“Balancing school and soccer can be tough, because you’ve got two things to try and excel at,” Adams, who is aiming for a degree in sports management, told The Telegraph. “At Derby County my day’s work would last up to four hours, but here in college, I leave my house at 6am and I won’t be back home until 9pm. In the long run, being a professional soccer player and having a degree is definitely worth the hard work I’m putting in each and every day though.”

Adams represents a growing trend of released British academy players that are rejecting a life in the lower leagues for a shot in MLS via college soccer. Players such as, Sporting KC’s Dom Dwyer and Real Salt Lake’s Luke Mulholland, serve as inspiration to an ambitious generation with an American dream.