With the #11 overall selection, FC Dallas took UNC center back Matt Hedges. Hedges was a second team all-american in 2010 and a first team All-American in 2011 while starting opposite FCD Academy product Boyd Okwuono at center back for the national champion Tar Heels.

Lots more to come on Hedges, but he figures to slot right in and compete for the starting center back position likely vacated by the departure of George John. Hedges was projected as the best defender of the draft before inexplicably falling to #11 after a relatively poor combine.

JR Eskilson rated him as the best senior of the draft while Travis Clark had him as the 3rd best senior.

To toot my own horn, I nailed this pick in our SB Nation Mock Draft and had this to say...

Schellas Hyndman and company can't believe their luck when 6-foot-4, 185-pound monster center back Matt Hedges falls to them at No. 11. Paired with FCD Academy graduate Boyd Okwuono at center back, Hedges led the UNC Tar Heels to the national championship in his senior season and comes to an FC Dallas team thin at center back with the impending departure of George John. Hedges, the highest rated senior center back in the draft, should step right into the FC Dallas squad and compete with recent Colombian signing Hernan Pertuz as the starting center back opposite Ugo Ihemelu. The man from Carmel, Ind. who spent his first three years at Butler University, compares very similar to John as a defender. Both are players who are very good in the air and a threat to score some headers on set pieces. He will need to improve his distribution out of the back, but could give FC Dallas a dominant center back pairing from Day 1.



