Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics

Contrary to expectations, the Feb. 10 match against Atlanta United didn’t get us any closer to knowing the identity of Nashville SC’s first choice strikers, as all five players got in the game and acquitted themselves reasonably well in limited opportunities going forward. Robin Shroot and Michael Cox started the match at the top of Gary Smith’s 5–3–2; Ropapa Mensah came on in the second half and likely would have started had he not missed the first week of training; and second-round MLS SuperDraft selection Alan Winn saw 45 minutes of action and assisted Ropapa on Nashville’s only goal.

With that kind of starpower and veteran experience on the roster, it might be easy to overlook Tucker Hume — not that overlooking all six feet and five inches of Hume’s frame is easily done. But Hume seems to have made an early impression on the Nashville SC coaching staff and has already shown that, as his college coach puts it, he “does more than just being tall.”

When you’ve got Andy Carroll height, though, getting into the box and being a threat in the air is always going to be a big part of your game. As a matter of fact, Hume’s flick on to Winn — which split open Atlanta United’s defense and led to Ropapa’s goal — showed that his ability to head the ball is a threat well outside the penalty box, too.

But Gary Smith admitted after the Atlanta match that he was caught off guard by the other aspects of Hume’s game that were on display.

“I thought Tucker Hume was a real handful,” Smith said. “Not just in the air which we would expect because he’s a giant — but his technique was very good and he uses his body well.”

On Friday, Smith added that Hume “shows very good ability to link, has a nice first touch, and is very appreciative of his teammates.”

This is something UNC head coach Carlos Somoano has known for a while. Somoano coached Hume in Chapel Hill for three seasons (one of them a redshirt year), overseeing Hume’s direct involvement in 49 goals across 41 matches played — impressive figures, even before you consider that he came off the bench in 24 of those appearances.

“He’s tall and he stands out because of that, so I think it automatically comes with some stereotypes or you presume certain things about him,” Somoano told Music City Soccer. “But I think the longer you coach him, the more you appreciate what he has to offer.”

Somoano’s observation might not apply to anyone more than Hume’s first college coach, who had him starting at centerback for the Division II Rollins Tars. Hume scored four goals as a true freshman from his position on the backline. It wasn’t until his sophomore season in 2013 that he moved up top; 10 goals and eight assists later, that was looking like a pretty good decision.

The next year, Hume was on the move to one of the best college soccer programs in the country. Once he got to Chapel Hill, Somoana says Hume was “an evolution” for the Tar Heels and made his biggest mark through his eagerness to accept coaching.

“He’s a very conscientious player,” Somoano said. “I think he listens intently to what the coach is asking and tries to execute to the best of his ability. He’s the kind of guy that may fail to execute it the first day you ask him to, but he keeps working at it. He’s so in tune to what the expectations are or the requests are from a coach that he just kind of figures it out.

“By being so coachable, he helps you win, even if he’s not scoring. He does a lot of the little things to help you win.”

UNC men’s soccer head coach Carlos Somoano

With big, bad Atlanta United coming to town, Gary Smith wisely decided to emphasize the foundations of his defensive philosophy during his first two weeks with the team. After all, it was never the case that Nashville were going to spend a large percentage of that match in possession. But now, as Smith begins to install the foundations of his team’s attacking philosophy, Hume’s coachability could give him a leg up on his peers.

As he battles with Mensah, Shroot, Cox, and Winn for playing time, the fact that Hume’s game is so different from each of those players might be another factor working to his advantage. If Nashville is struggling to break through against an opponent and needs a late goal, Hume could introduce some new problems for opposing defenses; that supersub approach certainly worked at UNC. Even if he’s not regularly in the mix for the starting XI, Hume could make for a savvy situational start against an opponent whose centerbacks struggle against forwards who are good in the air.

Nor does it hurt that Hume already has an excellent understanding with Winn, who seems poised to push for first-team minutes in his own right. The pair of Texans were roommates at UNC and got used to playing off each other in the Tar Heels’ forward line. It was that connection that Hume says gave him the “instinct” to know that Winn would be making a run in behind the Atlanta defense — and that all he needed to do was flick it on to his speedy teammate.

“They were very close friends, very closely bonded,” said Somoano. “And when that’s the case, I think that always trickles over onto the field. I think when you care about your teammates, you’re connected to them. I think there’s no choice but for that to be something that applies to the field as well.”

There are still six preseason matches to go, so Smith will have plenty of data points available when it comes time to make the starting lineup for Nashville’s March 17 regular season debut against reigning USL champions Louisville City FC. Three weeks into training, the new questions that have cropped up about the identity of the first team have been down to players exceeding expectation. That’s not a bad thing, especially at a striker position that once — hard to believe now — seemed to lack depth.

The next step comes on Wednesday, when Nashville SC takes on the Chicago Fire of MLS at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida. The match is set to kick off at 3 p.m. central and will stream on IMG’s YouTube page.