Heading into their third season in the USL, Charlotte Independence has assembled a healthy mix of returning starters and younger talent from the college ranks. Let’s look at the roster, just days before the season opener.

Starting with the keeper core, it’s a little thin with only two players signed. Luckily for Independence, both Cody Mizell and Kyle Renfro are talented keepers and are ready to step in whenever called on. In a strange move however, Mizell was acquired by the Rapids on a season long loan from Independence — even though Mizell is still in Charlotte training with Independence, and Colorado has USMNT keeper Tim Howard, Zac MacMath, and John Berner on their roster.

Do I think Mizell is talented and could absolutely compete with Berner for third keeper on the MLS roster? Yes. I’m not sure where that leaves Mizell with Independence, but there’s a good chance that both Mizell and Berner could spend a lot of time with Charlotte in 2017. Regardless, Independence fans should be confident in whoever is between the pipes.

Moving up the field to the defensive line, Independence has six players signed with four of those being returning players: wing-back Joel Johnson, returning rookie Austin Yearwood, veteran Henry Kalungi, and team captain Bilal Duckett. Johnson, Kalungi, and Duckett all logged over 2100 minutes of play last season, so I would expect them all to step into the starting lineup. The biggest missing piece from the 2016 season is Patrick Slogic, who departed the team in December and to my knowledge hasn’t landed anywhere since.

Looking to potentially step into that role will be rookies Luke Waechter from UNC Charlotte and Jared Odenbeck from Wake Forest. Waechter spent his collegiate career at center back, but Coach Mike Jefferies has been known to float his defenders around the line depending on what’s needed and his player’s base athleticism. Odenbeck played for the Charlotte Eagles, so he should be familiar to the coaching staff as well.

Midfield is definitely where Jefferies and Engstrom focused their efforts to keep their playoff-reaching core, with six returning players and two rookies signed to deals for the 2017 season. In the middle of the park will sit Jun Marques Davidson, Yann Ekra, and Lewis Hilton. Hilton was my surprise of the 2016 season; coming in as a rookie, playing over 1200 minutes in a key role, scoring three and assisting on another four, Hilton will be looking to take the next step in his second professional season and attempt to solidify a spot in the starting eleven.

Farther up the field is USL MVP nominee Enzo Martinez — 26 starts, nine goals and five assists, the fiery attacker will look to potentially break double digits in goals from both the wing and the center of the park.

It’s on Enzo that Jefferies will be focusing his attacking core and rightly so. Enzo proved that even without the official armband he could lead the Jacks forward and will be the key player that Independence’s playoff hopes will rest upon.

Surrounding him on the attack is the versatile David Estrada, Enzo’s brother Alex Martinez and veteran super-sub Jorges Herrera — all returning from the previous season and logging 14 goals between the three of them.

The biggest source of need is the forward line with only mid-season acquisition David Spies returning… and Spies didn’t log a single minute for Independence in 2016. Estrada or Herrera could technically slot into that forward role, but both have proven their worth elsewhere, and at 37 years old, Herrera’s minutes will need to be closely monitored to make sure he stays fit. Spies will either need to quickly prove his prowess in front of goal or Independence will need to look to the free agent market, fast, to bring in more players.

Normally you could count on a Rapids loanee in that position, but Colorado are enjoying a good run out of former loanees in Caleb Calvert and Dominique Badji right now and I wouldn’t expect to see either of them in Charlotte this year.

Independence now have 18 players on their roster, not including any potential Rapids loanees. In the past, they’ve hovered around the 23–25 mark with their roster, so I would expect a few more permanent signings in the next week or two. But with their first match on April 1st, time is running out to find some of the last pieces of this roster.

Overall, I think fans should expect more of the same from Jefferies’ crew. Scrappy and defensive have been the way of Independence in their first two seasons and with no huge changes to the guard in 2017, I expect that to remain the same. The goal is always the playoffs, and if this group can’t get there again, fans and players alike should feel hard done.