Toronto FC selects Tyrese Spicer with first overall pick in 2023 MLS SuperDraft

Toronto FC selected Lipscomb University forward Tyrese Spicer with the first pick in the 2023 MLS SuperDraft.

Toronto earned the top pick after finishing with the fewest points - 22 - of any team in MLS.

Spicer finished his senior season with 14 goals and three assists in 16 matches, and he led Lipscomb to an NCAA Tournament berth. He finished tied for seventh among NCAA Division I players in goals scored this season.

The forward scored in each of his first 10 games of his senior season, and he only had three games without a goal contribution in the 2023 season.

In his sophomore and junior seasons, Spicer played more of a playmaking role. He had eight goals and seven assists in 17 games in his sophomore season, and he had four goals and seven assists in 18 games in his junior season.

Overall, Spicer contributed a goal contribution every 120 minutes in his college career.

What remains to be seen in the 2024 MLS season is how much of a role he plays for Toronto. Still, he is the first big acquisition the club made under new head coach John Herdman.

Spicer slots into a core group of young players in Toronto. Toronto's joint-leading scorer Deandre Kerr, Kobe Franklin, and Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty are all under 21, and the team will likely only get younger as the rebuild continues.

Kerr could pair with Spicer to form the attack for the future, but time will tell if those two can coexist with Toronto's two designated players, attackers Lorenzo Insigne and Federico Bernardeschi, whose contracts were a key reason why Toronto had the league's highest payroll in 2023.

Spicer is a versatile attacker and regardless of his immediate fit in the team, he will be able to play a number of roles in the future and should benefit in the short-term from learning under two experienced professionals if Insigne and Bernardeschi stay in Toronto.