San Jose, CA – The San Jose Earthquakes attained the rights to former college player of the year Marcus Tracy on Thursday in a weighted lottery held by MLS.
San Jose was one of eight teams in the running for Tracy, and had just a 4.6 percent chance of landing the former MLS draft pick. Tracy was picked by the Houston Dynamo in the 2009 draft, but signed with Aalborg in Denmark.
Tracy, 25, spent three seasons with AaB, but returned to the United States and signed with MLS. Houston no longer retained the rights to Tracy and the lottery provided teams a chance to secure the former Hermann Trophy winner.
He was honored as the top player in college following his senior season with Wake Forest in 2008. Tracy scored 30 goals for Wake Forest and won the 2007 NCAA title.
"We liked what we saw of Marcus when he finished his career at Wake Forest," said Earthquakes coach Frank Yallop. "He's an athletically gifted striker and is dangerous in the air. We look forward to bringing him in."
San Jose leads the Western Conference and has the top record in the league. The Earthquakes visit Chivas USA on Saturday.
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.