Rookies out of the college ranks are once again having a huge influence on the Major League Soccer season.
Led by New York central defender Tim Ream, 11 rookies have already played at least 1,000 minutes this season in MLS and 10 more have played 500 or more minutes.
What is different about the Class of 2010 is the number of contributors who didn't come out of Round 1 of the SuperDraft.
The 21 players with 500-plus minutes came out of the following rounds: eight in Round 1, three in Round 2, four in Round 3, four in Round 4 and two home-grown players.
Out of the top 10 rookies in minutes played, 9 of them have come directly out of the college ranks - Ream (St Louis University), Stephens (UCLA), Gavin and Zemanski (Akron), Gray and Loyd (UNC), Sinovic (Creighton), Tchani (Virginia) and Schilawski (Wake Forest).
Danny Mwanga (Oregon State) leads all rookies in scoring, and Ike Opara (Wake Forest) and Teal Bunbury (Akron) have also played key roles this season for their respective teams...so much for college soccer not having an influence on MLS...
Soccer America compiled a list of the rookies who have played the most minutes so far this season-
2010 MLS Rookies
| Minutes | Player | Club | Round, Pick | G-A |
| 2,160 | 1. Tim Ream | New York | Round 2, #18 | 1-0 |
| 1,629 | 2. Michael Stephens | Los Angeles | Round 1, #16 | 1-7 |
| 1,533 | 3. Andy Najar | D.C. United | homegrown | 3-1 |
| 1,369 | 4. Blair Gavin | Chivas USA | Round 1, #10 | 3-1 |
| 1,346 | 5. Ben Zemanski | Chivas USA | Round 3, #47 | 0-1 |
| 1,333 | 6. Jordan Graye | D.C. United | Round 4, #55 | 0-0 |
| 1,252 | 7. Seth Sinovic | New England | Round 2, #25 | 0-0 |
| 1,250 | 8. Tony Tchani | New York | Round 1, #2 | 1-2 |
| 1,229 | 9. Zach Lloyd | FC Dallas | Round 1, #5 | 0-0 |
| 1,194 | 10. Zack Schilawski | New England | Round 1, #9 | 5-0 |
| 1,149 | 11. Danny Mwanga | Philadelphia | Round 1, #1 | 7-4 |
| 957 | 12. Teal Bunbury | Kansas City | Round 1, #4 | 2-1 |
| 914 | 13. Ike Opara | San Jose | Round 1, #3 | 3-0 |
| 723 | 14. Shaun Francis | Columbus | Round 4, #63 | 0-0 |
| 720 | 15. Sean Johnson | Chicago | Round 4, #51 | GAA 1.38 |
| 720 | 15. Bill Hamid | D.C. United | homegrown | GAA 1.25 |
| 587 | 17. Kyle Nakazawa | Philadelphia | Round 3, #33 | 0-0 |
| 569 | 18. Joseph Nane | Toronto FC | Round 4, #53 | 0-0 |
| 564 | 19. Eric Alexander | FC Dallas | Round 3, #44 | 1-1 |
| 545 | 20. Steven Beitashour | San Jose | Round 2, #30 | 1-0 |
| 545 | 21. Steven Kinney | Chicago | Round 3, #45 | 1-0 |
Note: Statistics through Sept. 14.
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