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Sam English

2025 College Draft Prospect Profile: Sam English

By Adam Lamberti | Apr 23, 2025

Sam English, like with No. 3 overall prospect Andrew McAdorey, holds tremendous potential and value all over the field.

He plays on the first midfield for Syracuse but also takes faceoff wings and plays man-down defense.

Lamberti’s Player Comparison:

Right-handed Zach Currier

Lamberti’s Projected Pick:

No. 10 to California Redwoods

As an offensive midfielder, English is a tough cover.

Possessing great straight-line speed, his go-to move is an underneath speed dodge move to free up his right hand that I’ve yet to see defenders stop when guarding him one-on-one.

But it’s the way that he uses his speed that makes him such a complete dodger, especially in the two-man game. 

Because they want to desperately keep up with him, defenders will cheat and try to guess which way English is going off the pick. English knows that, and he does a great job of “refusing the pick,” or going the opposite direction to confuse his defender and get to the cage.

His speed and ability to stop on a dime make this possible.

 

If he does get slid to, English is a good smart decision-maker, as well. He’ll throw it forward to X or look for a lefty shooter on a skip pass.

He threw the game-winning assist to Owen Hiltz against Virginia after drawing the slide.

Yes, he can score, but more importantly, English is the straw that stirs the drink offensively.

Just look at how much attention he gets when he beats his defender off the dribble and then finds Michael Leo for the dagger against Johns Hopkins.

Defensively, English is more than capable of holding his own on that side of the ball.

He played defensive midfield at Princeton in 2020, and his defensive IQ is one of the main reasons he’s on the man-down unit for the Orange this season. Another is his ability to be a one-man clear with his athleticism.

Because he needs to be fresh offensively for the Orange, English hasn’t taken as many wings on faceoffs as he should. If I’m a coach, I’m putting him out there as often as possible because of his offensive ability off the wing. A lot of PLL coaches share a similar sentiment.

As with McAdorey, the 32-second shot clock makes players like English so valuable – a player who can push offense quickly but can also stay and defend if you lose the faceoff.

Overall, what you are getting in English is a speedy midfielder with a nonstop motor who does anything that’s asked of him.

Need him at offensive midfielder? Sure, he’ll beat defenders all day on the dodge. Need him on the wings? Yep, he does that. Defensive midfielder? Absolutely, and just imagine what a threat he would be in transition.

I have the Redwoods picking English up in the second round to combine with McAdorey, but don’t be surprised if California just takes him at No. 3 overall.

McAdorey and English are the clear top two midfielders in the class, and if California can nab both of them in the first round, it would give them a ton of flexibility to choose an attackman in the second round, such as Hiltz or Matt Traynor.

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