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Columbus Crew sign 3 homegrown players to first-team contracts
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- Columbus Crew sign 3 homegrown players to first-team contracts
The Crew have signed three homegrown players, forward Chase Adams and defenders Owen Presthus and Quinton Elliot, to first-time contracts, bringing Columbus' roster to 28.
All three players have been with the Crew since 2023, moving through the club's academy before joining the MLS Next Pro Crew 2 squad.
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"Signing Chase, Quinton and Owen as homegrown players is a proud moment for our club and is a testament to the importance of the player pathway," Crew general manager Issa Tall said in a statement.
Forward Chase Adams of the Columbus Crew controls the ball in the 2024 MLS NEXT All-Star game.
Adams, 17, began to draw attention on the international stage last year, when he scored 10 goals in a U.S. U-17 game against the U.S. Virgin Islands.
With Crew 2 in 2025, Adams recorded a team-high 10 goals.
Presthus, 19, will be the second son of a Crew player to make Columbus' first-team roster, joining the father-son combo of Robert (1996-2002) and Konrad Warzycha (2013). Owen Presthus' father, Tom Presthus, was a goalkeeper for the Crew from 2001 to 2003 and was a part of the 2002 U.S. Open Cup title-winning team.
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Owen Presthus began appearing for Crew 2 in 2024, where he has notched two goals and a team-high seven assists in his first season.
The Crew's Owen Presthus controls the ball in a friendly against Aston Villa on July 7, 2024.
Elliot, 21, is the oldest of the Crew's signings and left the Crew temporarily to play collegiate soccer, first for Louisville before transferring to Indiana.
In his season with the Hoosiers, Elliot was named First-Team All-Big Ten after making 21 starts on the backline.
More: Why Crew GM Issa Tall considers Henrik Rydstrom 'the perfect fit'
The additions of Adams, Presthus and Elliot raise the total of homegrown players to ever make the Crew's roster to eight. Under Tall, the Crew have signed five of those homegrown players.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: MLS NEXT Pro team adds to Columbus Crew with 3 new signings
