Ex-Huskies George John, Raphael Cox prepare for MLS combine

This Saturday, George John and Raphael Cox will share the pitch with the top college seniors in the nation at the annual Major League Soccer player combine in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

It's the two former Huskies' opportunity to showcase themselves at what is U.S. professional soccer's equivalent of the NFL's Senior Bowl. John and Cox, both midfielders at Washington, will join one of four teams assembled for the combine and play three matches Saturday, Sunday and Tuesday at Lockhart Stadium. Those matches are scrutinized by MLS coaching staffs, personnel executives and scouts.

Then John and Cox will listen for their names at the MLS SuperDraft on Jan. 15 in St. Louis. Seattle Sounders FC has the first overall pick as the league's lone expansion team and gets the first pick of each of the four rounds.

"It's always been a dream of mine to play at the top level in the country," John said.

"I'm ready to play at that level," Cox said.

Sixty-six players from 45 Division I schools have been invited to the combine. John, a product of Shoreline's Shorewood High, and Cox, of Stadium High in Tacoma, will both be at slight disadvantages having to travel across the country — John bright and early Friday and Cox on a Thursday night redeye. Also, John is coming off a two-month recovery from surgery to repair two ligaments in his right knee, which ended his senior season after 13 games.

"I'm sure there's going to be questions about it," John said. "There's still room for my knee to get fully better."

The panel of college coaches who selected the combine participants apparently thought highly enough of John's sophomore and junior seasons at UW to earn him an invitation. John, a Huskies co-captain and first-team all-Pac-10 selection as a junior, projects as a central defender at the pro level.

"George has all the physical tools," UW men's soccer coach Dean Wurzberger said. "George is going to get drafted. He may go to the Sounders [FC]."

Wurzberger has coached 14 MLS draft picks, including Ely Allen, a second-round pick of the Los Angeles Galaxy last year. Allen offered John some advice going into the combine.

"He pretty much told me to be in as good a shape as possible, and just be myself," George said. "He just told me whatever happens, happens."

Cox's speed and being left-footed (similar to using a left-handed pitcher), are two of his biggest assets going into the combine. Cox was named first-team all-Pac-10 after leading the Huskies in points with 20, including seven goals. He also had two winning goals.

Cox is an outside midfielder who has "creative dribbling skills," Wurzberger said.

"It shows that my hard work didn't go unnoticed by the college coaches as well as the MLS coaches," Cox said. "I'm just going to go down there and give it my all."

Cox and John will be the only Pac-10 players at the combine and among eight players from the West Coast. They've been working out individually and with former United Soccer Leagues Sounders players at Starfire Sports Complex in Tukwila, but haven't been able to do much on-field work because of the recent snowfall.

"They know their jobs," Wurzberger said. "It's about how tuned up they are. You really have to do something to show."

José Miguel Romero: 206-464-2409 or jromero@seattletimes.com