MSOC Sebi Roy Talks About His Year As An Ocelot Before Heading Off To Yale

When Michigan's 2023 Mr. Soccer Seballion Roy was trying to navigate through his recruiting process, it was Schoolcraft College that provided him an oasis.

The former Clarkston High star, who carried a 4.0 grade-point average, had a lot talks with several NCAA Division I schools including Ohio State, Butler and Wisconsin, as well as some high-profile Division III schools.

And just prior to the end of his senior year, Ohio State seemed to be his original choice, but a potential roster spot with the Buckeyes unexpectedly dried up when almost had half their team red-shirted and were given an extra season of eligibility due to injuries.

The 6-foot-4, 195-pound forward from Commerce Township who scored 18 goals as a senior at Clarkston, then turned to a familiar face in his club coach Rick Larson, the longtime and successful coach for the Ocelots.

"I was kind of struggling for options at that point," Roy said. "Rick was always at option at Schoolcraft even if it was a gap year. I kept my relationship even after he left the Nationals and I love him as a coach."

Larson, who has proven to be one of the top coaches in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA), has posted an overall record of 265-58-20 in 20 seasons. His 265 wins rank tenth all-time among active NJCAA coaches and is 26th all-time.

"I love the way he challenges his players to think, not just about soccer in general, but what it can mean outside of soccer and lessons inside the sport and how it applies to your life," Roy said. "And that's something my dad is fully in line with and seeing someone else coach at the high level – and that's something you should absolutely do. I loved it."

Although Roy used the fall 2024 season as strictly practice time, his story had a happy ending when he was admitted recently to Yale University.

"It was Harvard, MIT, Yale . . . they were like, 'Yeah, if you take the gap year we are interested,'" Roy said. "Harvard offered me the spot for 2025. I took it, but unfortunately admissions said no in the December time frame. I tried MIT as well, and the coaches said, 'Yes, we'd absolutely love to have you.' Admissions said no again. Just a few days ago actually, Yale came back with a yes and I got accepted."

Although Roy could only practice and watch the Schoolcraft games from the sidelines, the gap year experience proved to be beneficial.

"I was very surprised by the talent level actually," said Roy, who played his freshman and sophomore prep seasons for the MLS Academy FC Cincinnati during the COVID-19 2021 and 2022 seasons. "You always hear about JUCO being, 'Ah, it might not be the same competitive spirit you get in DI.' I thought that was absolutely wrong. The foreign players, the local players I knew going into it, they were all extremely talented and it was surprising how good the team was. It sucked not being able to play the games, but the practices were amazing."

In many of the Ocelots' practice sessions with the second unit, Roy was paired up against Schoolcraft's top defender Niko Demopoulos (Utica Eisenhower), who signed with NCAA Division I program James Madison (Va.).

"With Rick and Schoolcraft, they were able to provide the schooling and the training with older guys," said Travis Roy, who was an All-Stater himself at Livonia Stevenson High and played for 1995 NCAA Division I champion Wisconsin. "Rick's got some big foreign guys there which is great, while continuing to train with Nationals as well."

Larson, who coached Roy with the Nationals U-17 and U-19 club program, said Sebi is "mobile, deceptive and strikes the ball equally with both feet."

Added Larson: "He kicks the ball like a pro scorer, the ball comes off hot. He's liked by his teammates and is a dedicated training player."

A lot of Seballion's training started and continues to this day with his father Travis, who works in network security.

In 1997, Travis and his Milwaukee Rampage teammates captured the USISL A-League championship. In the fall of 1997, Travis Roy moved indoors with the Detroit Rockers of NPSL where he was named the 1997–1998 Rookie of the Year.

"He (Travis) absolutely gives me advice because I would not be the player I am today without him," Sebi said. "He's a role model, my lifetime coach. Nothing I can do in soccer cannot be stated without him."

The Roy family, meanwhile, is heavily invested in the sport of soccer.

Younger sister Morgan earned All-ACC Freshman honors at Notre Dame. His younger brother Fagan, who stands 6-4½ and played as a freshman during Sebi's senior year at Clarkston, is also a promising player in his own right. Mother Stacy (Prais), meanwhile, was a cross country and track athlete as well at Stevenson High.

Meanwhile, Yale head coach Kylie Stannard, a former assistant at Michigan State, had his eye on Roy for quite a long time.

"We always liked Sebi, but it was always like we didn't know if it was a positional need at the time," said Stannard, who has been the Yalies' head coach since 2014 highlighted by a pair NCAA tourney berths. "But luckily how it all played out – you're always looking for guys that can score goals and be a threat in and around the box. I think when I heard things didn't work out for him at Harvard, I ended up seeing him down in South Carolina and we still had a spot left and we had a lot of scoring troubles this past year – albeit a lot of injuries as well. But when I saw Sebi I said, 'We've got to get this kid.'"

After a 4-11-1 overall record, including 1-6 in the Ivy League in 2024, Roy could fill an immediate void up front for Yale.

"He's two-footed, and even though he's a big guy, he moves really well," Stannard said. "He's got quick feet. He's kind of got like ice in the veins a little bit. He can score with both feet. He's a good ball striker and he can create his own shot as well. A lot of times there's a lot of big guys that have-to-have things set up for them, but Sebi can create his own shot.

"He's going to compete with our guys on day one. I'll never guarantee anyone anything, but Sebi knows fully he's got to earn everything. Potentially not only an all-Ivy level player for us, but I think he can move into the history books at Yale. He's that type of potential."

Roy, who plans to major in Economics with a double minor in finance and physics at Yale, is finishing up his second semester at Schoolcraft where he also took courses in Italian and statistics.

And although he was required to take less than 12 credits during each term due to NCAA eligibility restrictions, Roy said he benefitted from his academic experience.

"It was amazing," he said. "I wasn't allowed to take a full course load but mentally I stayed active. I really liked the physics course the last semester. It was quite challenging the course and the professor was wonderful."

Added Travis: "Harvard, MIT and Yale were all happy with what he was doing. Taking challenging courses, too. Everyone was happy with the situation. It's not perfect because you want him there as soon as possible. It was as great as it could be and it obviously worked out for us."

Roy, who will report to Yale in early August, will play this summer in a USL 2 pre-professional circuit for USL 2 Union FC Macomb.

But it was the lifeline that Schoolcraft College extended him which proved to keep Roy on course both soccer-wise and academically during his gap season.

"It really fell in our laps through Rick and Schoolcraft because it's very hard to get recruited in soccer now-a-days and it worked out as well as it could have – great – we are so thrilled," Travis Roy said.

And Larson was more than happy to provide him with a place to hang his hat when he felt somewhat lost in the desert from the recruiting process.

"Moving kids to places like Yale is amazing," the Schoolcraft coach said. "I'm so happy for him to fulfill his dream."

By Brad Emons