
After playing in 67 of 70 matches in four years at George Washington University, Pittsburgh Riverhounds rookie defender Tobi Adewole found himself in an unfamiliar spot to open the 2017 USL season: the bench.
He wasn’t just there for the Hounds’ 3-3 season-opening tie to the New York Red Bulls II on March 25; Adewole sat out each of Pittsburgh’s first 15 league matches.
“Even though I wasn’t getting playing time in the beginning, I just kept working hard, hoping I would get my shot,” Adewole said.
That shot finally came on July 4. Adewole started at center back in the Hounds’ 3-1 loss to the Charlotte Independence at Highmark Stadium. He played the entire match and finished with two tackles and a 58.3 percent passing accuracy.
Since then, Adewole has started each of the following three matches. His passing percentage has been more than 60 percent in each match, and he’s beginning to feel more comfortable.
“I feel like I’ve earned my spot by basically coming into practice with a chip on my shoulder, feeling that I want to be the best defender that I can be, the best defender here,” Adewole said.
The journey to becoming a lineup regular began last fall. Hounds head coach Dave Brandt, familiar with Adewole from his days coaching Navy men’s soccer, invited his former intraconference foe to a pair of tryouts in Pittsburgh.
Adewole wowed his future coach.
“He is the only one we pursued out of the second (trial),” Brandt said. “Trials are pretty big. There’s 60 to 70 guys and Tobi really stood out there.”
Brandt cited Adewole’s intelligence and athleticism as primary reasons for coveting him.
Despite an “average,” as Brandt described it, center back crop eligible for the 2017 MLS SuperDraft, Adewole was not expected to be selected. Instead, he signed with the Hounds on Jan. 9, two days before the SuperDraft began.
Adewole was looking forward to joining the Hounds immediately. He planned to take online classes through George Washington to finish out his senior spring semester while training full-time in Pittsburgh.
Unfortunately for Adewole, he was not offered financial aid if he was not a full-time student in-person at George Washington’s campus in Washington D.C.
However, Brandt wanted Adewole on his team and that was all that mattered. The Hounds would work with Adewole.
“At that point, with us knowing we wouldn’t really have a center back until May, we were faced with a choice,” Brandt said. “We could have voided the contract and said, ‘well, ok, if you can’t be here until May, we’re not going to sign you.’ It was frustrating for Tobi and frustrating for us to not really have him, but I think it was the right decision in the end to keep him.”
The process wasn’t easy for either side. Adewole shuttled back and forth from Washington D.C to Pittsburgh from January to May. Weekdays were spent in the nation’s capital and weekends in the Steel City.
Adewole also trained with his alma mater at times while in D.C. It meant more time around his former head coach, Craig Jones, who named Adewole the Colonials’ captain his senior season. Despite the unfortunate circumstances surrounding the delayed start of Adewole’s USL career, Jones helped keep Adewole’s spirits up.
“My big thing [that I told him] was be patient, wait for your chance and when you get it, take it,” Jones said. “We had him [at George Washington], so we knew he could do it, it was just whether he could get that chance.”

In Pittsburgh, Adewole received further encouragement from another familiar face: Hounds forward Kay Banjo.
Adewole, 21, and Banjo, 24, are both from central Maryland, with their hometowns separated by just 40 miles. Banjo and Adewole grew up well acquainted with each other.
“I played with his older brother at travel soccer for three or four years,” Banjo said. “I would always watch his games after our games or watch his games before ours. We have mutual family friends and everything. We’ve known each other for a while and I never thought I’d end up playing with him on the same professional team as I am now.”
Adewole contacted Banjo before the second trial in the fall for tips in hopes of making the Hounds roster. Banjo was happy to oblige and enjoys helping out Adewole now that they are teammates.
“In a player’s rookie season, it’s always good to have someone that you can rely on,” Banjo said. “It was easier for him to adapt because I was already here.”
Part of the adaption meant being patient, as Jones said. Brandt said that despite Adewole being a part of training from January to May, he still was not conditioned enough to be starting and logging heavy minutes.
Now, Adewole is ready and contributing. In the last three matches, the Hounds have only allowed a combined one goal. They have their center back and it has made a difference defensively.
Though he has played every minute of the past four matches, Adewole is still looking to improve. The biggest area that he feels he has improved is staying composed and letting nerves subside.
“I would say playing the smart balls versus just forcing it,” Adewole said of ways he has improved. “Composure on the ball, definitely composure. Being patient instead of just kicking it out.”
Adewole hasn’t let the recent starts and trust of his coaching staff go to his head. He’s motivated every time he steps on the field. The contract Adewole signed in January is a one-year deal with a team option for 2018. He doesn’t want the Hounds to think twice about retaining him next season.
“I want to be someone that they look at as, ‘Ok, we need him next year,’” Adewole said. “’He was a good player for the last half of the season.’ That’s why I’m taking my time and I’m going with it.”
After an arduous spring to get to this point, Adewole has seized the opportunity once it was given to him this summer. He’s improving with each match and keeps a chip on his shoulder even with the recent streak of personal success.
Brandt is impressed with Adewole thus far and is excited to see how his center back will improve with time.
“He’s got the tools to be able compete at this level for sure,” Brandt said. “I think he’s got an upside, once he gains more experience, that will allow him to do well for a long time if he wants to.”