As Mississippi Brilla FC enters its 19th season in USL League 2, a new staff member has been brought on to continue Brilla’s success. The former Brilla player Justin Roberts has earned the title of Recruiting Coordinator for the club and will be the main communicator with potential recruits for the team. “It is great to have someone directly overseeing our USL2 recruiting efforts,” said the Executive Director of Brilla, Rusty Bryant. “Justin knows the landscape of soccer as well as anyone in our state, and he brings incredible organizational skills to a crucial area of our team.” Roberts stressed the idea that when looking at past Brilla teams, the most successful ones have had a common theme of being well-balanced. His main role in recruiting is to find the right profile of player that they are looking for at all levels of college soccer. There are talented players at every level, and Roberts is keen on creating what he explained as a core group of players that will be the backbone of the team for more than just one season. Such a task is not easy, and it will take time to develop, but he is confident that the staff is well on their way to creating a group of players that will become the core group in a successful team.
Roberts serves as the Brilla Juniors Director as well as the Boys Director at Rush United. He brings a connection between the two youth clubs and the USL2 team that has been lacking in recent years. “You can’t understand soccer in Clinton without understanding how important the community is in Clinton. Brilla is a big part of that, and those pieces need to be tied together.” Roberts wants to use his connections to add good coaches to the youth clubs and to the USL. He notes that there is a real need for synergy from a staff perspective between coaches in the clubs and the coaches for the USL2 team. Not only will Roberts’ connections provide players and coaches in the area with more knowledge of the Brilla USL2 team, but it will also provide a stepping stone for players within these clubs who are capable of playing at that level to be seen and get their chance to play at the highest level in the state of Mississippi.