Rochester, Mich. (Feb. 10, 2004)???C The Oakland men???s soccer team signed four players to National Letters of Intent head coach Gary Parsons announced. The Golden Grizzlies inked one Illinois native and three players from Michigan. Jonathan Barth (Greenville, Ill.), Logan Lyon (Charlotte, Mich.), Adam Kliebert (Okemos, Mich.), and Nicholas Nelson (Vicksburg, Mich.) all signed with Oakland during the early signing period to play at the start of the 2004 season. Barth, a central defender, plays for the Metro Soccer Club out of Edwardsville, Ill., which is the same club that current Oakland players Brett McNabb and Alex McDonald hail from. He will be looked at to help fill the void left by senior Jason Perry, who was drafted by the Los Angeles Galaxy of the MLS. ???Barth is coming from a top-level club,??? said Parsons. ???We watched him play in the back and were impressed with his abilities at that position. He has good vision and skill, which will help him evolve into a solid player in the back for us down the road.??? Lyon plays for the Michigan Wolves U-18 club team as a defender and Parsons will be looking for him to play a greater role down the road as well. ???We look at Logan down the road as an heir apparent at outside back,??? states Parsons. ???He is a good athlete with good quickness and good ball skills. I think he is a player of the future for us not only for next year but also for the three years after that.??? Kliebert is an outside midfielder with the Vardar U-18 club team. Parsons looks for Kliebert???s quickness to add another dimension to the team. ???He is very quick with good skills going forward and a good work rate. I think the big upside with him is his quickness and pace. He has Division I athleticism and we think he can help increase the speed on our team a little bit.??? All three players are members of the USL Y-league Olympic Development Program. Kliebert is also on the USYSA Regional ODP squad, which says something about the level of talent coach Parsons is adding to his team for next season. Another dimension of that talent is Nelson, a forward for the Kalamazoo TKO club team as well as a proven player with the Kalamazoo Kingdoms PDL team. Parsons believes he will be a force up front for the Golden Grizzlies in years to come. ???He has the opportunity to become a mainstay for us up front in 2005 if he doesn???t make an immediate impact next season.??? Nelson will be able to gauge himself immediately battling current forwards Philip Braathen and Chris Edwards for playing time. These four players provide a solid building block for the future of Oakland men???s soccer. There will be plenty of spots to fill after next season with the return of nine seniors to the 2004 roster. Getting in this kind of talent early will help ensure the success of this program does not skip a beat.