FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.—Rumors run rampant at an event like the Major League Soccer combine and a bad case of group-think can make even the most fluid projections appear to be set in stone.

So any speculation about who is going where in next week’s draft needs to be taken with the requisite grain of salt. That said, a couple of certainties have emerged long before the players and coaches gathered in South Florida.

It’s tough to find anyone who doesn’t agree that the top two pro prospects, the players with both the most upside and potential to contribute right away, are Connecticut forward Cyle Larin and Washington midfielder Cristian Roldan. Both signed Generation Adidas deals after their sophomore years.

Expansion twins Orlando City and New York City FC currently pick first and second in the draft and it will be considered an upset if either Larin and Roldan slip past the second pick. But after that…?

The Montreal Impact currently hold the third pick in the draft and all eyes are on Frank Klopas’ team to see what it does with the pick.

“That third pick will have a lot of trickle down,” said one rival coach. “Assuming they don’t trade, we know what Orlando and New York will do. But Montreal, it’s anybody’s best guess.”

There are options aplenty. Les Impact had one of the league’s worst defenses—only Colorado and defunct Chivas USA allowed more goals—so it could go for an—ahem!—impact defender like U.C. Davis center back Ramon Martin Del Campo or Generation Adidas project Conor Donovan. Left backs are always a commodity so Washington’s Andy Thoma or U.C. Riverside’s Otis Earle could also be in play.

Montreal could always go for the best attacker still on the board, in which case Oregon State’s rangy Khiry Shelton, the Pac-12 player of the year, or NAIA star Dzenan Catic, who showed his scoring prowess with an early combine goal Friday, could be the option. Or they could go for a solid central midfielder with a winning pedigree like Notre Dame’s Nick Besler or Syracuse’s Generation Adidas goalkeeper Alex Bono, whose stock is soaring after his surprise call-up to the U.S. national team Friday.

“Odds are Montreal is going to take a player who is on the top of another team’s board,” said an Eastern Conference assistant coach. “But I have no clue who that is.”

PLENTY OF SIZE IN THE BACK

There was once a stereotype in soccer in this country that the game was played by smaller guys who weren’t big enough for other sports. That stereotype is being shattered by most of the center backs available in this draft.

“There are some beasts here,” said one scout, shaking his head.

At six-foot-two, the aforementioned Martin Del Campo and Donovan are two of the shortest center back options for this draft. Leading the giants is Axel Sjoberg, a six-foot-seven Swede from Marquette who had a strong showing Friday.

“I needed to show I can do more than just be big in the air,” said Sjoberg, “I wanted to show I have mobility and can handle the smaller attackers.”

Navy’s Joe Greenspan, a two-time All American who is not here, is six-foot-six. Loyola Marymount’s Craig Nitti is a beefy six-foot-five who looks like he could play tight end but has enough skill to score five goals last fall.

Akron’s Saad Abdul-Salam, who has the wheels and skill to also play right back; Connecticut’s Sergio Campabell, who has already been capped by the Jamaican senior national team; Syracuse’s Skylar Thomas, a thick-chested Ontario native; and Saint Louis’ lanky Anthony Manning, whose calm draws comparisons to Eddie Pope, are all listed at six-foot-four.

St. John’s ginger-haired Tim Parker and South Florida’s Canadian Nikola Paunic are both six-foot-three.

“If you’re a team that needs a big center back, this is a draft for you,” mused one West Coast coach.

BE RIGHT BACK

Last fall center back Oumar Ballo’s draft stock soared as he led UMBC to the College Cup semifinals with four straight clean sheets while showing impeccable timing in the air and the pace to stay with any attacker in college soccer.

But after starting Friday’s game for Team Nitro Charge at his traditional center back, the six-foot-two Ballo was suddenly shifted to right back in the second half and showed surprising ability going forward. Ballo is fast enough to maraud forward but the pinpoint cross he whipped in that led to a nice scoring chance surprised even him.

“I got forward and saw I had some space and just tried to hit it clean. It was fun, something different,” Ballo said. “If it gets me on the field, I’ll play anywhere and showing I can play more than one position is a good thing.”

Ballo said he tried to play right back the way he wants it played when he’s a central defender. “When I look up I like the defender to be up ahead of me at an angle and have that diagonal outlet. So I tried to be there for the center backs when I was out there.”

CHAFED ABOUT CHAPMAN

Much to the chagrin of several teams, one of the top players in college soccer who isn’t available is Jay Chapman, a junior midfielder from Michigan State who was an All-American this season.

Chapman spent part of his senior year of high school with the academy program of Toronto FC but was dropped by then-academy director Thomas Rongen.

Despite this Toronto put in a homegrown claim on Chapman and it was honored by MLS and Chapman is on the verge of deal with the club. “They’re close,” said someone familiar with the negotiations. “There’s still a few small things to get done but they should be able to get it done.”

Several MLS teams expressed dismay that Chapman wasn’t signed to a Generation Adidas deal and put into the draft.

“How do they have a claim to him when they dropped him from their program and didn’t have him train with them the entire time he was in college,” said a rival Eastern Conference coach. “Teams with better claims on players have had their (homegrown) requests turned down. It doesn’t make any sense.”

Brooke Tunstall is an American Soccer Now contributing editor and ASN 100 panelist. You can follow him on Twitter.