Editors note: A group of ASN staffers have created a 23-man roster for the January U.S. national team camp. These are not our predictions—these are the players we would like to see named to Jurgen Klinsmann's squad.

IN HIS OFFICIAL MLS HEADSHOT Wil Trapp still looks like he’s about 15-years-old. And while he’s not actually that young, Trapp is still a babe in terms of American professional soccer. But he plays the game with a sage confidence and awareness that belies his youth.

Trapp will turn 22 next month and he should be celebrating his birthday with the U.S. national team at its annual January camp. In just a year-and-a-half as a starter for the Columbus Crew, which signed him to a homegrown contract in 2013 after two seasons of college soccer at nearby Akron, Trapp has emerged as one of the most promising and complete young American players. He appears to be a potential heir and possible partner to Michael Bradley in central midfield.

Neither a pure destroyer nor dynamic playmaker, Trapp is the quintessential modern 18-to-18 center mid. With the Crew, he does his share of the defensive work but benefits from midfield partner Tony Tchani (who wouldn’t be a bad choice as a darkhorse pick for the January camp) doing most of the grunt work. And while he’s a clean passer with excellent vision, Trapp's strength lies in maintaining possession and getting the ball to creative players like Federico Higuain in dangerous places.

With the U.S., especially given the domestic-based roster in the January camp, it would be interesting to see him playing between a grinder like D.C. United’s Perry Kitchen and New England’s creative spark Lee Nguyen.

One way or another, Trapp is almost guaranteed to spend most of January at the Stub Hub Center outside Los Angeles. The U.S. U-23 national team, which will try and qualify for the 2016 Olympics, will be having a camp simultaneously to the senior national team. U.S. Soccer has not announced whether the two teams will train together or separately and how players like Trapp and Luis Gil, who are age-eligible for the U-23’s but who have earned looks from the senior team, will be handled. Will they split time between the two teams? Pull double duty? Only be used with one group?

Trapp last played consistently for the U.S. at the 2013 U-20 World Cup, where he had a solid performance behind Gil and he returned from that tournament and instantly claimed a spot in the Crew’s lineup, starting the final 16 games. Last winter he solidified his starting spot in training camp and so impressed new head coach Greg Berhalter that despite being just 21, he was named Columbus’ vice-captain and assumed the captain’s armband when Michael Parkhurst was at a pre-World Cup camp.

Trapp was playing his best soccer by the end of the season and was a key reason the Crew went 9-3-2 down the stretch and entered the playoffs as one of the hottest teams in MLS.

Trapp’s leadership ability is another reason why Jurgen Klinsmann would be remiss not to give Trapp a long look next month. It’s tough to quantify exactly what it is this kid has, but what he has is the kind of thing that makes teams better.

ASN's January roster so far

1. Tesho Akindele
2. Lee Nguyen
3. Robbie Rogers
4. Matt Besler
5. Gyasi Zardes
6. Bill Hamid
7. Matt Hedges
8. Luis Gil
9. Steve Clark
10. Charlie Davies
11. Perry Kitchen
12. Andrew Farrell
13. Miguel Ibarra
14. Jermaine Jones
15. Clint Dempsey
16. Kelyn Rowe
17. Graham Zusi
18. Omar Gonzalez
19. Sean Johnson
20. Wil Trapp

Agree? Disagree? Tell us in the Comments section below.

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