Atlanta United announced today that they have signed midfielder Will Reilly as a homegrown player through the 2025 MLS season with options through 2028.
The Decatur native joined the Academy back in the inaugural season in 2016. During his time, he captained the U-17 team and made his professional debut on July 13. 2019 with Atlanta United 2. He made 35 appearances and recorded two assists with the 2's.
He committed to Stanford in 2020 to continue his career and to continue to grow as a player.
“Will joined the Academy in 2016 and worked his way through the development pipeline before going to college at Stanford University,” Academy Director Javier Perez said. “We’ve continued to follow his development at Stanford where he has started every match for the past three seasons. He’s a versatile midfielder who can play box-to-box or in a more holding role. We are excited to welcome him back to the club and see him begin his professional career here.”
During his freshman season with the Stanford Cardinal, Reilly appeared in 15 matches including three starts. He scored his first collegiate goal on Nov. 4 against San Francisco. In his sophomore season, he continued to progress and become an everyday starter in midfield, playing and starting all 20 matches. He scored three goals and added three assists and was named Pac-12 Player of the Week once during his sophomore campaign.
In 2023, the Decatur native started and played in all 20 matches again where he scored four goals and tallied a career-best seven assists as Stanford advanced to the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Tournament. In his senior campaign this past fall, he started all 20 matches again, bringing his college career total to 63 starts in 75 matches. He finished his career with 11 goals and 17 assists as Stanford reached the third round of the NCAA Tournament in 2024.
After a phenomenal collegiate career, Reilly has coming back home to play for the club that gave him his start. You know what they say, there is no place like home.
Welcome back to Atlanta Will!
JASON'S TAKE I personally always love when academy products go to college and raise their level, Reilly has done that. There was a good bit of conversation before he went to Stanford on whether he was ready for a pro deal at that time. It wasn't an easy decision I'm sure for both the club and the player at that stage, it was really close. In the end, Reilly was able to go to a strong program, play a ton of matches at a good level, and make himself an even better prospect now than he was before. He is strong on the ball and will be able to contribute to all the central midfield roles. I'm curious to see now whether he is better suited to the deeper 6 role or play more as a box-to-box 8 contributing to the attacking phases of play. Excited to see how he fits into the group in preseason!
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