Ghanaian striker Umar Farouk Osman has been crowned the Gatorade National Boys Soccer Player of the Year for the third time in six years.
Osman is a Ghana product who came to the USA via the Right to Dream Academy, which seeks opportunities abroad for promising young talent from West Africa.
The 2017 winner, Umar Farouk Osman, scored 19 goals and had nine assists in his senior year at the Hotchkiss School in Connecticut, where he arrived as a freshman from Tamale, Ghana.
Previous winners Abu Danladi (2014) and Ema Boateng (2012) had moved from Ghana to Southern California, where Danladi attended the Dunn School and Boateng the Cate School.
Danladi, who played three seasons at UCLA, was the 2017 No. 1 MLS SuperDraft pick and so far in his rookie season for Minnesota United has made 11 MLS appearances (four starts, one goal, two assists).
Boateng, who spent a season at UC Santa Barbara, in 2016 joined the Los Angeles Galaxy after a stint with Swedish club Helsingborg and has made 40 MLS appearances.
Osman was presented with the Gatorade POY trophy by 2015 winner Jack Harrison, an England product who attended the Berkshire School in Massachusetts. Harrison, the 2016 No. 1 MLS SuperDraft pick who is currently starring with NYCFC, faced off against Osman when Hotchkiss played Berkshire in 2013.