The Journey: Devin Boyce

In the 82’ of Union Omaha’s home game against Forward Madison, Elvir Ibisevic, local college soccer legend, was fouled just outside of the box. As Elvir was trying to get up, the Forward Madison player trailing the play, Jiro Toyama, got in his face and began harassing Elvir. A full ten seconds after the initial foul, Devin Boyce, a name soccer fans in Omaha learned less than a month before, arrived on the scene, shoved Jiro out of the way, and hung around the scrum with his arms spread open as if to ask: “who else wants some of this?”

For me, this was the moment Devin Boyce arrived in my life. Like everyone else, I was stunned when the presumed ‘depth signing’ started the first match in club history. Even as his name appeared again and again on the team sheet, I failed to grasp the caliber of player that Devin is. Having been signed so close to the start of the season, he was deprived of the deep dive treatment our other signings have had from official club channels and the burgeoning media empire known as Who Gives a Hoot?. All of this is to say, I knew almost nothing about Devin as he continued to don the white and black week in and week out. Without any backstory, I had no connection to him as a player.  But, watching Devin shove a Flamingo out of the way and then stand around ready to tussle with anyone wearing a drip kit, a connection was forged in my heart. 

When asked about the shove during our interview the next day, Devin took a moment to recall the specific incident, as if that moment from the game that is seared into my mind, is so mundane to him that he needs prompting to recall it. When I give the specific minute of the game and a brief explanation of the incident, his memory is jogged and he tells me, “For me as a teammate, I’ve always considered myself a guy who wanted to make sure his team is not necessarily protected, but is safe. I’m a fiery guy and passionate on the field. Anything to get the crowd involved, anything to get my teammates a little bit of extra energy, anything to push us in that direction of ‘let’s go win this game’, I’m always here for. So, if it takes roughing a guy up a little bit to get people excited…then you know sometimes you’ve got to play that part.”

Would you expect anything less from a player who grew up idolizing Paul Scholes? The Manchester United fandom was a gift from his father, Barney Boyce. Barney played pro soccer in the United States for twelve years and would share stories from his NASL days (playing against George Best, playing with Johan Cruyff) with Devin. They would watch United games on Sunday mornings, and growing up in this environment Devin fell in love with the game.

Barney would coach Devin (and Austin Panchot) until the age of twelve on youth club teams in the St. Louis Scott Gallagher FC (Scott Gallagher) program. Even in these early days, Devin played in the center of the pitch, began the process of learning proper technique, and learned where everyone was on the field. Father would push son as his coach until adolescence, and he did not go easy on his boy. “He wasn’t gonna let you off the hook. You’re running around the neighborhood if you’re missing shots and stuff like that. So it was good he pushed me and I loved it. He really brought out a competitive nature in me.” 

Around the age of twelve, Devin began “playing up” in the Scott Gallager structure, and being coached by paid coaches within the SG system. Devin played with these teams until his freshman year, when he began playing high school soccer. While playing with these youth teams, he played on fun teams, won state every year, and even saw a U-14 team he played up with make a run at nationals. At that age Devin notes he was with, “A lot of the guys I had been playing with for a while, and it was just a fun developmental time where” play was “competitive and we’re playing a million games and loving it, because your body can take it.”

For high school, Devin stayed close to home attending Christian Brothers College High School (CBC), a prep day school about five minutes from where his family lived at the time. He played soccer under coach Terry Michler for CBC his freshman and sophomore years, winning a state championship his sophomore year.

After two years at CBC, Devin switched to a US Soccer Developmental Academy program (USSDA) at Scott Gallagher (Scott Gallager DA). “I was trying to get recruited by schools, and I felt that that was the best way to do that.” That team was stacked with many future pros including: Austin Panchot, Mark Segbers, Tom Barlow, and AJ Palazzolo.

Given Devin’s pedigree and the high level at which he played throughout his college years, it was a surprise that, even as a four star recruit, he didn’t resolve his college recruitment until January of his senior year of high school. When he did select a school, he picked a non-traditional soccer powerhouse: the Lobos of University of New Mexico. He redshirted his freshman year and then played two seasons including 39 matches, with five goals and seven assists from his usual central midfield position. While Devin has played on some good teams, the Lobos stood out to me in particular with 10 players from Devin’s redshirt freshman year having signed pro contracts or been drafted by MLS teams. (Niko Hansen, Chris Wehan, Aaron Herrera, Patrick Khouri, Tom Smart, Josh Goss, Jason Beaulieu, Sam Gleade, Devin Boyce, and Ford Parker.)

After three years at UNM, Devin began to explore the transfer market. (Note: Devin got out just in time, the Lobos only played one more season of college soccer after he left before shuttering their fairly successful program.) His coach from his time playing at Scott Gallagher DA, and Jay Mims college teammate and close friend, Kevin Kalish, had just taken over the legendary soccer program at St. Louis University (SLU). As such, Devin chose to return home and make his mark at the college program he had grown up supporting, citing the passion of the fan base. “That was a huge reason why I went back and played for St Louis University. It’s just awesome being around a community that has the same passion for the game that you do.” Having routinely watched SLU games, he was familiar with Tyler David when he arrived at Union Omaha.

Like any player of Devin’s caliber and pedigree, he spent time playing in USL League Two. The summer between playing for New Mexico and SLU, he played five games for Colorado Rapids U-23 before an injury sent him home. While subletting his friend’s house for the summer, he got to train with the MLS team on a weekly basis, and had a blast living in Denver. The following summer, before his senior year of college, he played for Brazos Valley Calvary (BVC). (Christian Molina and another player who was at our combine and in camp for several weeks played for BVC last summer, too.) 

Devin shined at BVC finishing joint third in all of League Two with seven assists. He also had four goals and three yellow cards in twelve regular season games. For those not intimately familiar with League Two, Brazos Valley is a hybrid affiliate of the Houston Dynamo. Accordingly, the Dynamo selects all of the players. Having impressed the Dynamo brass, Devin returned to school for his senior season.

Upon graduating at the end of the Fall 2019 soccer season, Devin had little reason to suspect he would be undertaking a wild journey, as he made plans to attend several combines. But his wild ride was just beginning.

Going undrafted in the MLS draft despite his eligibility, Devin was snapped up on trial to Rio Grande Valley Toros FC (RGV). He played right back for four to five weeks and did not have a great time. “I was not getting great energy that I was going to be picked up there, but I was still being strung along and for a while I was thinking I was going to (sign) and in the end they didn’t end up picking up my contract. So at that point it was like a week and a half from the season starting.”

From there, Devin ended up on trial with the Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC. While there, he played center midfield and a little bit of attacking wing, but then the COVID crisis hit and his contract was not picked up. Again. As the country began to shut down, Devin went to his parents’ house in South Carolina to train and stay ready. 

 “So I was there, just working and training for probably three months. Just spending time with family, working out hard, and trying to keep focused. It was definitely a difficult time mentally, to keep yourself pushing and staying positive that something’s going to pan out. Thankfully, I was able to make that time useful and when I got (to Omaha) I was ready.”

After three months of waiting, Devin got the call that would bring him into all of our lives in early June. “The first call was from my college coach at SLU (he said) there might be an opportunity at Union Omaha. ‘I know the coach there and he was asking about you and thinking about bringing you out on trial. And he wants you to get in touch with him.’ So I called Jay and he asked: ‘how early can you be out here? We’re starting up again and we want to bring you out on trial.’ It just all happened so quick and you know I was all for it. (Especially) having known guys here (Austin Panchot, Tyler David) and knowing about Jay I was like ‘wow, it really seems like a match made in heaven’. So I was really pumped to get that call from him.”

Who can blame Devin for feeling that way? The COVID-19 pandemic has been stressful for everyone. Personally, my career has been disrupted, but I have years of work experience to fall back on. I cannot imagine being on the cusp of achieving a lifelong goal like starting a pro soccer career and suddenly finding yourself adrift like Devin was. 

But Devin’s attitude is unbeatable. He told me, “I told myself I was just going to get in my van and go find a place to play. If it takes one team or five teams, I know someone’s gonna like me for what I do and I was confident that once someone took a chance on me that it would get started. That’s why I’m just so grateful to be where I am now. It was definitely a journey getting here, it was a long path.”

I know I speak for many when I say, I’m glad the path has led you here, Devin.