Welcome to another edition of the League One Updater power rankings! Last week the preseason officially began as signed players reported to their camps. Its like the first day of school, but actually exciting for everyone! Most clubs have also set up some preseason matchups.

Most continue to fill in the remaining roster spots. There are plenty of available free agents from 2022 squads, and remember that there should be some trickledown as MLS and USL Championship clubs make a few cuts.

We took some much needed time off towards the end of last week and over the weekend, but got caught up with all the transactions last night, so these rankings and roster moves are up to date as of this morning! We’ll break these down by several tiers: God tier, contenders, wait and see and panic mode.

Note: all additions and departures are since the last ranking.

God Tier

1) North Carolina FC

Last week: 1
Key additions: Luke Croll
Key departures: none
Ongoing needs: Lineup complete

Goalkeepers: Nick Holliday, Tor Saunders
Defenders: DJ Benton, Luke Croll, Gustavo Fernandes, Britton Fisher, Max Flick, Nelson Flores, Daniel Navarro, Christian Lue Young
Midfielders: Luis Arriaga, Mikey Maldonado, Pecka, Louis Perez, Raheem Somersall, Jaden Servania
Forwards: Shak Adams, Oalex Anderson, Cole Frame, Marvin Mariche, Garrett McLaughlin, Rafa Mentzingen, Preston Popp

Preseason: University of North Carolina, One Knoxville SC, NYCFC II, Charleston Battery, Columbus Crew 2, Loudoun United, Charlotte Independence
First regular season match: vs. Tormenta FC, 3/17

As we head into preseason, the top spot is North Carolina FC’s to lose. It’s almost a given at this point that offense wins USL1, and this offense is just silly. But it certainly doesn’t hurt to have a pretty good defense and goalkeeper backing you up.

The club added English center back defender Luke Croll, who last played for Chesterfield FC of the English National League, and comes with over 100 appearances between the National League and League Two. His addition brings even more defensive depth.

Contenders

2) Greenville Triumph

Last week: 3
Key additions: Allen Gavilanes (re-signed), Ben Hale (re-signed), Daniel Wu
Key departures: none
Ongoing needs: lineup all but complete

Goalkeepers: Ben Hale, Jared Mazzola
Defenders: Noah Franke, Brandon Fricke, Evan Lee, Tyler Polak, Nate Shultz, Jamie Smith, Daniel Wu
Midfielders: Devin Boyce, Lucas Coutinho, Venton Evans, Allen Gavilanes, Noah Pilato, Tevin Shaw, Aaron Walker
Forwards: Jacob Labovitz, Alex Cox-Ashwood

Preseason: TBD
First regular season match: vs. Richmond Kickers, 3/25

Greenville re-signed midfielder Allen Gavilanes, who put up 4 goals and 5 assists in 2022. They also signed Daniel Wu, a recent graduate and national championship winner with Georgetown University. The club heads into preseason with a strong core of returnees from 2022’s second place finish, freshly injected with the likes of Tevin Shaw and Devin Boyce.

The club also re-signed goalkeeper Ben Hale. He served as a backup to Paul Christiansen until an injury ended his season, after which the club signed Jared Mazzola. With Christensen now retired, the club expects that Hale and Mazzola will compete for the starting role. With both unproven as starters at this level, the situation in goal remains questionable, but if one of them can figure it out, Greenville should be a contender this year.

3) Tormenta FC

Last week: 2
Key additions: Mukwelle Akale, Jackson Khoury
Key departures: none
Ongoing needs: bench squad

Goalkeepers: TJ Bush, Pablo Jara
Defenders: Nick Akoto, Jake Dengler, Preston Kilwien, Colin Mocyunas, Deshawon Nembhard
Midfielders: Mukwelle Akale, Elijah Amo, Matheus Cassini, Pedro Fonseca, Chris Heckenberg, Jackson Khoury, Tobias Otieno
Forwards: Kingsford Adjei, Arthur Bosua, Kazaiah Sterling

Preseason: Georgia Southern University, Georgia State University, Tampa Bay Rowdies, Charleston Battery, Stetson University
First regular season match: at North Carolina FC, 3/17

The defending champs roll into preseason with offensive firepower led by Kazaiah Sterling and Kingsford Adjei, backed by the likes of Matheus Cassini and Pedro Fonseca. If there ever was a year to repeat, this is it. They also added Australian attacking midfielder Jackson Khoury, Tormenta FC 2 defender Nick Akoto and re-signed midfielder Mukwelle Akale last week, increasing their bench depth.

4) One Knoxville SC

Last week: 5
Key additions: none
Key departures: none
Ongoing needs: lineup complete

Goalkeepers: Sean Lewis, Peter Swinkels
Defenders: Gabriel Claudio, Jalen Crisler, Dani Fernandez, Jan-Erik Leinhos, Kyle McDowell, Sean O’Hearn, Jordan Skelton, James Thomas, Derek Waldeck
Midfielders: Sam Fletcher, Callum Johnson, Angelo Kelly-Rosales, Frank Ross, Yesin van der Pluijm
Forwards: Sebastian Andreassen, Ilija Ilic, Jake Keegan, Ahinga Selemani, Jimmie Villalobos, Matthew Vowinkel

Preseason: North Carolina FC, Louisville City, Atlanta United II, Chattanooga FC, Columbus Crew II
First regular season match: vs. Lexington SC, 3/18

One Knox SC officially completed their roster moving into preseason, and seem to be in it to win it this year. Now we get to preview if all of these big names and the best of their USL2 squad actually mesh. If they do, this is going to be a good year in Knoxville.

Wait and See

5) Richmond Kickers

Last week: 4
Key additions: Justin Sukow
Key departures: none
Ongoing needs: supporting defenders, playmaking midfielder

Goalkeepers: Akira Fitzgerald, Will Palmquist
Defenders: Nathan Aune, Dakota Barnathan, Simon Fitch, Michael Hornsby
Midfielders: João Gomiero, Zaca Moran, Chandler O’Dwyer, Justin Sukow, Nil Vinyals
Forwards: Matt Bentley, Owayne Gordon, David Olsen, Luke Pavone, Emiliano Terzaghi

Preseason: Loudoun United, Virginia Commonwealth University, DC United, Virginia Commonwealth University, Old Dominion University, James Madison University, Crown Legacy FC
First regular season match: at Charlotte Independence, 3/18

Richmond added midfielder Justin Sukow from Forward Madison. The center midfielder had 46 appearances with 2 goals and 3 assists across two seasons, coming mostly off the bench in 2022. We’ll go with a “wait and see” on this one, but he at least brings a few years’ experience.

Read More: Big 3 questions this off season (River City 93)

6) Forward Madison

Last week: 6
Key additions: Francis Jno-Baptiste
Key departures: Justin Sukow
Ongoing needs: goalkeeping

Goalkeepers: none
Defenders: Sam Brotherton, Jacob Crull, Timmy Mehl, Mitch Osmond, Stephen Payne
Midfielders: Aiden Mesias, Andrew Wheeler-Omiunu, Jayden Onen
Forwards: Nazeem Bartman, Christian Chaney, Mauro Cichero, Dererk Gebhard, Francis Jno-Baptiste

Preseason: Minnesota United FC 2, Chicago Fire II, Indy Eleven, DePaul University
First regular season match: at Union Omaha, 3/26

Not saying that every floundering young English striker out of the 7th level Isthmian Premier Division with English Premier League academy training is the next Kazaiah Sterling, but Forward Madison’s new signing Francis Jno-Baptiste definitely forged a similar path to USL League One. But like Sterling, he’ll need to prove himself. And if he doesn’t, Christian Chaney is still here.

On another note, where is the goaltending?

7) Union Omaha

Last week: 7
Key additions: Stefan Muller, Junior Palacios
Key departures: none
Ongoing needs: backup goalkeeper, goal scorers

Goalkeepers: Rashid Nuhu
Defenders: Shaft Brewer, Jr., Luca Mastrantonio, Marco Milanese, Stefan Muller, Junior Palacios
Midfielders: Dion Acoff, Joe Brito, Conor Doyle, Yoskar Galván-Mercado, Luis Gil, Eddie Gordon, JP Scearce, Chavany Willis
Forwards: Noe Meza

Preseason: TBD
First regular season match: vs. Forward Madison, 3/26

The Owls made a splash on Tuesday when they announced the signing of defenders Junior Palacios and Stefan Muller out of the USL Championship. Palacios made 44 appearances for Miami FC after signing his first professional contract in 2021. Muller has 43 appearances across USL Championship and USL League One, and spent 2022 with Rio Grande Valley FC.

Omaha should have another year with a pretty solid defense, but remains questionable when it comes to scoring goals. An even goal differential doesn’t exactly win playoff games, as they found out last year.

8) Hailstorm FC

Last week: 11
Key additions: Leo Folla (re-signed), Enock Kwakwa, Nortei Nortey, Lucky Opara
Key departures: none
Ongoing needs: defenders, midfielders, forwards, supporting cast

Goalkeepers: Edward Delgado, Johan Peñaranda
Defenders: Rob Cornwall, Brecc Evans, Leo Folla, Lucky Opara
Midfielders: McCain Clarke, Jackson Dietrich, Enock Kwakwa, Stefan Lukic, Destan Norman, Nortei Nortey
Forwards: Trevor Amann, Mark Hernandez, Billy King, Irvin Parra, Valentin Sabella

Preseason: TBD
First regular season match: at Red Wolves SC, 3/25

Slowly but surely, Hailstorm FC is catching up and filling in their roster. Last week they re-signed defender Leo Folla who made 16 starts and 21 appearances in 2022. They re-signed midfielder Nortei Nortey, a mainstay who put up 2,325 minutes and 2 goals in 2022.

They also brought on journeyman defensive midfielder Enock Kwakwa, who spent 2022 with Charleston Battery of USL Championship, mostly in a bench support role. Finally, they signed Lucky Opara, a right back defender who has 62 combined appearances in the top flights in Latvia, Finland and Greece.

Better late than never, and remember that this core just barely missed out on the playoffs last year.

9) Red Wolves SC

Last week: 10
Key additions: Manuel Madrid
Key departures: none
Ongoing needs: center back, other supporting defenders

Goalkeepers: Carlos Avilez, Ricardo Jerez, JD Meyers
Defenders: Nico Cardona, Aaron Lombardi, Manuel Madrid
Midfielders: Josue Cartagena, Christian Enriquez, Moe Espinoza, Pedro Hernandez, Ryley Kraft, Felipe Liborio Jr., Yahir Paez, Ualefi, Walter Varela
Forwards: Mayele Malango, Chevone Marsh, Ropapa Mensah, Alex Tejera

Preseason: TBD
First regular season match: vs. Hailstorm FC, 3/15

Red Wolves SC added a much needed center back in Manuel Madrid last week. The defender made 22 appearances with USL Championship side Phoenix Rising in 2022, and brings along years of experience in Mexican leagues. While everyone correctly pointed out how much the club lost in free agency and transfers, they’ve quietly built back something that may just work. We’ll still “wait and see,” but we’re far more optimistic than we were a few weeks ago.

10) Lexington SC

Last week: 9
Key additions: none
Key departures: none
Ongoing needs: lineup all but complete

Goalkeepers: Austin Causey, Amal Knight
Defenders: Erick Ceja Gonzalez, Owen Green, Kimball Jackson, Franky Martinez, Terique Mohammed
Midfielders: Phila Dlamini, Kaelon Fox, Diallo Irakoze, Seo-in Kim, Charlie Machell, Pierre Mané, Tate Robertson, Don Smart
Forwards: Khalid Balogun, Will Baynham, Nico Brown, Ates Diouf, Jalen James, Drew Patterson

Preseason: TBD
First regular season match: at One Knoxville, 3/18

Lexington SC got the squad together for the first time this week. Now to see how the rag tag group of young first timers, and seasoned pros from all over the place work out. Holding the club on a wait and see ranking until we get a view of the preseason action, still TBD.

Read more: Lexington SC Player Profiles at Crane Kicks Lex

Panic Mode

11) Charlotte Independence

Last week: 8
Key additions: none
Key departures: none
Ongoing needs: goalkeeping, defenders, midfielders, forwards, supporting cast

Goalkeepers: Austin Pack
Defenders: Hector Acosta, Shalom Dutey
Midfielders: Luis Álvarez, Omar Ciss, Clay Dimick, Miguel Ibarra
Forwards: Khori Bennett, Tresor Mbuyu, Gabriel Obertan

Preseason: North Carolina FC
First regular season match: vs. Richmond Kickers, 3/18

Another quiet week in Charlotte. Ten on the roster, only two backs. No bench squad. A whole bunch of free agents from the 2022 roster still available. What’s going on down there?

12) Fuego FC

Last week: 12
Key additions: none
Key departures: none
Ongoing needs: backup goalkeeper, more defenders, supporting midfielders, goal scoring forwards

Goalkeepers: Mitch North
Defenders: Jordan Chavez, François Dulysse
Midfielders: Diego Casillas, José Carrera-García, Alexis Cerritos, David Diaz, Cherif Dieye
Forwards: Villyan Bijev

Preseason: Andrew Alcocer Academy, Oakland Roots, LA Galaxy II, Sacramento Republic FC, SD Loyal, Loyola Marymount, LAFC 2
First regular season match: vs. North Carolina FC, 3/22

It has been 17 days since Fuego FC made a roster announcement. There is a pre-season match scheduled in five days. There are nine confirmed players on the roster. Let’s see what they give us by then.