RSL-AZ Academy grad Andrew Brody signs with Real Monarchs

Slowly but surely, the academy-to-pro pipeline is coming to fruition, and Andrew Brody is the latest benefactor of that process.

Brody, who just played his junior year at Louisville, is a wide player who has seen minutes with RSL's reserves. In addition to playing with RSL's reserves outfit, Brody — who is from Orlando — has also played for Orlando City's under-23 team (which is where the lead photo for this comes from.)

He played 19 games in 2015 for Louisville, scoring three goals and notching three assists. Before that, he was one of several standouts at the RSL-Arizona academy in Casa Grande, Ariz., playing alongside some names that may be familiar to RSL fans — particularly Benji Lopez, who has most recently signed with Santos Laguna.

Brody joins several other RSL-AZ graduates on the Monarchs roster, including Christian Herrera, Coco Navarro, Maikon Orellana, Eti Tavares, and Ricardo Velazco.

Louisville proves an interesting connection for the Real Salt Lake academy, with Ricardo Velazco (with Real Monarchs) already having signed a professional contract, and with several others in the system now.

Tate Schmitt was Louisville's leading goalscorer (seven goals, four assists), Jack Gayton (one goal, three assists), and Jon Zabasaija (two assists) were also on the Louisville roster in 2015.