Fire draft pick Dean Boltz wants to be a hometown hero

Entering the MLS SuperDraft, 18-year-old Dean Boltz was hoping that he would be picked by the Chicago Fire.

And that’s precisely what happened.

Boltz had signed a Generation Adidas contract earlier in the week, meaning he would be among the top names in the draft as a freshman, and the Men in Red selected him with the third overall pick. For a boyhood Fire fan, the draft unfolded exactly how he had hoped.

“I feel like in draft situations, you can never be too sure but it being my hometown team, I was hoping for it,” Boltz told MIR97 Media. “It's a team that I am obviously going to love to be playing for, so while I wasn't necessarily expecting it, I was definitely hoping for it.”

“I've been to over 100 Fire games with my dad,” Boltz added. “We were season ticket holders my whole life, so I loved coming to games, especially when it was at Toyota Park, SeatGeek, and then the last couple years at Soldier Field. I definitely have a lot of good memories growing up and being around the Fire.”

Boltz’s arrival at the Fire isn’t surprising from a draft standpoint, either. He hit the ground running in his freshman season, scoring seven goals in his first four games for the Badgers. The forward ended the season with a total of ten goals and four assists, earning Big 10 Freshman of the Year honors.

So, after impressing in the MLS combine and signing a GA contract this week, his arrival in Chicago via the #3 pick seemed like destiny. Boltz celebrated the moment surrounded by family and friends, including Wisconsin teammate and former Fire II standout Ryan Quintos, and described the moment as a dream come true.

Unlike most draft picks in years past, whose ultimate fates remain uncertain even after draft night, the nature of Boltz’s GA contract slots him directly onto the Fire’s first team roster under new Director of Football and Head Coach Gregg Berhalter.

Berhalter, a few months removed from his U.S. Men’s National Team departure, is at the forefront of what is undoubtedly a new era in Chicago, and it’s something that Boltz is eager to be a part of.

“(Berhalter) called me when they said that they were going to pick me,” Boltz said. “It's just such a surreal feeling after watching him coach the national team for these past few years. I always liked his mannerisms on the sideline and the way he coached the national team. It's really exciting to be playing for a coach with such a good reputation not just in MLS but in the soccer world, and I think that's something that not a lot of other coaches in the league may have.”

Such mannerisms, Boltz said, include Berhalter’s famous “behind-the-back bounce passes,” which the forward could find himself a recipient of should be played out on the wing as he did at times for Wisconsin.

However, while he can play out wide, Boltz’s primary position is through the middle as a center forward. It was there that he was named MVP of MLS Next in the U-19 age group with Sockers FC, and that designation made him a known quantity before he arrived in Madison. He individually lived up to the billing in his freshman season, even as the Badgers failed to qualify for the Big 10 or NCAA tournament.

Boltz enters a striker department that now includes four players: club-record signing Designated Player Hugo Cuypers, fellow Wisconsin Badger Tom Barlow, and new addition David Poreba (assuming he isn’t deployed as a #10). For Boltz entering the team, it will be difficult to find minutes right away given Cuypers’ overall pedigree and Poreba’s form with Fire II last season, but there will be plenty of opportunities to break through and the draftee feels he brings something different to the position that Fire fans can get excited about.

“I think you’re going to get a player who loves the game and who's willing to fight for every loose ball, every 50-50,” Boltz said of his style. “Especially as a forward, I take defending very seriously especially my intensity on defense. I love to press, I love to get after it on defense.”

“You’re going to get somebody who likes to play fast-paced and then take guys on and really be aggressive. That's how I would describe myself.”