Today’s story on Red Bulls winger Luke Sassano didn’t include half the conversation we shared over the phone. I didn’t want to hold him for too long from his usual running drills, but we spoke a good 20 minutes, and naturally, not all of it made the paper.

Before we get to the leftovers, I’ll be getting in touch with the other recent graduates on their professional endeavors, so if there’s anything you might wish to be answered by guys like FC Lorient midfielder Andrew Jacobson, 1860 Munich back Steve Purdy or Javier Ayala-Hil, please let me know.

Now on with the rest from Sassano:

Have the big-time stars been hard to approach at all? I mean, like you’ve said, some of those guys have played at the highest level of the sport.

You know, they’re not hard to approach at all. I’ve definitely asked Claudio (Reyna), Juan Pablo (Angel) and Dave (van den Bergh) for advice. The first couple weeks I got here, I had just met these guys, and they were offering me advice like I was always part of the team. They’re easy to approach, and they have a lot of advice to give. And I’m like, hell, if I’m around them, I might as well.

At halftime of our games, I go up to Claudio and ask him what he sees. I want to be able to, for example, I see certain things, but I want to know if he sees it differently. It’s all about listening. Like taking care of your body. I’ve talked to Juan Pablo about eating better. Every little thing could improve me as a player. Like, I said, these guys are big time, either if you look at it from an outside or inside perspective. Any advice I get is helpful.

You are understandably in a good situation right now, but coming out of college, did you look at any other options, possibly in Europe or elsewhere?

I was actually looking at going to Europe. The only problem is that with Europe, it has certain times when windows open and windows close. It’s all about being at the right place at the right time and getting that opportunity (like Andrew Jacobson did). When you’re trying to get to Europe coming out of college, if you haven’t played on the National Team or things like that, it’s tough. But I’m just really happy to be in the MLS right now. It’s a tough league, and the quality of players is definitely there. This will be good for my development.

Could you elaborate on your contract situation a bit? I know it can get a bit cloudy in the MLS.

The MLS does not guarantee a contract after you’re drafted, so you go through preseason, and the coaches inspect your abilities and what they like about you and what you give to the team and what not. I was just happy to have the opportunity, and then it was just up to me to prove myself. I was excited for the challenge. As far as contracts go, I just signed a week ago. It was still preseason, and I was still proving myself to the team. Preseason went well. I thought I had a good showing.

Looking back to what you had at Cal, specifically coach Kevin Grimes, what do you think about the level of success he’s had turning his kids into pro’s?

I mean, he was a professional himself. He’s pretty well known throughout the country. Everybody has a lot of respect for him and how he runs the program. You don’t really take advantage of it once you’re there. When you leave, you look back, and you think, wow, we were given really good treatment. From an outside perspective now, I really appreciate all the guys, what they did for me and what they do for the current guys. I try to tell the guys now to take advantage of the good coaching we have there. Not everyone has that.