Sebastian Velasquez brings a jolt to Real Salt Lake

SALT LAKE CITY — Meeting his Real Salt Lake teammates for the first time on Thursday morning, rookie midfielder Sebastian Velasquez was a bit star struck.

"I walked in, and I was like oh man, there's Beckerman, there's Morales, there's Fabian. I've played with these guys on FIFA, and now I'm training on the same field with them," said the 20-year-old Velasquez.

From a different perspective, Kyle Beckerman was just as excited to see Velasquez along with the other eight new faces as RSL kicked off the 2012 preseason with fitness testing in the Spence Eccles Field House at the University of Utah.

"We need that breath of fresh air, to give us a jolt. I'm excited for it," said Beckerman.

It was a sentiment that veteran midfielder Will Johnson, who's still just 25, echoed.

"It will be an interesting change, but I think it's good. You need young guys coming in and pushing older guys for spots. You need some fresh blood, some guys competing in practice for playing time. I think you'll see it's a positive thing to bring in new faces," said Johnson.

Unlike the past couple years when playing time was often hard to come by for RSL's youngsters, thanks to an offseason that saw the departure of nine players, the newcomers will need to make much more meaningful contributions in 2012.

There's an immediate need for an outside back after Robbie Russell, who played 1,809 minutes in the regular season last year, was traded to D.C. United.

In the midfield, RSL needs to replace the production of Andy Williams, Collen Warner and Arturo Alvarez, players who combined for 3,800 minutes later year.

Real Salt Lake coach Jason Kreis believes he and his staff have identified quality replacement options, and they'll find if they were right over the next six weeks as RSL builds toward its season opener at the L.A. Galaxy on March 10.

"I do think coming out of this year's draft and with some of the guys that we'll call trialists, we feel like we have a stronger group from the bottom up than we have had in years past, and we're certainly going to need it no doubt about it. But there's a lot of assessment that needs to happen over the next couple weeks to see whether we're right," said Kreis.

RSL will train in Utah over the next three days before heading to Arizona on Tuesday for two weeks of training. The newcomers will have plenty opportunities to prove themselves as many of RSL's regulars are dealing with injuries, several of which will carry over into the season.