At 5-foot-6, Saydee is not only the youngest Spartan on the men’s soccer team, he’s also the smallest. But that didn’t stop him from cracking the lineup for a considerable amount of playing time in this past weekend’s MSU/Radisson Fall Classic and making a positive impression on his teammates and coaches.

“He is mature beyond his years and he seems comfortable with older people and players,” MSU head coach Joe Baum said. “If I didn’t know he was that young I’d think he was about 18 or 19. He doesn’t act like he’s 16 at all.”

In 1999, when Saydee was 7 years old, his family moved to the Lansing area as refugees from Liberia. After discovering his classes were too easy in the fifth grade, his parents and the school’s principal decided to let him skip two years and begin in seventh grade.

It was then that Saydee began to take his soccer career more seriously. His father had been a soccer player in Liberia and taught his son the game at a young age. But Cyrus first found himself interested in a different sport.

“At first it was basketball that caught my eye,” he said. “I was a huge basketball fan, but then I started playing soccer in middle school and have played it from there on.”

Saydee attended Everett High School in Lansing and varsity soccer coach Steve Horn knew the first time he saw Saydee compete he was going to be a special player.

“I saw him for the first time when he was a freshman and he was about 5-foot-1, but he was beating older guys with ease,” Horn said. “He was so humble about it and guys like that who are good and humble always prove to be great down the road.”

The young striker racked up quite the high school résumé. He was named to the All-State team for three straight years, starting his sophomore season when he was only 13 years old. In his senior season, Saydee racked up 26 goals and 19 assists.

“Without a doubt he was the best player I’ve ever coached in any sport,” Horn said. “When you have a kid on your team as good as him, he picks the play up for everybody on the team. He made average players good players.”

Saydee always has been interested in being a Spartan so his family and friends could watch him play close to home. After MSU associate head coach Damon Rensing coached Saydee on the Olympic Development Program, a connection was made and Saydee knew MSU would be a good fit.

It didn’t take long for him to gain the respect of his teammates, despite some early skepticism about his size and age.

“I thought his size might have made a little bit of a difference, but I mean you’ve got to watch him play,” senior midfielder Zac Scaffidi said. “He just really throws his body around, he’s quick, he’s scrappy and he’ll slide tackle you. He’s not afraid to go against bigger guys and I think that makes him the kind of player that he is.”

Baum plans on using Saydee as an outside midfielder for the majority of the season to utilize his speed and ability to beat defenders one-on-one. Having a freshman on the field is something Baum usually avoids, unless he believes that player can have an impact on the game.

“The only time I start freshmen is if they earn it in practice,” Baum said. “I’d like to play upperclassmen, but this young man has earned his minutes.”

Saydee said he couldn’t be happier to be out on the soccer field during his college years, despite often competing against players who are several years older.

“I’ve been used to being so young my entire career and I’ve been playing upper-level soccer since I started,” Saydee said. “It just forces me to play extra hard to make myself better. I get to challenge myself every day, whether it’s in the classroom or out here.”