In numbers: The graduates from youth team to first team at Doncaster Rovers

After a season in which many current and ex-youth team players made their professional debuts, here are some number-crunching statistics on players to have featured at first team level at Rovers since the academy was reformed in 2004.

- 16 youth/academy graduates have started in at least one league game.

- 23 youth/academy graduates have featured in at least one league game.

- 39 youth/academy graduates have made at least one first team appearance in all competitions.

- 72 youth/academy graduates have been involved in a matchday squad in all competitions.

Of the 16 ex-scholars who have started a league game, James Husband made the most appearances with 64 (54 starts / 10 sub apps), closely followed by Harry Middleton who featured 63 times (31/32).

Liam Mandeville, Mitchell Lund and Branden Horton also appeared prominently and they made 49 (18/31), 40 (33/7) and 31 (23/8) appearances respectively.

Other names amongst this batch of players are Danny Amos, Waide Fairhurst, Liam Wakefield, Craig Nelthorpe, Alex Peterson, Jack McKay and more recently AJ Greaves, Lirak Hasani, Ben Blythe and Liam Ravenhill.

Interestingly, Louis Jones (23 league apperances) is the only goalkeeper who has graduated from the youth to first team since the academy reformed and appeared in a competitive game.

Despite carving out a decent career elsewhere, Jonny Maxted never did and was always an unused substitute.

The seven others to feature in at least one league game as a substitute but who never made the starting XI are Billy Whitehouse, Will Longbottom, Adam Brown, Liam Green, Jake Fletcher, Jordan Ball and Rieves Boocock.

That leaves 16 other lads who appeared in at least one cup fixture during their time at the club.

Amongst them are Josh Meade and Evan Finnegan who both featured in the same EFL Trophy tie away at Crewe Alexandra in 2012/13.

Striker Brad Grayson featured for extra-time in a Carling Cup defeat to Accrington Stanley two seasons earlier when Sean O'Driscoll was boss, as did Robbie Clark.

Meanwhile, Paul McKay was in the starting line-up for a 0-0 draw against Burton Albion in the EFL Trophy during the final few days of Paul Dickov's reign.

The next batch of players were all handed their first senior outing by either Darren Ferguson (2015-18) or Grant McCann (2018-19): Cody Prior, James Morris, Joe Pugh, Lewis Scattergood, Morgan James, Reece Fielding, Tyler Walker.

More recently, Ethan Harrison's maiden appearance came from the bench in a Carabao Cup tie at Stoke City in Augst 2021 before Tavonga Kuleya, Will Hollings and Jack Goodman became the next youngsters to feature at first team level when they appeared in an EFL Trophy tie at Scunthorpe United on a night when 12 academy players were in the matchday squad (which is an all-time club record).

There are 33 graduates who made it as far as the bench but never (or haven't yet in certain cases) made it onto the pitch for a competitive game.

Those players are Aaron Jones, Alex Fletcher, Alex Wolny, Ben Askins, Ben Bottomley, Bobby Faulkner, Brett Lucas, Chaz Fisher, Corie Cole, Dan Wilds, Dec Ogley, Eddie Wilding, Jack McLaren, Jack Raper, Jack Watson, Jonny Maxted, Jordan Binns, Jordan Bradshaw, Jordan Linley, Josh Barker, Keegan Townrow, Kevin Mbuti, Lee Cockerham, Lewis Ferguson, Matt Noble, Matty Davies, Michael Carberry, Myron Gibbons, Paddy Mullen, Rob Pacey, Robbie Oldham, Scott Brown and Tom Henson.

Finally, some youngsters (such as Cameron Foulkes in the 2018/19 campaign) were rewarded with a first team squad number but never got included in a matchday squad.

The ones that got away...

As is often the case not every player makes it professionally and there are others who move elsewhere and absolutely flourish.

Three youngsters who were on Rovers' books at one point and ended up forging decent careers are Andrew Boyce (over 330 appearances at National League level or higher), Jerry Yates (currently at Blackpool) and Jack Muldoon (now leading the attack at Harrogate Town).

Rovers also received a fee for both Owen Gamble (signed by Sunderland in 2015) and Ben Andreucci (currently in Leeds United's youth team and eligible for Ireland and Scotland at international level).

Meanwhile, Mason Warren was in the Rovers ranks up to Under 16s level before he ended up signing professionally at Rotherham United, whilst Ethan Bojang and Lewis Cunningham were released at the end of their youth scholarships in 2020/21 and later penned deals with Peterborough United and York City.

***For avoidance of doubt, the definition of a 'youth/academy graduate' in this piece is a player who either came through the junior ranks or completed their scholarship (aged 16-18) at the club.

Note 1: During the 2003/04 season, Rovers' first campaign back in the Football League, several players featured in matchday squads for the first team who'd been involved at youth level during the club's five-year stay in the Football Conference. These players included Jamie Price, Jon Maloney, Rob O'Brien, Bryan Craig, Chris Dickman and Martin Drury.

Note 2: Ben Jackson is NOT included, despite having appeared at both youth and first team level during the 2004/05 season. He appeared for the youth team as an 'over-age' player but completed his YTS scholarship at Newcastle United.

Visit awayonsaturday.blogspot.com for more blogs by Andrew Webb.