After many years of being overlooked, young players who take the option of plying their trade in colleges abroad, will finally have a legitimate shot at representing Jamaica's Reggae Boyz, based on a new initiative soon to be embarked upon by the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) and National head coach Theodore Whitmore.

In years gone by, several players that have represented the nation at various youth levels have fallen through the cracks, after leaving the island's shores to take up scholarship offers, mainly in the United States.

But, in an attempt to use all available resources as the team embarks upon rebuilding, Whitmore has now vowed to use the players, who once seem to have fallen on the JFF's blind spot.

While not included in the plans this time around, the coach revealed that following the national team's upcoming friendly against Argentina, scouts will be deployed to some of the colleges, which should result in periodical invitations for a few of the players.

"We don't want to keep making the same mistakes, we see where we have gone wrong in the past, by not looking at these players, so we are looking to correct that now," Whitmore told Star Sports.

"We will wait until after the Argentina friendly to settle things, but we will be sending scouts to evaluate quite a few of them with a view to involving them in the programme," he said.

strengthen talent pool

Following the failure of the national team to book spot in this year's World Cup in South Africa, after being knocked out in the semi-final round of the qualifiers, Whitmore has aimed to strengthen the talent pool ahead of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

As part of that effort, six schoolboys were included in the national team's preparation camps ahead of Sunday's friendly against Canada at the National Stadium. And, while Glenmiur College goalkeeper Andre Blake was the only player to make the cut this time around, Whitmore was pleased with the performance of the youngsters and insists there will be more opportunities in the future.

"This whole process is part of our rotation policy and we have just started. We will continue our search for talent in all organised competitions to boost our pool for future national teams," Whitmore said.

Reggae Boyz squad for Canada friendly

Duwayne Miller Harbour view

Duwayne Kerr Portmore

Andre Blake Sporting Central/Glenmuir

Jermaine Taylor St Georges

Adrian Reid Portmore

Dicoy Williams Harbour view

Lovel Palmer Harbour view

Navian Boyd Tivoli

Keammar Daley Tivoli

Richard Edwards Harbour view

Kenardo Forbes Waterhouse

Jevaughn Watson Sporting Central

Devon Hodges Rivoli

Tyrone Marshall Seattle Sounders

Shavar Thomas Philadelphia Union

Omar Cummings Colorado Rapids

Ryan Johnson San Jose Earthquakes

Demar Philips Aaelusunds

Rodolph Austin Sk Brann

Eric Vernan Nybergsund

Luton Shelton Valerenga

Jason Morrison Ferencvaros

Rafe Wolfe Ferencvaros

Jamaica Football Federation president Captain Horace Burrell (second right) shakes hands with new Reggae Boyz striker Ryan Johnson (second left) while captain Tyrone Marshall (left) and coach Theodore Whitmore (right) look on. - Ricardo Makyn