Rhode Island FC have made their 5th signing of the offseason with the addition of 22-year old Brown University student Jamin Gogo Peters. Jamin is also the fourth Rhode Island FC player to sign with the club from a local Rhode Island college or university.
The Background
Candidly, the information is sparse out there on Gogo Peters. He hails from Forest Grove, Oregon and is a product of the Portland Timbers academy. He competed with Timbers2 in MLS Next Pro for a brief time, and also made eight appearances with USL2’s PDX FC. In 2021, Gogo Peters was part of a preseason match against the Seattle Sounders with the Portland Timbers’ First Team, as well as participating in multiple training sessions with them.
As for his collegiate career – Gogo Peters spent four years in Providence with the Brown Men’s Soccer team, contributing 12 goals and three assists across the four seasons. He was named to the Second Team All-Ivy League following his freshmen season after leading the Bears with seven goals. He didn’t reach quite the same heights in subsequent seasons, finishing with zero, two, and three goals respectively in his sophomore, junior, and senior years.
Where Does He Fit in Rhode Island FC?
All players should be given an equal chance to break into the main rotation – and I assume that is true of Gogo Peters as well. He’s presumably impressed Khano and the team enough during a trial/preseason period to earn the permanent contract for 2026.
With that said… I don’t expect to see Gogo Peters take the field in 2026. Based on his age and resume, this strikes me as a depth signing in a similar vein to Kevin Vang, Cole Dewhurst, and players of that ilk.
Khano even said as much:
“Jamin is a promising young talent that will add depth to our attack,” said Rhode Island FC Head Coach and General Manager Khano Smith. “He is coming off of a successful college career, which has proven to be a reliable path to success for us over the last three seasons.”
Jamin self-identifies as “a winger (7 & 11), Forward (9), and attacking midfielder (8/10)” in that order, so I would expect to see him primarily competing to make appearances across any of the front three positions in our 3-4-3 formation.
That means he is probably in competition with the likes of: JJ Williams, Noah Fuson, Jojea Kwizera, Dwayne Atkinson, Leo Afonso, Pity Rodriguez and Kevin Vang… not to mention players like Amos Shapiro-Thompson or Clay Holstad, who have been effective in those roles even if it’s not their natural position.
This brings me back to – I don’t expect to see Gogo Peters play too many minutes in 2026, but excited to have him along for the ride and develop with us. Every USL team needs to have these deep bench players who train hard and are good team mates on relatively cheap contracts.
Is This the Ndongo Replacement?
If you’re not up to speed on the Ndongo saga, I encourage you to read Tyler Hatch’s great article explaining his departure.
But to answer my own question, no, I don’t think this is an Ndongo replacement. Ndongo was a gamble on an 18-year old Cameroonian player from the Bahraini Premier League. It was a presumably low-risk signing with potential for very high upside if he developed into an exceptional player.
At 22 years old, Gogo Peters still has room to develop, but is considerably further along into his professional career and adult life than Ndongo was. It’s still extremely low risk, but I suspect that the team knows exactly the level – and has a rough idea of the ceiling- on Gogo Peters.
I’m not saying that Gogo Peters can’t develop into a starting-caliber player in the USL Championship. We have absolutely no reason to believe that he can’t get there. But Ndongo was sold to us as a player who could fit the “young talent to sell on to MLS or Europe in the future” mold that Brett Johnson aspires for this club to be finding – and I don’t think Gogo Peters is that.
A Brief Roster Rant
So with all of that said, I have to conclude with a concern that I have about next seasons roster.
Despite the great acquisitions that we have made so far this offseason, we are somehow still only 1-2 injuries in the wrong positions away from this entire house of cards falling apart.
For as much as we’ve added in positions of need; with signings like Leo Afonso and Nick Scardina coming in ready to make immediate contributions, and freeing up players like Clay Holstad and Amos Shapiro-Thompson to play their best, natural positions… we’ve also lost players in key positions (Albert Dikwa, Maxi Rodriguez, and Aime Mabika) and failed to truly replace them.
Who is the backup striker if JJ Williams gets injured – an issue that we’ve dealt with in 2024 and 2025. I’ll tell you who it’s not… I don’t think that it’s Jamin Gogo Peters. Previously, we had the “luxury” of Golden Boot Winner Albert Dikwa coming off the bench to start in JJ’s absence. It’s most likely Leo Afonso, which means we’re then digging one player deeper into our depth on the right or left sided winger/attacking midfield role.
It’s possible that our players stay relatively healthy this season and none of it comes to fruition… but I have to at least express my concern. Mostly so that I can say “SEE, we told you” if it does come to pass.
Tide Talk 
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