The first thing AJ MacGinty did after being pulled aside for a post-game interview following the Eagles' 30-29 win over Scotland on June 16 in Houston was to apologize for his hair.

"Sorry about the hair, but I had Samu [Manoa] cut it so that's why it looks like this," he lamented. 

OK, well, to be honest, we were very concerned. The hair has been better, and we hold out hope it will return to normal—perhaps in the same way his play has returned to normal after a knee injury put him out of commission this spring.

Back on the field for the Eagles this June, MacGinty produced three very, very good performances against Russia, Scotland, and Canada, with his performance vs. the Scots being a masterpiece.

Simply put, it's clear MacGinty has grown into a world-class No. 10, something that's rare for a Tier 2 national team to foster simply because it's tough to get such a player the in-game seasoning to reach that level.

Here are five reasons why MacGinty has broken the mold.

Vision And Exits

See below. Who does this? Who does this in the biggest game of the year? Who does this with (notice) a yellow card hanging over your team? MacGinty did this twice against Scotland, faking the kick and sidestepping his way out of trouble. It worked beautifully—although, had (in the other case) his pass to Davies connected, we might have seen a try come out of it.

Yes, You Goobers, He Can Play Defense

MacGinty likes to tackle. He takes pride in it, and he's proof.

How important is that? Well, if, as in the past, you have a poor defensive flyhalf (the term we've heard is "turnstile" which isn't very nice), then your inside center and a flanker have to look after him. That changes your selections, especially on inside center, where the player now has to have the quickness to fill that space should the flyhalf fail to tackle.

And even if you're plugging the holes, good teams target poor tacklers and you get burned pretty quickly. MacGinty is an excellent tackler.

This...

We're not showing you the try he set up for Hanco Germishuys against Scotland. Instead, we're showing you the conversion. The try made it 28-24, but it was this conversion, from way out, that made it a six-point game and ensured that Scotland needed a converted try to win.

He was a perfect 6 for 6 against Scotland in a game the Eagles won by a point. He was less accurate against Canada but the USA won by a lot. Over the three June tests, he scored 38 points. His final kick took him past Chris Wyles into third all-time among USA MNT 15s players (behind first-place Mike Hercus and second-place Matt Alexander). MacGinty got there in 20 games. Wyles needed 54. MacGinty's scoring rate per game of 11.15 is topped by only two USA players: Alexander (11.92) and Kip Oxman, who scored 12 points in his only appearance for the USA in 1976. 

He's Not Afraid To Take Defenders On...

If they can catch him. MacGinty looked to his outside this June and saw Bryce Campbell, Paul Lasike, and Marcel Brache and figured, rightly, that he should use those weapons. But when defenses key on those runners, he ran on his own and he's superb at that.

A little dummy, a little burst, and the USA is past the gain line and cooking.

Passing

Watch this clip a couple of times and see how MacGinty just takes a quick look out wide and then fires a perfect pass to Nate Augspurger on the wing. This play is nuts. With everything going on, he just takes a quick look and BANG! The ball is right there.

With the boot, the brain, the quickness, the bravery, the elusiveness, and the strength, MacGinty isn't just the USA's best flyhalf. He may also be one of the best anywhere.