With the roster secured and training camp looming, the Alaska Wild made three key signings to upgrade the defense Thursday including a former defensive lineman for the Chicago Bears.

Tory Collins, a 6’2, 294 lbs defensive lineman who played for the Chicago Bears has signed to play for the Alaska Wild for the 2010 Season. An undrafted defensive tackle out of Northwestern State University Collins earned All-Conference and All-American recognition. Originally from New Orleans, Louisiana, where his family lived until their home was destroyed by the Hurricane Katrina catastrophe in 2005 Collins cites his desire to help his family as one of his biggest motivations to excel as a professional athlete.  He also noted honoring the memory of Marquise Hill, a professional football player and close friend, who died on May 28, 2007.

Mika Kane, is a 6’2, 311 lbs defensive end from Kaulia, HI. In high school Kane was named the Honolulu Advertiser's Defensive Player of the Year after leading the school to it’s first Interscholastic League of Honolulu Division I championship since 1979. In 2004 Rivals.com ranked him the 33rd best defensive tackle in the nation and he was offered a scholarship to the University of California. He opened the 2007 season with five tackles, including one for a loss, against Tennessee and was in on five tackles against Arizona. Kane assisted on six tackles against Oregon State and posted five takedowns, including one for a loss, versus USC. In 2007 he recorded 36 tackles in 11 games with seven starts. In 2008, he shared time at the nose tackle position with Derrick Hill where he had three tackles at Oregon State and finished with two tackles vs. Miami in the Emerald Bowl.

Wesley Holmes, a 6’2, 255 lbs linebacker was also signed Thursday.   Holmes, a Nashville, Tennessee native, attended Pearl Cohn High School, and started his college career at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville before transferring to Tennessee State University. His senior year at TSU he recorded 86 tackles and 3.5 sacks. He was selected to play in the Magnolia Classic All-Star Game and went on to earn All-OVC first team defense honors at Linebacker. Wesley played 3 games for the Odessa Roughnecks in 2009 and recorded 9 solo and 5 assisted tackles.

With significant upgrades roster wide, 2010 is shaping up to be an outstanding season for professional football in Alaska.  “This is the most talented roster we’ve had by far in the history of this franchise.” commented Abe Hernandez, General Manager for the team.  Combined with a three time league championship coach in Head Coach Darnell Lee (50-9 record) 2010 brings much excitement.

Training camp begins Monday, February 15^th and the season opener is Sunday February 28^th,  5:05pm at the Sullivan Arena against the rival Fairbanks Grizzlies.

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