The local paper writes today that "highly ranked" South Florida University central defender Brendan Hines-Ike is training with Örebro SK. Their manager thinks that he has looked good so far after a few days but that it's not a transfer that will happen this summer, but rather that Hines-Ike is someone who they found out about through their "channels" that could be interesting for the future.
He was pretty highly though of coming out of high school. It may be that he's searching for an offer but keeping school as a back-up plan. From the fall: Bolowich said junior defender Brendan Hines-Ike has left the team. Hines-Ike was suspended before Tuesday’s match against Illinois-Chicago for what Bolowich said were issues between the university and Hines-Ike. Bolowich said Hines-Ike could transfer to another school or pursue his aspirations to play professionally. “He’s maintained his grades, but his goal from the get-go was to go pro,” Bolowich said. “He made no bones about it.” Asked if Hines-Ike is leaving Creighton in good standing, Bolowich replied, “That’s entirely up to him. He has to sort out some things.” http://www.omaha.com/creighton/new-...cle_488b1a03-ddd8-5adc-92aa-d8d2df4dc504.html He's a '98 with some YNT experience.
I don't think so, I was born in 97, and I'm going to be a freshman in college this year. Unless he was playing college ball super early I kind of doubt it.
Well, it's a verifiable fact -- and I mistyped. He's a '94, according to Creighton. http://www.gocreighton.com/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=205582312
Hines-Ike is still training with the club and has apparently been doing quite well. In a video interview with the local newspaper the Örebro manager sounds enthusiastic when he reveals that he was "incredibly surprised with how good he is", plus that Hines-Ike has improved every training session and that he is "clearly interesting". The only negative is that their number one priority this transfer window is clearly to bring in a new fast forward to replace jamaican/american Michael Seaton which did not live up to the perhaps misplaced expectations. The biggest Örebro SK blog who report from training sessions now and they also seem to have gotten a positive impression, calling him "reliably robust" in their latest blog entry.
Hines-Ike is back with USF for their upcoming season. He played 90 minutes in a preseason game on Saturday. https://www.nmnathletics.com//pdf9/...PSID=36619&SPID=2914&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=7700
Hines-Ike has signed a four year deal with Örebro SK. The manager comments that they are very happy that he has chosen to sign with ÖSK and that they saw alot of potential in him when he trialed with them this past summer.
In a short first interview with the local Örebro newpaper Hines-Ike says that part of the reason he signed was that he felt very welcome while trialing with the club this past summer, the quality of the training sessions was high and he felt like the club took care of its players. He also points out that the security that comes with signing a long four year deal was important to him.
He is now listed with the first team. http://oskfotboll.se/laget/a-truppen.html @bungadiri @Friedel'sAccent Could we have a thread name change please? "Brendan Hines-Ike at Örebro SK"
Alot of Allsvenskan teams started up their preseason today just as the temperature dropped for the first time during this otherwise very mild swedish winter. One of the clubs who started up their year was Örebro SK and the local newspaper were there and did a video interview with Hines-Ike which you can watch here. To give a short translation of the swedish speaking part of the video where they interview the assistant manager he says that Hines-Ike is a player that they hope will contribute both short term and in the long term. They have seen a large potential in him to develop as a player, both during the weeks that he trained with them last summer and on dvd's that they have watched of his college games. He also praises Hines-Ikes personality.
For what it might be worth, Brendan has an older brother named Ian who might have been a redshirt junior at Seattle U. this fall: http://www.goseattleu.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=18200&ATCLID=205585318 http://www.goseattleu.com/SportSelect.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=18200&SPID=11523&SPSID=94310 However, I can't find him on the roster or in the stats. He has some YNT experience: http://www.ussoccer.com/players/2014/03/15/05/05/ian-hines-ike
Which left the local media in Örebro befuddled to the point where they felt they had to do an interview in which Hines-Ike straightened things out and explained the concept of how things work in MLS. To give some more information on his general situation, Örebro has been very slow to make new signings this winter and with the first preseason game this weekend they only have three "real" central defenders in the squad. Transfer rumours have been linking them with potential experienced starters for the position with names like Fredrik Stenman and Michael Almebäck being mentioned but no action so far. The only one in the position who remains from last season is Erik Moberg who is your typical experienced but average starting central defender for a bottom half of Allsvenskan team. The other central defender is 19-year old Carl Ekstrand Hamrén who was promoted from their youth ranks this winter which means that I have no idea if he's any good. Fullback Patrik Haginge could also jump in to play in the position but I don't think that's the clubs ambition. So at least Hines-Ike will have a good chance to prove himself with alot of playing time this preseason unless Örebro find another central defender soon.
Swedish TV are going a bit over the top this year and are broadcasting 40+ preseason games so I had the chance to watch my Djurgården play away against Örebro today in a game where two american defenders got some playing time. Brendan Hines-Ike started for ÖSK and played 60 minutes together with a recently promoted youth player but you couldn't tell really since they kept the defence together well although to be fair our attack was a bit blunt. Still though, a very positive first impression to me. Alonzo Clarke on the other side came on around the 65th minute and looked a bit lost in his positioning, something in which he wasn't alone in on our team. Overall I would say that he did look a little in over his head but it's probably not fair to judge so soon since he only recently arrived.
A local paper in Örebro published an interview with Hines-Ike where he among other things talks about his college career and transitioning into becoming a professional player. Hines-Ike explains that college is very enjoyable which can be a trap because he has seen others get caught up in that lifestyle instead of keeping their focus on football. Brendan himself stayed focused though, training every day and spent a total of eight weeks training with clubs in Sweden, Norway and Denmark. One of those clubs being Örebro SK obviously where he said that things clicked for him right away due to being very well received by the manager, assistant and teammates. He describes the football in college as very fast and very physical while the football in Örebro is alot smarter and well planned with the players on the team having "brilliant" understanding of the game. Hines-Ike himself apparently started out playing as a forward at academy level and then moved to midfield and was not turned into a central defender until college. Maybe because of that he says that his biggest strength is going forward and his "trademark passing". On the other hand he states that he still needs to improve his general defending and more specifically his positioning, something which he says that he has been getting alot of feedback on and learning much about so far during training. I think that was the biggest takeaways from the interview!
Hines-Ike missed the last penalty of the shootout today when Örebro lost against russian Zenit Saint Petersburg in the final of a preseason tournament. He only came on at the end of this game but played the full 90 earlier this week when they played with a more reserve flavored lineup against danish club AGF Aarhus. I didn't watch that game but he received a fair bit of praise for his performance there, but some also pointed out that he struggled to keep a straight offside line with the others in the back four. I mentioned previously that the club might sign a veteran for their central defence and they did sign Almebäck, who together with Moberg have to be considered the starters at the beginning of the season. Hines-Ike will compete for time as backup together with the newly promoted youngster who has also been receiving some positive criticism this preseason.
On Saturday, Brendan started in the Swedish Cup matchup against BK Forward. His pro debut Finished 2-2
And thank goodness he did, because if he hadn't that lineup card would've given me Stieg Larsson flashbacks.
Hines-Ike played 90 minutes at right back today in the Swedish Cup against second tier side GAIS. I watched the majority of the game and I thought he did well overall and went forward quite alot considering his usual position in central defence. He also scored the 3-0 goal which can be seen in the video below.
Örebro SK has had a documentary crew following the team in their preperations this preseason and today the second episode was released. In it Hines-Ike made a short appearance in the role of the new foreign guy showing his apartment and talking about his experience so far. The part with Hines-Ike starts at 1:21 into the video below and lasts for about a minute and a half.
Hines-Ike came on in the 88th minute of a 4-2 win over Ostersunds FK. http://www.espnfc.us/gamecast/statistics/id/447242/statistics.html