Former Lumberjack Holstrom Begins AFL Career Tonight

PITTSBURGH, Penn. – Former Lumberjack football player Ryne Holstrom will make his professional debut tonight for the Arena Football League's Philadelphia Soul, starting on the offensive line against the Pittsburgh Power. The game will be televised live on the NFL Network at 6 p.m. Arizona time.

"I am excited for my first game," said Holstrom. "It's almost been two years since I played in my last game. It's going to be fun to get to go to battle with all the guys who I have grown to know well over these last three weeks. I think we are well prepared and I have great confidence in all my teammates. It's going to be a fun game to watch."

Holstrom played for NAU from 2006-09, serving as team captain as a senior. He was a four-time Golden Eagle Scholar-Athlete recipient and earned All-Big Sky honorable mention honors in 2007 and second-team selection in 2009.  He helped running back Alex Henderson lead the Big Sky Conference in rushing at 106.0 yards per game as Lumberjacks ranked fifth in the country in both passing and total offense in 2009.

Holstrom, a native of West Linn, Ore. and product of West Linn High School, signed with the team this spring and has been in training camp since Feb. 18.

"Training camp was a great experience," said Holstrom. "It's a lot different then college because everyone is competing to make the 24-man roster. Everyday you practice its like you are interviewing for a job. Since I had never played Arena Football it took me a little while before I started to get the speed of the game and the technique I needed to be successful. Camp really brought our team together, and I was just very excited to get the chance to be apart of it."

The Philadelphia Soul are co-owned by former NFL quarterback Ron Jaworski. The Soul will be competing in their first AFL game since July 27, 2008, where they were crowned ArenaBowl XXII champions with a 59-56 victory over the San Jose SaberCats. Pittsburgh is an expansion team playing their first game ever.

"The expectations are very high and that was made clear from day 1 of camp," said Holstrom. "We expect to win a championship. That isn't something that you just say we believe it and we work hard everyday with that standard in mind. We had a great camp and first week of practice, but we need to continue to build on that. Everyday in practice we are pushing each other to get better. If we continue to improve and come together like we have I have no doubt we will be able to accomplish that goal by the end of the year. Right now our goal is to go 1-0 versus Pittsburgh this week."