The second round draft choice out of Brown University has agreed to his rookie contract and is now officially a Sounder.
When a player moves up from the college level to the pro level, the speed of play is often cited as the most drastic jump.
Speed, however, won’t be an issue for Sounders FC defender Dylan Remick. The second round MLS SuperDraft selection out of Brown University was a top-flight sprinter in high school. As a senior in 2009, he ran a 48.61 in the 400 meters, just 0.77 seconds off of the 2009 Junior Olympic qualifying standard of 47.84.
He also didn’t waste time in getting acclimated to the Sounders FC and on Tuesday the club announced that they had signed the 21-year-old defender to the team.
“I’ve been very happy with Dylan,” Sounders FC head coach Sigi Schmid said. “Athletically, he’s very, very good. He’s a good passer and he’s improving every day. He may not play a lot of minutes this first year, but he’s definitely someone that we think we can build on for the future.”
Remick not only excelled in the high school ranks, but also ran track during his freshman year at Brown, running mostly on the 4x400 meter relay team. Though he had extremely competitive times and has a twin brother, Spencer, who runs track at USC, he always envisioned soccer is his path.
“I knew it would be very difficult to qualify for the Junior Olympics. I knew I had some speed, but that didn’t seem like a realistic goal as much as soccer did,” Remick said. “And I did love to play soccer more than I like to run track. So I was always focused on soccer and track was a great sport to keep me in shape.”
Now, he uses his speed from the left back position – although Schmid has also used him at right back with some success this preseason. In a league that features so much speed in the attacking positions, it will be a boost for the Sounders backline.
“I always knew that was a strength of mine and it’s helped me become a better soccer player,” Remick said, noting that his track workouts helped him develop game speed as well. “The 400 is such a long-distance sprint. It’s both physically and mentally tiring and tough. Both the physical and mental aspects helped me in soccer, preparing me for anything that would come my way.”
Just two classes away from completing his biology degree at Brown, his new contract with the Sounders FC will not stand in the way of Remick earning his diploma.
The administration at Brown has allowed him to complete two outstanding finals and the two courses he still needs to finish to graduate while he is in Seattle with the Sounders and his professors have helped in building the coursework for him to pass the classes.
“It’ll be a little bit difficult. The good thing is by finalizing the contract, it gives me some closure on what my situation will be,” Remick said. “That helps a lot and Brown has been overwhelmingly helpful in allowing me to follow my dream as well as finishing on the road.”
Remick played four seasons at Brown, starting all but one of the 71 matches he appeared in while notching six goals and 12 assists. He was a second-team All-American at left back as a senior, when he had two goals and seven assists. While with the Bears, he also earned the Cliff Stevenson Award for the team’s MVP and the Class of 1937 Trophy for the player who contributed most to the team.
