SAN JOSE, Calif.- The SaberCats today announced the addition of former Edmonton Eskimos and Milwaukee Iron defensive lineman Trumaine Sykes.
"In Trumaine we are bringing in a guy with a lot of good experience," said Owner/Head Coach Darren Arbet. "He is going to be able to come in at the start of camp this week and have an opportunity to compete."
Sykes (6-5, 280, Southern) most recently spent time with the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League in 2011. Before joining the Eskimos, Sykes was a member of the Milwaukee Iron of the Arena Football League in 2010, where he made three appearances in the regular season, recorded six total tackles, four of which were solo and recovered a fumble which he returned for a touchdown. In the postseason, Sykes registered four tackles, two of which were sacks. In the CFL in 2009, he played with the Saskatchewan Roughriders, where he appeared in five games during Saskatchewan’s championship campaign. In 2008, the former Southern Jaguar had an extremely productive year in arenafootball2 (af2) with the Green Bay Blizzard, where he posted a league high 19.5 sacks, eight forced fumbles and five fumble recoveries en route to being named the ADT Defensive Player of the Year and the Russell Athletic Lineman of the Year. Originally signed as an undrafted free agent by the Washington Redskins of the National Football League, Sykes appeared in one regular season game in 2006 and remained with the team through the preseason of the following year.
As a senior at Southern, Sykes led the Jaguars with 53 tackles and nine-and-a-half sacks. He spent two seasons at West Virginia, and two more at Holmes Junior College (Goodman, Miss.), where he was selected to the Junior College All-State team as a freshman and was named a first team NJCAA (National Junior College Athletic Association) Pre-Season All-American as a sophomore. Sykes produced 78 total tackles, 12 tackles for losses and nine sacks as a sophomore in helping Holmes to a 9-2 record and the 2002 Region XXIIII championship.
A native of Grenada, Miss., Sykes attended Grenada high school, where he primarily played football and basketball at Grenada high school, but he also played baseball and ran track as well.
