Former Republic Rookie Dakota Collins's European Dream Takes Him to Austria

The name Dakota Collins is not one that many Sacramento Republic fans likely have at the forefront of their minds very often. The striker, born in Santa Barbara, was part of the inaugural Republic roster and helped the team to the 2014 USL Championship. In that first season, Collins appeared in 21 matches across all competitions, starting 6. He also scored 3 goals and registered an assist.

Last year (prior to ICS's upgrade to the SB Nation family) we published an update on Collins. At that time he was playing for NK HAŠK in Croatia, chasing his dream and enjoying himself. However, he was recently on the move again. In the January transfer window, he left Croatia for SK Bischofshofen in the Austrian lower leagues, a move he described as both helping him in his own career and helping to help establish a connection between the two clubs so that other players might follow in his footsteps later.

According to Collins, SK Bischofshofen is a club that is constantly improving and "with big ambitions for the future." The club is not the only one with ambitions, though. Collins himself hopes to use his time with SK Bischofshofen as a way to show that he has what it takes to move up into the Austrian Football Bundesliga or Austrian Football First League (the first and second divisions, respectively). He seems to be doing well at his new club, as he told ICS he has been scoring some goals.

Although he has been plying his trade in Europe since the 2014 season ended, Collins is also keeping track of how things are going back in Sacramento. He was particularly pleased with how many former Cal Poly players the Republic have brought in this off-season, saying that new additions Chase Minter, Mackenzie Pridham, and Matt LaGrassa were "all good players" and that "the fans can expect some great moments from all of them."

Whether or not Collins achieves his ambition and moves up to the first or second division in Austria, we at ICS wish him good luck. And for readers who want to keep track of how he is doing, we'll be following along as best we can and keeping you updated.