![\"Zordan](\"http:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/holmanaction.jpg\")
<\/a>Zordan was still a toddler when his family, with the aid of Catholic charity workers, left war-torn Croatia for New York City in 1999. With no money and a giant language barrier facing them, the family settled in Portland, Maine, where Zordan became a Mixed Martial Arts world champion and football star at Cheverus High School.<\/p>\n
He counts his blessings every day.<\/p>\n
\u201cI could be over there [in Croatia] right now fighting for my life, or I could be going to school from 8-2,\u201d Zordan told the New Haven (Conn.) Register. \u201cIt\u2019s an easy choice if you ask me. I\u2019ve been blessed with an opportunity that a lot of kids don\u2019t have, and I am looking forward to taking advantage of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zordan\u2019s father, Mladen, fought for his life every day. A former general in the Croatian military, he was captured and held as a prisoner of war for a year. Mladen wanted a better life and brighter future for his wife, two daughters and son.<\/p>\n
\u201cCould you imagine you are 30-35 years old, you don\u2019t know the language, you are going to take three small kids over, you don\u2019t have a dollar to your name?\u201d Zordan told the Register. \u201cWe talk about just doing the right thing, mental toughness, what the best thing about being a man is, and that sums it up to me right there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mladen, a champion MMA competitor, introduced Zordan to karate. A few years later, Zordan made the transition to MMA and won the heavyweight division in the 16-17 age group at the 2013 North American Grappling Association World Championships.<\/p>\n Zordan also became a standout on the football field. A 6-foot-6, 250-pound defensive end\/tight end, he was selected the 2014 Frank J. Gaziano Defensive Lineman of the Year at Cheverus High School.<\/p>\n Brendan Kennedy, NSR\u2019s Area Director of Scouting in Maine, discovered Zordan at a high school football game in 2013. Zordan was recommended by Lee Nelson, father of former NSR football prospect Noah, whose family sponsored the Holmans after they arrived from Croatia.<\/p>\n \u201cZordan\u2019s mom told me his high school coach was planning to meet with him after his senior season,\u201d Kennedy said. \u201cI told his mom it would be difficult to receive an offer to a [NCAA] D-I school if they waited.\u201d<\/p>\n The family took Kennedy\u2019s advice and enrolled with NSR, which is expanding its international scouting throughout Europe.<\/p>\n \u201cThat day I sent Zordan\u2019s stuff to recruiting coordinators and tight end coaches,\u201d Kennedy recalled. \u201cThe Louisville recruiting coordinator called me right away. UConn coach Mike Cummings sent Zordan an email asking him to call me. I started the communication back and forth.\u201d<\/p>\n Zordan also was recruited by Boston College, Maine and Wagner. But UConn was relentless. Coaches texted him after every game and filled his mailbox with personal letters.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I went to Zordan\u2019s home, there must have been 60 personalized postcards and letters from UConn,\u201d Kennedy said. \u201cHe said, \u2018That\u2019s just a small portion. The two bins over there are filled with more.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Zordan visited UConn during his junior year. A few days later, new head coach Bob Diaco called to offer him a full scholarship.<\/p>\n Kennedy was attending his daughter\u2019s lacrosse game when Zordan called him personally to break the news.<\/p>\n \u201cI was so excited,\u201d Kennedy said. \u201cIf anybody deserved a scholarship, it was Zordan.\u201d<\/p>\n It was a dream come true.<\/p>\n \u201cI always had the dream of playing Division I football and maybe one day in the NFL since I was a little kid,\u201d Zordan told the Register. \u201cA kid from Maine getting a Division I scholarship doesn\u2019t happen often.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a pretty great feeling knowing all the hard work, all the time I spent in the classroom and the weight room paid off. There are no absolutes in life, but one thing that I became aware of is that if you work hard, it will pay off.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Zordan Holman can\u2019t imagine would life would have been like today if his family had not left their native land shortly before the turn of the century. Instead, the former National Scouting Report prospect is having the time of his life as a freshman tight end on the UConn football team. Zordan was still a … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[275,255,31,56,276,222,131,274],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8151"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8151"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8151\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8154,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8151\/revisions\/8154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a>