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HEART & SOUL
Boardman’s Zach Zidian doing what it takes to keep pro football dreams alive
By Brian Dzenis
Zach Zidian is doing what it takes to keep his professional football dreams alive.
It isn’t always easy working the ranks of pro football beneath the NFL. It involves a lot of uncertainty and sending tape to a lot of teams in the United States and Canada, but the Boardman graduate has found a spot with the Arena Football League’s Philadelphia Soul.
“It’s really a sacrifice for everyone around you, including yourself. I didn’t do a normal career path of utilizing my degree and doing internships. I decided to play football,” Zidian said. “It’s hard and you get a little discouraged, but I never lost any motivation I always believed I could play football at a high level.”
After graduating from Duquesne (FCS) in 2016, Zidian began his pursuit of pro football with the NFL. He sent out his numbers and tape from both his career and his school’s pro day to NFL teams. When that didn’t pan out, it was on to the Canadian Football League and Arena League.
The Soul had him travel to Philadelphia for a open tryout and he earned a roster spot. He started the season on injured reserve, but since being activated on May 23, he’s been starting on the defensive line.
In the eight games he’s played in, Zidian has 10.5 tackles and two sacks. Playing D-line in arena football can seem like a losing proposition. Although the Soul have the league’s best defense, they still gives up 42 points a game.
“It’s crazy. It really is. It’s the combination of high scoring like basketball. There’s a little bit of brawling like hockey and then you put on football pads,” Zidian said. “You’re playing on a field that’s like 40-50 percent of the size [of a normal football field]. There’s a lot of bodies flying around in such a small area.
“It’s tough on a defensive player. It’s a lot of pass rushing because [opponents] pass pretty much every single play,” he said.
The eagerness of each player to move on to the next level manifests itself on the field.
“Everybody seems to have a chip on their shoulder. Everybody is out there fighting,” Zidian said. “I believe that all players in arena football do it because they love the game and they’re looking to get to the next level.
“Everyone plays with a lot of pride, so if someone gets bumped the wrong way, people end up jawing,” he said.
Zidian is on a one-year contract with a one-year option that can be picked up by the Soul. He’ll be given another chance to tryout for NFL and CFL teams before the team decides to pick him up again.
The Soul are 13-1 and begin postseason play on Saturday against the Baltimore Brigade. It isn’t the football career that he expected, but he’s sticking with it.
“You just have that fire inside of you that says ‘I can compete and I can do this’ keeps you going no matter what,” Zidian said. “You don’t give up after one hit when you’re a competitor.”