The Delic family move pays big-time dividends

Nermin Delic took all of two seconds to sign his national letter of intent with Kentucky on Wednesday.

The moment was over quickly, but those few pen strokes marked the last steps of the Northwest Whitfield senior end’s long and interesting path to becoming a college football player.

“I’ve learned to be a discipline player and improved my technique,” Delic said. “You can’t just go out for yourself. I’ve learned to stay in my gaps and not just try to make the plays. This year and last year, I learned what it is to be a team player.”

This national signing day was a big deal not only for Delic and the Bruins, for whom he began contributing on Friday nights as a sophomore, but the Delic family, who came to the United States more than a decade ago to escape the aftermath of war in Bosnia.

Nermin’s father, Edin — who served with the special forces in Bosnia’s army during the conflicts that ravaged that region of the world during the 1990s — moved his family to Seattle for a year before finding big city life unsuitable. Prepared to scrap his plans for a new life and go back to Bosnia, Edin was persuaded by relatives to give Northwest Georgia a chance.

The Delics — along with his wife, Hana, Edin found work in the carpet industry — discovered a much different pace of life in the area. Meanwhile, Nermin discovered football, and by the time he got to high school, Northwest coaches discovered the big kid — he’s currently 6 feet, 5 inches and 255 pounds — was pretty good.

While Delic will be starting a new phase of his life when he heads to Lexington later this year, Wednesday was a pretty good time for he and his family — Nermin’s younger sister, Alma, is a sophomore at Northwest — to reflect on how far they’ve come.

“It means that we accomplished why we came (to the United States),” Edin said. “Me and my wife came because of them, Nermin and Alma. Today, I can see that we did the right thing and it paid off.”

Delic broke into Northwest’s varsity lineup in 2007 as a tight end, but also began playing at defensive end as a junior and continued the two-way role this past season, when Region 7-4A coaches named him that league’s defensive player of the year.

A two-time selection to The Daily Citizen’s All-Area Football Team, as a senior he had 79 tackles, three forced fumbles and a touchdown on defense while proving a powerful blocker on offense, where he also had two touchdown catches for the ground-based Bruins. He was also selected to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Class 4A All-State Team in 2009.

Despite those accomplishments, Delic wasn’t above catching a little good-natured grief on Wednesday from Bruins coach Mike Falleur, who joked that the senior was a little late to his signing because he had to “go home and get pretty.” But Falleur also balanced that with a compliment for Delic, saying that while the player’s size was a blessing, he didn’t rest on that advantage.

“He could have not worked and not done the things you have to do to improve yourself,” Falleur said. “But Nermin’s always done that. He’s always worked hard and done the right things.”

Even as he made progress and impressed with his on-field accomplishments in three varsity seasons, during which the Bruins went 22-11 and earned two berths in the Class 4A playoffs, Delic still faced obstacles.

Also a devoted member of Northwest’s basketball team, Delic dropped to 220 pounds during the 2008-09 season to help improve his athleticism at post. But what was good for basketball wasn’t so good for football and it gave Delic new-found motivation.

“I went to all those junior days and didn’t get a single offer,” Delic said. “I guess I’m kind of glad that happened because it pushed me and made me want to prove people wrong.”

The interest did return for Delic, though, and he committed to Maryland while attending a summer football camp put on by the Terrapins in June. But in the interest of being closer to home and family, he changed his mind after visiting Kentucky in November to watch the Wildcats play Alabama. He then stuck with Kentucky even after Rich Brooks turned the head coaching reins over to offensive coordinator Joker Phillips last month.

“Maryland has a great program ... I just felt real comfortable at Kentucky,” said Delic, who hopes to study sports medicine and noted Kentucky’s program in that field as another reason he changed his plans.

That decision was fine with Edin, who said he’s gone from knowing nothing about football to “expert” status over the years and plans to be at all of Nermin’s games in Lexington. Even a few hours’ drive will be an adjustment for Nermin’s mom, though.

“I’m thinking, a few more months and he will be gone, so that’s the part I don’t like,” Hana said. “But he deserves (the opportunity).”

For now, Delic expects to be at defensive end with the Wildcats, though he said Kentucky’s signing class for 2010 includes several others at his position and knows adapting to college will require adaptation. That didn’t seem to be a big concern on Wednesday for Delic, who mingled with friends and posed for pictures as his dad snapped photos in Northwest’s gym lobby.

“My parents made a sacrifice for a better life for me and my sister,” Delic said. “They left all their family back there. I would have never had this opportunity if it wasn’t for them.”

A few steps away, Falleur summed up the moment: “It’s the American dream, the American story. His dad provided him with that opportunity and he took advantage of it.”

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