The following is a news release from Gatorade
In its 36th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, Gatorade has announced Jordan Holland of East Anchorage High School as its 2020-21 Gatorade Alaska Football Player of the Year. Holland is the second Gatorade Alaska Football Player of the Year to be chosen from East Anchorage High School.
The award, which recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field, distinguishes Holland as Alaska’s best high school football player. Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Football Player of the Year award to be announced in May, Holland joins an elite group of past state football award-winners, including Emmitt Smith (1986-87, Escambia High School, Fla.), Matthew Stafford (2005-06, Highland Park High School, Texas) and Christian McCaffrey (2012-13 & 2013-14, Valor Christian High School, Colo.).
Related: 20-21 Gatorade Football Player of the Year Finalists
The 5-foot-10, 180-pound senior wide receiver and defensive back led the Thunderbirds to a 6-0 record and the Anchorage School District tournament championship this past season. Holland caught 27 passes for 590 yards and nine touchdowns, including five grabs for 124 yards and two scores in East’s 41-0 win over Bartlett High in the district title game. Holland, a three-time First Team All-State selection at defensive back and a two-time All-State receiver, also recorded 20 tackles and one interception on defense.
Holland has volunteered locally on behalf of community beautification projects and he has donated his time to multiple community service initiatives through his church. “Jordan was not only one of the best athletes on the team, he was most likely the hardest worker,” said Jeff Trotter, head coach of East Anchorage High School. “Many athletes work hard when they think coaches are watching or they’re being recorded. Jordan’s effort never varied.” Holland has maintained a 3.19 GPA in the classroom. He remains undecided upon a collegiate destination.
The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one winner in the District of Columbia and each of the 50 states that sanction high school football, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, baseball, softball, and boys and girls track & field, and awards one National Player of the Year in each sport. The selection process is administered by the Gatorade Player of the Year Selection Committee, which works with top sport-specific experts and a media advisory board of accomplished, veteran prep sports journalists to determine the state winners in each sport.
Holland joins recent Gatorade Alaska Football Players of the Year Jace Henry (2019-20, Lathrop High School), Colton Herman (2018-19, East Anchorage High School), Derryk Snell (2017-18, Chugiak High School), and Brenner Furlong (2016-17, Soldotna High School), among the state’s list of former award winners.
Through Gatorade’s cause marketing platform “Play it Forward,” Holland has the opportunity to award a $1,000 grant to a local or national youth sports organization of their choosing. Holland is also eligible to submit a 30-second video explaining why the organization they chose is deserving of one of twelve $10,000 spotlight grants, which will be announced throughout the year. To date, Gatorade
Player of the Year winners’ grants have totaled more than $2.7 million across 1,117 organizations.
Since the program’s inception in 1985, Gatorade Player of the Year award recipients have won hundreds of professional and college championships, and many have also turned into pillars in their communities, becoming coaches, business owners and educators.
