Jonathan Dally is a former professional

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

. A dual-threat, Dally played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

at Cal Poly and later was the co-

MVP MVP most commonly refers to: * Most valuable player, an award, typically for the best performing player in a sport or competition * Minimum viable product, a concept for feature estimating used in business and engineering MVP may also refer to: ...

for both the 2014 and 2015 Italian bowl championship games in the

Italian Football League Italian Football League (IFL; the name is in English) is the top level American football league in Italy first established in 1978. The first recognized league champion was crowned in 1980. The annual final playoff game to determine the league c ...

(IFL). Dally also played in the

Austrian Football League The Austrian Football League (AFL) is a professional American football league in Austria. The league comprises six teams, and operates on a system of promotion and relegation. It plays by rules based on those of the U.S. National Collegiate Athl ...

(AFL).

Early life

Dally played high school football at Ernest Righetti High in

Santa Maria, California Santa Maria (Spanish language, Spanish for "Mary, mother of Jesus, St. Mary") is a city in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Located on the Central Coast (California), Central Coast of California, it is approximately northwest o ...

. He earned All- Pac 5 League honors as a junior and senior quarterback, while also playing

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

for the Warriors.

Collegiate career

Standing 6-foot-1 and 180 pounds, Dally played his first two college seasons at

Allan Hancock College Allan Hancock College is a public community college in Santa Maria, California. It offers associate degrees at its Lompoc Valley campus and at nearby Vandenberg Space Force Base. The college is part of the California Community College System ...

in Santa Maria, before signing a

National Letter of Intent The National Letter of Intent (NLI) is a document used to indicate a student athlete's commitment to participating in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) colleges and universities in the United States. The NCAA Eligibility Center manag ...

in December 2006 to transfer to Cal Poly University, an FCS program in

San Luis Obispo, California ; ; ; Chumashan languages, Chumash: ''tiłhini'') is a city and county seat of San Luis Obispo County, California, United States. Located on the Central Coast (California), Central Coast of California, San Luis Obispo is roughly halfway betwee ...

. As a sophomore, he was selected to the All-

Western State Conference The Western State Conference (WSC) is a college athletic conference that is affiliated with the California Community College Athletic Association. The conference was established in 1950, making it the oldest community college conference in Califo ...

Team and earned AHC's Team MVP award. Despite playing only two seasons at Cal Poly, Dally's combined 75 passing and rushing touchdowns totaled a school career record, which would later be matched by Chris Brown. In a 2007 game against

Weber State Weber State University (pronounced ) is a public university in Ogden, Utah, United States. It was founded in 1889 as Weber Stake Academy and earned its current name in 1991. As of fall 2023, the student population reached 30,536 students, cons ...

, Dally set a program record for touchdown passes in a game, with six, and tied the single-game record in 2008 versus

Southern Utah Dixie is a nickname for the populated, lower-elevation area of south-central Washington County, the southwest corner of the State of Utah, bordering nearby Arizona to the south, and Nevada to the west. The area lies in the northeastern Mojave ...

. In 2008, his passer-efficiency rating of 171.6 led the country at the FCS level. Following the 2008 regular season, Dally was selected to the All-

Great West Conference The Great West Conference (GWC) was an NCAA college athletic conference in the continental United States. Originally a football-only league, it became an all-sports entity during the 2008–09 season. The GWC stopped sponsoring football following ...

First Team and received two write-in votes for seven total points in the balloting for the

Walter Payton Award The Walter Payton Award is awarded annually to the most outstanding offensive player in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) of college football as chosen by a nationwide panel of media and college sports ...

Professional career

In 2011, Dally started his pro career playing for the

Milano Rhinos The Rhinos Milano are an American football team based in Milan, Italy. The team was founded in 1976 (first team in Italy) and won the Italian championship in 1981, 1982, 1983, 1990 and 2016. The Rhinos play in the Italian Football League (form ...

in the

. For the 2012-2013 seasons, Dally signed with the

Danube Dragons The Danube Dragons founded in 1985 (until 1999 as Klosterneuburg Mercenaries) are a 3-time AFL-champion American football club based in Vienna, Austria. History Under the name ''Klosterneuburg Mercenaries'' the Dragons were among the first Amer ...

of the

in February 2012, and played with the club through 2013. The Dragons reached the Austrian league playoffs in both seasons. In 2014 Dally returned to the

, signing with the

Milano Seamen The Seamen Milano are an American football team based in Milan, Italy that competed in the European League of Football. They compete in the Italian Football League. History 80s The Seamen Milano were founded by Sergio Galeotti, a shareholder of ...

, Dally was selected as co-MVP of the 2014

Italian Bowl Italian Football League (IFL; the name is in English) is the top level American football league in Italy first established in 1978. The first recognized league champion was crowned in 1980. The annual final playoff game to determine the league c ...

. He also quarterbacked Milano to a repeat title in 2015, again earning the co-MVP honor as the Seamen defeated the

Parma Panthers The Parma Panthers are an American football team based in Parma, Italy that competes in the Italian Football League. The team was founded in 1981 by Vic Dasaro, an American veterinary student attending university in Parma. Dasaro created the te ...

24–14 in the XXXV edition of the game, held at Stadio Vigorelli. As the Seamen finished 11–1 in 2014, Dally surpassed 30 touchdown passes and added six rushing touchdowns for the season.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dally, Jonathan Living people American football quarterbacks Cal Poly Mustangs football players Allan Hancock Bulldogs football players Players of American football from Santa Barbara County, California People from Santa Maria, California Year of birth missing (living people) American expatriate players of American football American expatriate sportspeople in Austria American expatriate sportspeople in Italy Ernest Righetti High School alumni Italian Football League players Austrian Football League players