Daniel Vaughn Persa (born November 20, 1988) is an American former

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 ...

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 ...

who played for the

Northwestern Wildcats The Northwestern Wildcats are the athletic teams that represent Northwestern University, located in Evanston, Illinois. Northwestern is a founding member of the Big Ten Conference and one of two private universities in the conference, the other ...

. He attended Liberty High School in

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Bethlehem is a city in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, Northampton and Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, Lehigh counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Bethle ...

Early life

Persa was born on November 20, 1988, to parents Dan Sr. and Jane Persa in

. His mother and sister both graduated from

Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsyl ...

, resulting in Persa wishing to play for the Nittany Lions as a child. While attending Liberty High School, Persa played football for three years and competed on their track and field team as a sprinter. As a football player, Persa became the first Pennsylvania high school student to throw over 2,000 yards and rush over 1,000. Off the field, Persa maintained a 4.3 GPA and volunteered with the

Special Olympics Special Olympics is the world's largest sports organization for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, providing year-round training and activities to 5 million participants and Unified Sports partners in 172 countries. Special Ol ...

and local youth programs. In his senior year of high school, Persa committed to

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

on June 23, 2006. He chose to attend Northwestern over football scholarships from the

University of Akron The University of Akron is a public university, public research university in Akron, Ohio, United States. It is part of the University System of Ohio. As a STEM fields, STEM-focused institution, it focuses on industries such as polymers, advance ...

, the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university system with its main campus in Storrs, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1881 as the Storrs Agricultural School, named after two benefactors. In 1893, ...

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist ministe ...

, and the

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia, United States. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Ins ...

. Upon graduating, he was ranked 93rd nationally by ESPN/Scouts, Inc. and received 2006 Pennsylvania 4A A.P. Player of the Year. In 2017, he was inducted into the National Football Foundation Lehigh Valley Chapter Hall of Fame.

Recruitment

College career

2010

Persa became Northwestern's starting quarterback in

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

following Mike Kafka's graduation. In the season-opener against Vanderbilt, Persa went 19-for-21 and passed for three touchdowns. In week 2 against the

Illinois State Redbirds The Illinois State Redbirds are the athletic teams that represent Illinois State University in Normal, Illinois. Teams play at the NCAA Division I level ( FCS in football). Most teams compete in the Missouri Valley Conference except football (M ...

, Persa went 19-for-23 and passed for 240 yards and two touchdowns. On November 13 against the

Iowa Hawkeyes The Iowa Hawkeyes are the athletic teams that represent the University of Iowa, located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. The Hawkeyes have varsity teams in 20 sports, 7 for men and 13 for women; The teams participate in Division I of the Nati ...

, Persa went 32-for-43 for 318 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. After throwing a 20-yard touchdown pass to Demetrius Fields to win the game in the fourth quarter, Persa suffered an

Achilles tendon rupture Achilles tendon rupture is when the Achilles tendon, at the back of the ankle, breaks. Symptoms include the sudden onset of sharp pain in the heel. A snapping sound may be heard as the tendon breaks and walking becomes difficult. Rupture of the ...

that required season-ending surgery to repair the injury. Evan Watkins replaced him at quarterback for the remainder of the season. Persa finished the season with 2,581 passing yards and 15 touchdowns. In the 2010 season Persa set the Big Ten single-season record for completion percentage at 73.5%.

2011

Northwestern started a campaign for Persa for the

Heisman Trophy The Heisman Memorial Trophy ( ; also known simply as the Heisman) is awarded annually since 1935 to the top player in college football. It is considered the most prestigious award in the sport and is presented by the Heisman Trophy Trust followin ...

before the 2011 season by promoting the slogan "Persa Strong" on billboards in

Bristol, Connecticut Bristol is a suburban city located in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States, southwest-west of Hartford, Connecticut, Hartford. The city is also 120 miles southwest from Boston, and approximately 100 miles northeast of New York City. The ...

, and

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. Bruce Feldman of

ESPN.com ESPN.com is the official website of ESPN. It is owned by ESPN Internet Ventures, a division of ESPN Inc. History Since launching in April 1995 as ESPNET.SportsZone.com (ESPNET SportsZone), the website has developed numerous sections including ...

had called Persa the strongest quarterback in the country. Persa

bench press The bench press or chest press is a weight training exercise where a person presses a weight upwards while lying horizontally on a weight training bench. The bench press is a Compound movements, compound movement, with the primary muscles involved ...

ed ,

squatted Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building (usually residential) that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there wer ...

, and hang cleaned . He sat out the 2011 season-opener against

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private university, private Catholic Jesuits, Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1863 by the Society of Jesus, a Catholic Religious order (Catholic), religious order, t ...

on September 3, with

Kain Colter Theodis Kain Colter (born October 3, 1990) is an American former college football player who played multiple positions for the Northwestern Wildcats, mostly as a quarterback and wide receiver. He was later a member of the Minnesota Vikings, Los A ...

starting in his place. Northwestern took Persa's Heisman billboards down on September 9; the University said that the billboard campaign was scheduled to end after one month and it had nothing to do with his injury. He missed the next two games of the season, and, as a result of the injury, stayed in the

passing pocket The passing pocket, usually referred to as the pocket, is a term used in American football to describe the area in the backfield created on a passing play where the offensive line forms a wall of protection around the quarterback. This allows hi ...

more than he did in 2010. Following the season he participated in the

2012 East–West Shrine Game The 2012 East–West Shrine Game was the 87th staging of the All-star game, all-star college football exhibition game featuring NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision players and a few select invitees from CIS football, Canadian university foo ...

on January 21, 2012.

Professional career

After going

undrafted In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

in the

2012 NFL draft The 2012 NFL draft was the 77th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players for their rosters. The draft, which is officially called the "NFL Player Selection Meeting", was held ...

, Persa received a tryout with the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (colloquially known as the Bucs) are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC S ...

during the team's rookie

mini-camp A mini-camp, also spelled minicamp, is a short camp held by National Football League (NFL) and Canadian Football League (CFL) teams usually in spring of each year. The camp usually only lasts 3 days, but the length varies by a day or two depending ...

in May 2012. He injured his ankle during a practice, and the

Indianapolis Colts The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. Since the 2008 India ...

medical team that examined him also diagnosed him with a second Achilles tear that required surgery. The surgery prevented him from playing in 2012.

Post-career

After failing to enter the NFL, Persa began working as an intern for Duke Realty Corporation under former NU quarterback Steve Schnur and in sales at IT firm Computer Aid Inc. He was hired by real estate company

CBRE Group CBRE Group, Inc. (an initialism of Coldwell Banker Richard Ellis) is an American commercial real estate services and investment firm with corporate headquarters in Dallas, Texas and global financial headquarters at Lever House in Midtown Manh ...

in 2014. He was also hired to do color commentary for one Northwestern spring football game on April 5, 2014.

References

External links

Northwestern Wildcats football bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Persa, Dan 1988 births Living people Liberty High School (Bethlehem, Pennsylvania) alumni Players of American football from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania American football quarterbacks Northwestern Wildcats football players