Dan Whalen (born August 6, 1988) is a former

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 ...

from

Willoughby, Ohio Willoughby is a city in Lake County, Ohio, United States, along the Chagrin River. The population was 23,959 at the time of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. A suburb of Cleveland, it is part of the Greater Cleveland, Cleveland metropol ...

High school career

Dan played

high school football High school football, also known as prep football, is gridiron football played by High school (North America), high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular high school sports, interscholastic sports in both c ...

at Willoughby South High School. He only started one year, leading the Rebels to a 10–0 regular season while throwing for over 2,500 yards, 27 touchdowns and only 6 interceptions. In a first round playoff game against Olmsted Falls High School, Whalen threw for 356 yards and 5 touchdowns while only playing in the first half of a 49–10 win.

College career

Whalen played at

Case Western Reserve University Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) is a Private university, private research university in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It was established in 1967 by a merger between Western Reserve University and the Case Institute of Technology. Case ...

under head coach

Greg Debeljak Greg Debeljak (born April 9, 1965) is an American college football coach and former player. He is the head football coach for Case Western Reserve University, a position he has held since 2004. Debeljak and his Spartans compete at the NCAA Divisi ...

. He was a four-year starter at Case throwing for 9,720 yards, with 742 completions from 1,229 attempts, and with 87 touchdowns, and graduated in 2009 as the school's all-time leader in pass attempts, completions, yards and touchdown passes. Whalen was named a first team

All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

his senior season by the

American Football Coaches Association The American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) is an association of over 11,000 American football coaches and staff on all levels. According to its constitution, some of the main goals of the American Football Coaches Association are to "mainta ...

(AFCA) and d3football.com. Dan was also a two-time finalist for the Gagliardi Trophy (Division III Player of the Year) and named

University Athletic Association The University Athletic Association (UAA) is an intercollegiate athletic conference that competes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III. Member schools are highly selective universities located in Georgia, Illino ...

(UAA) Offensive Player of the Year three times. While the starting quarterback, Whalen led Case to 31 consecutive regular season wins, three straight perfect regular seasons, three straight UAA titles, and three straight NCAA postseasons. Dan also played punter in college.

Professional career

Cleveland Gladiators

Assigned (added to the roster) to the Cleveland Gladiators on Feb. 2, 2011 and removed from the Gladiator's roster on March 13, 2011. Whalen then returned to the roster two weeks later on March 25, 2011. Dan played in parts of six games for the Gladiators in the 2011 season, leading two come from behind wins, going 23 for 49 and passing for 284 yards with 9 total touchdowns and 1 interception. Midway through the season, Whalen decided to leave the team to pursue his career as a writer. He was reassigned on June 6, 2011.

Orlando Predators

Assigned (added to the roster) to the Orlando Predators on March 20, 2012.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Whalen, Dan 1988 births Living people People from Willoughby, Ohio Players of American football from Lake County, Ohio American football quarterbacks Case Western Reserve Spartans football players Cleveland Gladiators players Orlando Predators players