- Dan Persa
-
Dan Persa 
Persa before the first game of the 2011 season for Northwestern.Northwestern Wildcats — No. 7 Quarterback 
SeniorMajor: Communication studies Date of birth: November 20, 1988 Height: 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) Weight: 210 lb (95 kg; 15 st 0 lb) Career history High school: Liberty High School,
Bethlehem, PennsylvaniaCollege(s):
- Northwestern (2007–present)
Career highlights and awards - First-team Coaches' All-Big Ten honors (2010)
Stats at ESPN.com Daniel Vaughn "Dan" Persa (born November 20, 1988) is an American football quarterback for the Northwestern Wildcats. He attended Liberty High School in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
Contents
Recruitment
Name Hometown High school / college Height Weight 40‡ Commit date Dan Persa
QBBethlehem, Pennsylvania Liberty High School 6 ft 2 in (188 cm) 201 lb (91 kg) 4.58 Jun 23,
2006Scout: 
Rivals:
Overall recruiting rankings: Scout: 71 (QB) Rivals: 22 (QB), 33 (PA) ‡ Refers to 40 yard dash
Note: In many cases, Scout and Rivals may conflict in their listings of height, weight and 40 time.
In these cases, an average of the two was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale.
Sources:- "2006 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. http://www.rivals.com/TeamRank.asp?type=0&sort=0&year=2006. Retrieved 2011-10-07.
Persa committed to the Northwestern University on June 23, 2006.[1] He chose Northwestern over football scholarships from the University of Akron, the University of Connecticut, Temple University, and the University of West Virginia.[2]
College career
2010
Persa became Northwestern's starting quarterback in 2010 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, Persa went 19-for-23 and passed for 240 yards and two touchdowns.[3]
On November 13 against the Iowa Hawkeyes, 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 that required season-ending surgery to repair the injury. Evan Watkins replaced him at quarterback for the remainder of the season.[4] Persa finished the season with 2,581 passing yards and 15 touchdowns.[5]
In the 2010 season Persa set the Big Ten single-season record for completion percentage at 73.5%.[6]
2011
Northwestern started a campaign for Persa for the Heisman Trophy before the 2011 season by promoting the slogan "Persa Strong" on billboards in Bristol, Connecticut, and Chicago. Bruce Feldman of ESPN.com had called Persa the strongest quarterback in the country.[7] Persa bench presses 365 pounds (166 kg), squats 520 pounds (240 kg), and hang cleans 315 pounds (143 kg).[8]
He sat out the 2011 season-opener against Boston College on September 3, with Kain Colter starting in his place.[9] 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.[10] He missed the second game of the season, a match-up against Eastern Illinois on September 10.[11]
References
- ^ "Dan Persa". Rivals.com. http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/recruiting/player-Dan-Persa-39392. Retrieved 2011-10-07.
- ^ "Dan Persa". Scout.com. http://northwestern.scout.com/a.z?s=179&p=8&c=1&nid=2433964. Retrieved 2011-10-07.
- ^ Hine, Chris (September 11, 2010). "Persa excellent again in NU's 37-3 victory". Chicago Tribune. http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2010-09-11/sports/ct-spt-0912-northwestern-football--20100911_1_drake-dunsmore-dan-persa-ryan-field. Retrieved 2010-10-09.
- ^ Rittenberg, Adam (November 13, 2010). "QB Dan Persa done for season". ESPN.com. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=5800676. Retrieved 2010-11-14.
- ^ Powers, Scott (July 29, 2011). "Persa gains mental toughness from injury". ESPN.com. http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/colleges/post/_/id/3292/nus-persa-gains-mental-toughness-from-injury. Retrieved 2011-08-03.
- ^ "#7 Dan Persa". NU Sports. August 26, 2011. http://nusports.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/persa_dan00.html. Retrieved 2011-08-26.
- ^ Greenstein, Teddy (July 30, 2011). "'Persa Strong' billboards in Chicago, Bristol for NU QB". Chicago Tribune. http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-07-30/sports/chi-110731-northwestern-persa-heisman_1_nu-qb-billboards-nu-officials. Retrieved 2011-07-31.
- ^ Rittenberg, Adam (August 23, 2011). "Dan Persa is Northwestern's iron man". ESPN.com. http://espn.go.com/blog/ncfnation/post/_/id/45092/dan-persa-is-northwesterns-iron-man. Retrieved 2011-08-26.
- ^ Rittenberg, Adam (September 3, 2011). "Dan Persa to sit against BC". ESPN.com. http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/6925040/northwestern-wildcats-dan-persa-vs-boston-college-eagles. Retrieved 2011-09-03.
- ^ "NU replaces Persa's Heisman billboard". Chicago Tribune. September 9, 2011. http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-09-09/site/ct-spt-0910-northwestern-football--20110910_1_persa-s-heisman-dan-persa-nu. Retrieved 2011-09-15.
- ^ Bennett, Brian (September 14, 2011). "Dan Persa says he's close to returning". ESPN.com. http://espn.go.com/blog/bigten/post/_/id/32931/dan-persa-says-hes-close-to-returning. Retrieved 2011-09-15.
External links
Northwestern Wildcats starting quarterbacks Unknown (1882–1915) • Paddy Driscoll (1916) • Unknown (1917–27) • Walt Holmer (1928) • Unknown (1929) • Lee Hanley (1930) • Lafayette Russell (1930) • Pug Rentner (1930–32) • George Potter (1931–32) • Ollie Olson (1933–34) • Steve Toth (1935) • Fred Vanzo (1936–37) • Unknown (1938–39) • Dick Erdlitz (1940) • Bill DeCorrevont (1941) • Unknown (1942–46) • Jim Farrar (1947) • Don Burson (1948–49) • Dick Flowers (1950) • Bob Burson (1951) • Bob Bunco (1951) • Dick Thomas (1952–53) • John Rearden (1954) • Dale Pienta (1955–56) • Chip Holcomb (1957) • Dick Thornton (1958) • John Talley (1959) • Dick Thornton (1960) • Tom O'Grady (1961) • Tom Myers (1962–64) • Denny Boothe (1965) • Bill Melzer (1966–67) • Dave Shelbourne (1968) • Maurie Daigneau (1969–71) • Mitch Anderson (1972–74) • Randy Dean (1975–76) • Scott Stranski (1977) • Kevin Strasser (1978) • Mike Kerrigan (1979–81) • Kevin Villars (1981) • Sandy Schwab (1982–84) • Mike Greenfield (1984–87) • Greg Bradshaw (1988) • Tim O'Brien (1989) • Len Williams (1990–93) • Tim Hughes (1994) • Steve Schnur (1994–96) • Tim Hughes (1997) • Gavin Hoffman (1998) • Nick Kreinbrink (1999) • Zak Kustok (1999–2001) • Brett Basanez (2002–05) • Mike Kafka (2006) • C. J. Bachér (2006–08) • Mike Kafka (2008–09) • Dan Persa (2010) • Evan Watkins (2010) • Kain Colter (2011) • Dan Persa (2011−present)Current starting quarterbacks of the Big Ten Conference Legends Division James Vandenberg (Iowa) • Denard Robinson (Michigan) • Kirk Cousins (Michigan State) • MarQueis Gray (Minnesota) • Taylor Martinez (Nebraska) • Dan Persa (Northwestern)
Leaders Division Nathan Scheelhaase (Illinois) • Tre Roberson (Indiana) • Braxton Miller (Ohio State) • Matt McGloin (Penn State) • Caleb TerBush (Purdue) • Russell Wilson (Wisconsin)
Categories:- 1988 births
- Living people
- People from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
- Players of American football from Pennsylvania
- American football quarterbacks
- Northwestern Wildcats football players
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