South grad Whalen was All-America QB at Case

The News-Herald is ranking the 25 best individual football seasons — high school, college or pro — for area players from the last 25 years. PLAYER » Dan Whalen N-H RANKING » 5 YEARS » 2009 COLLEGE » Case Western Reserve University HIGH SCHOOL » Willoughby South WHY HE’S RANKED » By the time he was a senior at Case Western Reserve, Whalen was arguably the nation’s best quarterback in Division III. He capped off his final season with the Spartans with a third straight 10-0 regular season, an NCAA D-III playoff berth, was a finalist for the Gagliardi Trophy (given to the nation’s top player in D-III) and was an All-American.

THE SKINNY » In 2009, Whalen and the offense at Case were rolling. Fortunately for the QB, he had familiar faces at receiver. That’s not always the case at the prestigious academic institution. The chances of throwing to a teammate from Willoughby or Wyoming could be about the same. The program recruits nationally because of its tough academic standards. As it turned out, Whalen’s top receivers were all from Lake County — Ryan Kolesar (Mentor), Tim Cowdrick (Mentor) and Shaun Nicely (Willoughby South) — and that made a difference. From the getgo, Whalen and his receivers rolled, as the QB threw for 3,430 yards in 11 games. He also completed 68.7 percent of his passes, and rushed for six TDs. As a punter, he averaged 40.7 yards. He opened the season with 409 yards vs. Kenyon, then two weeks later tossed six TD passes vs. Oberlin. Whalen did not win the Gagliardi Trophy, but took home a nice consolation prize when he was a first-team All-America pick by the American Football Coaches Association. THEY SAID IT » “Dan and all of his receivers — Cowdrick, Kolesar, Nicely — had their timing down. Dan knew where to go with the ball, where they would be. Dan was an instinctual quarterback, and he made a lot of things happen.” — Case coach Greg Debeljak, a native of Mentor

“I think everyone around the nation recognized what a special player Dan was.” — Debeljak

“From the first day of two-a-days as senior, I felt in complete control, and the best player in Division III. It was just a matter of perfecting things.” — Whalen

“Looking back, it was really cool having receivers I knew so well. They were guys I grew up with and knew for years. By the time we were seniors, we had it down pat. I’d audible

at the line, and it was all about eye contact. That was from hundreds, maybe thousands of reps.” — Whalen WHERE ARE THEY NOW? » Whalen, who turns 29 on Aug. 6, lives in Chicago and works for MOD Pizza as its director of real estate. After graduating from Case, he pursued the NFL, but couldn’t find a team interested. He spent a few seasons in the Arena League with the Gladiators and then Orlando, before hanging up his cleats.