Plainedge QB Dan Villari signs letter of intent with Michigan
Dan Villari’s superlative senior season on the gridiron turned out to have one more fascinating chapter. The 6-4, 215-pound quarterback from Plainedge on Wednesday accepted a scholarship offer from the University of Michigan and signed a National Letter of Intent.
“I spent this past weekend there on an official visit and it made up my mind,” Villari said. “The place was beautiful; it was everything you could want as a football player. And the education that I’m going to get there? It made it a no-brainer.”
Red Devils coach Rob Shaver called it “probably the biggest football signing” from the school. Plainedge has produced other Division I scholarship football players “but most of the guys who went to Big Ten-level schools went as ‘preferred walk-ons’ which is different,” Shaver explained.
Villari already was a standout by the end of the 2018 season after helping the Red Devils capture the Nassau Conference III championship. This season he took a star turn. Not only did he lead Plainedge to a repeat as Nassau County champion, the Red Devils also capped a 12-0 season by winning the Long Island Class III championship game, 56-20, against formidable Sayville.
Villari rushed for 1,495 yards and 25 touchdowns; he also completed 61 percent of his passes for 1,315 yards and 13 touchdowns. In the win over Sayville he ran for 306 yards and four scores and threw for two touchdowns.
He last week received the prestigious Thorp Award from Newsday as Nassau County’s most outstanding player.
The courtship between the Wolverines and Villari developed and flourished quickly, beginning with an in-person evaluation in early November and culminating with a home visit from Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh last week and a campus visit to Ann Arbor over the weekend.
“The biggest reason this happened is the work Dan put in over the past summer by increasing his size and strength and improving his football abilities,” Shaver said. “His speed and on-field skills made him a match for Michigan.”
“I think that if you want something, you need to be reminding yourself every day to work toward them,” Villari said. “In the summer I wrote them down and put them on my door. And I looked at them every day to remind myself to do the things to get me there.”
In an odd twist, the Michigan-Villari courtship might have been boosted when Plainedge found itself in a national spotlight after Shaver received a controversial one-game suspension for violating a county rule installed to prevent teams from running up scores.
Before deciding on Michigan, Villari had a number of other schools offering scholarships or showing interest including Pittsburgh, Wisconsin, Rutgers, Kent State and UMass.
With Gregg Sarra
The place was beautiful; it was everything you could want as a football player. And the education that I’m going to get there? It made it a no-brainer.”
— Dan Villari
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.
