1. Daniel Carl Wuerffel was born on May 27,1974 and is an American former football quarterback who played college football for the Florida Gators and professional football in the National Football League.
32 Facts About Danny Wuerffel
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Danny Wuerffel led the NCAA in touchdown passes in 1995 and 1996 and set numerous school and conference records during his career.
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Danny Wuerffel spent six years in the league with four teams, including the Green Bay Packers, the Chicago Bears and the Washington Redskins, though his playing time and on-field success in the NFL was limited.
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Danny Wuerffel played one season in NFL Europe, where he led the Rhein Fire to a league championship in World Bowl 2000.
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Danny Wuerffel had first become involved with the organization while playing for the Saints in the late 1990s, and as the organization attempted to recover from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, he became its executive director.
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Danny Wuerffel was born in Pensacola, Florida, in 1974, the son of a Lutheran minister who was a chaplain in the US Air Force.
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Danny Wuerffel was a standout high school football and basketball player for the Fort Walton Beach Vikings.
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Danny Wuerffel was widely considered the top high school football recruit in the state of Florida, and USA Today's high school player of the year in Florida during his senior year.
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Danny Wuerffel graduated from high school as his class co-valedictorian.
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Danny Wuerffel accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, where he played quarterback for head coach Steve Spurrier's Florida Gators football team from 1993 to 1996.
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Danny Wuerffel graduated from the university with a bachelor's degree in public relations, and was inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as a "Gator Great" in 2006.
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On September 30,2006, Danny Wuerffel was inducted into the Gator Football Ring of Honor alongside his former coach Spurrier and two other former Gator players, Jack Youngblood and Emmitt Smith.
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Danny Wuerffel was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 2013.
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Danny Wuerffel had split playing time with fellow quarterback Terry Dean for much of the 1993 and 1994 seasons.
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The Gators went through the regular season undefeated, and Danny Wuerffel set several Southeastern Conference and NCAA records for passing, including the SEC season record for touchdown passes and the NCAA record for passing efficiency.
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Danny Wuerffel won the 1996 Heisman Trophy, as the outstanding college football player in America, while quarterbacking the Gators into their second consecutive Bowl Alliance national championship game with help from teammates Fred Taylor at running back; Reidel Anthony, Ike Hilliard, and Jacquez Green at wide receiver; and Jeff Mitchell on the offensive line.
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Danny Wuerffel was a first-team All-American in 1995, and a consensus first-team All-American in 1996.
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Danny Wuerffel received the Sammy Baugh Trophy in 1995, the Davey O'Brien Award in 1995 and 1996, and the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award in 1996, and was named the Quarterback of the Year by the Touchdown Club of Columbus in 1996.
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Danny Wuerffel was later named to The Gainesville Sun's Florida Gators Team of the Century in 1999, was chosen by the Sun as the number one player in the first 100 years of Gators football, and was listed as a member of the Florida Gators 100th Anniversary Team in 2006.
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Danny Wuerffel is one of only two Heisman Trophy winners to receive the Draddy Trophy, which is presented annually by the National Football Foundation and the College Football Hall of Fame to the nation's top football scholar-athlete.
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Danny Wuerffel was a first-team Academic All-American in 1995 and 1996.
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Danny Wuerffel finished his Gator career by completing 708 of 1,170 passes for 10,875 yards with 114 touchdown passes, the best in SEC history and second-most in major college history.
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Danny Wuerffel's career pass efficiency rating of 163.56 was the best in major college history and his percentage of passes which went for a touchdown ranked first in collegiate history.
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Danny Wuerffel was considered a "marginal" prospect for the 1997 NFL draft.
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Danny Wuerffel was selected to potentially serve as the number three quarterback, as the team already had Heath Shuler and Jim Everett on the roster under new head coach Mike Ditka.
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Danny Wuerffel played for the Saints for three seasons from 1997 to 1999.
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Danny Wuerffel spent the offseason before the 2000 NFL season with the Rhein Fire in NFL Europa, where he led the team to a league championship and was named MVP of World Bowl 2000.
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Danny Wuerffel spent single seasons as a backup with the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears in 2000 and 2001.
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Danny Wuerffel was drafted by the Houston Texans in the 2002 NFL Expansion Draft, only to be traded to the Washington Redskins a week later, reuniting him with college coach Steve Spurrier.
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Danny Wuerffel started several games that season, alternating with fellow Florida Gator alumnus Shane Matthews, but was released by the team before the 2003 season, much to the chagrin of Spurrier.
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Danny Wuerffel began work at Desire Street Ministries, a nonprofit, faith-based organization focusing on spiritual and community development in areas of New Orleans.
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Yates and Danny Wuerffel successfully defended their Picklebowl title in 2023 in Atlanta at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association.