James Dale

**James Dale** (born February 27, 1995), also known as **The Hero from Horsham**, is an American football quarterback for the Washington Redskins. He played college football for the Pittsburgh Panthers. The Washington Redskins selected him with the 150th overall pick in the 2017 NFLHC Draft.

## High school career

Dale attended Hatboro-Horsham Senior High School in Horsham, PA. Dale was named the varsity QB starter before his freshman year of high school, as no one else at Hatboro-Horsham dared to challenge Dale to any form of competition. Dale set every single Pennsylvania passing record, including total games started (as his team won the championship every single year he started). Dale broke Matt Bodamer's record of 10,948 career passing yards in his sophomore season, ending his career with a total of 21,540 passing yards as Hatboro-Horsham felt no need to run with Dale at the helm. Additionally, Dale had 215 career passing touchdowns. Dale claims that he stopped at this point (he was well ahead of second place) because "I wanted to leave the record at 215, Horsham's area code, as a sort of honorary measure." Since he reached this record in the championship game of his junior year, he decided to skip his senior year of high school as he had already accumulated enough credits to graduate, and had also already received a scholarship offer from Pitt and thus accepted immediately. Dale also founded 3 clubs on campus and graduated with a 5.0 GPA.

*Sources:*

## College career

### 2013 Season

Dale was not redshirted his freshman season - as he told it to the Pitt coach, "I'm leaving after four years to be the #1 pick in the draft no matter what you do with me, so you might as well not redshirt me." However, QB Tom Savage had been guaranteed the starting QB job for the season as a transfer, so Dale rode the bench. However, he awed anyone who came out to see him practice, throwing passes from his knees over 75 yards. As one spectator said, "We're .500, why aren't we starting this kid? He's got the physical potential of JaMarcus Russell - except he's not a moron."

### 2014 Season

#### Stint as Head Coach

Dale was handed the starting job at the beginning of his sophomore season. Since there was no head coach, Dale also took on coaching duties for the beginning of the year. Dale put it simply, stating in a press conference "It's always been a dream of mine to coach when my playing career is done. Why not begin now?" Unfortunately, it was apparent that Dale was not ready to both play QB and coach at the same time - Pitt struggled to begin the year, jumping out to an 0-3 start with Dale struggling to throw TDs like he had in high school, although he played efficiently, throwing no interceptions in games against 3 tough teams in North Carolina, Texas, and Kansas. As Dale told administration after the Kansas game, "I may be great but even this is too much for me to handle." After a rigorous coaching search, Pitt hired Jumbo as their head coach.

#### Post-Head Coach

In his resignation conference as head coach, Dale stated that "I am glad for the opportunity that Pitt gave me, but I'm ready for Jumbo to come in and lead this team to some victories and help me become an even better player."

After the hiring, Pitt peeled off 3 straight victories at BYU, vs Virginia Tech, and at Duke. Dale broke out more in these games, throwing more TDs and for more yards in Pitt's new more passing-based offense. Under Dale, Pitt's offense had been more balanced.

In the seventh game at Syracuse, Dale established a clutch reputation by leading a 21-point fourth comeback that Pitt took to overtime and won. As Dale stated after the game, "We kept the faith in our guys and we knew all along that we were the better team, it just took a while to show."

### 2015 Season

Through 2 weeks of the 2015 CFBHC season, Dale lead all of college football in passing yardage with 684. There were reports that he was considering entering the 2016 NFLHC Draft but he confirmed his plans to stay for his senior season.

### 2016 Season

Dale injured his elbow in week one against Fresno State but was able to return the next week. He finished the season with his highest ever QBR and led the Panthers to 9 wins.

## Professional career

### Pre-draft

Pre-draft measurables

Pre-draft opinions on Dale were mixed as he was considered generally a mid-to-late round prospect, though there was some hype for him to go in the first round.

### Draft

Dale was selected with the 150th overall pick in the 2017 NFLHC Draft by the Washington Redskins.

### Washington Redskins

Dale was selected with the 150th overall pick of the 2017 NFLHC Draft. He served the 2017 season as a backup to Javier Fields. He made one appearance, going 5 of 5 for 49 yards.

### New York Jets

Dale was traded to the 2018 New York Jets along with the 173rd overall selection in the 2018 NFLHC Draft in exchange for Kris Lewis and the 150th overall selection.

#### 2018 season

After starter Erik Wegert was injured in a Week 10 game against the Oakland Raiders, Dale subbed in for the remainder of that game until Week 15. He led the Jets to a 3-3 record over this timespan (including the Oakland game).