DaVaris Daniels and Evan Spencer spent their high school days roaming the same halls as us, but what they are doing today is unlike any other person that ever graduated from our school. Spencer and Daniels are playing professional football. DaVaris Daniels is playing in the Canadian Football League(CFL) for the Calgary Stampeders and Evan Spencer is playing in the NFL for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Daniels and Spencer were both shaped by the teachers here at our amazing school. “There were so many teachers that helped me along the way” said Spencer. But the teacher that he remembers being the most influential was Mr. Bellecomo. Spencer had Mr. Bellecomo as his freshman lit teacher and said that Bellecomo “pushed him to do better in his class and in school overall”. Daniels’ favorite teacher in high school was Mr. Mann who he had his senior year in Psychology. He says Mr. Mann, besides his family, “is always the first person I go to see when I come home.”

High school brings some of the best memories of people’s lives. For Spencer, his favorite memory from VHHS was building his go-kart in Mr. Baxter’s class. His go-kart was “his baby” and he still remembers how rewarding it was finally going out and getting to drive it. Daniels said his favorite memory from high school was “wearing my jersey on friday to school.” He said that after all he has been through, “putting on the jersey on Friday nights for high school football is one of the best feelings.”

After high school, however, their lives took off in a much different way than any other VHHS graduate has. Both of them went on to play at storied college football programs where their team and them were in the spotlight. Spencer played at Ohio State and Daniels at Notre Dame. Throughout their careers they had many accomplishments. Daniels was the leading reciever in the BCS National Championship game and Spencer was the captain of Ohio State the following year where his team won the National Championship.

Throughout their college successes, they would sometimes share advice on opponents or the pressures of the big games. They knew exactly how the other played and would tell each other what worked and didn’t work against certain teams. Spencer said that “It was very helpful for me having him let me know what worked against certain teams.” When Daniels was asked of how Spencer helped him throughout college, he said, “We would often bet each other who would have more yards or receptions and that really pushed me because I always wanted to do better than Evan.”

Nowadays, Spencer lives in Tampa Bay and Daniels in Calgary. However, in their offseason you can sometimes see them roaming the streets of Vernon Hills and catching up with old friends and family. Both of them say they will always call Vernon Hills their home no matter where they go in life and football. They both have a group chat with their old high school friends and stay in touch. Daniels and Spencer both said that the friends they made at VHHS are still some of the closest friends they have to this day.

After football, Spencer would like to pursue a career in either broadcasting or business. He earned an Economics degree from Ohio State and is planning to use that to get a job. For Daniels, when he eventually decides to hang it up, he would like to continue working in football or basketball as a coach. Daniels and Spencer are proud to call Vernon Hills High School their home, and it’s pretty cool that we have them representing us in professional football.