Don Milan is a former

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

. He spent five seasons in the NFL. In his fifth year, with Green Bay, Milan was briefly the Packers' starting quarterback when head coach

Dan Devine Daniel John Devine (December 23, 1924 – May 9, 2002) was an American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Arizona State University from 1955 to 1957, the University of Missouri from 1958 to 1970, and the Universi ...

made a much-publicized midseason trade for Los Angeles Rams quarterback

John Hadl John Willard Hadl (February 15, 1940 – November 30, 2022) was an American football quarterback who played in the American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (NFL) for 16 years. He won an AFL championship with the San Diego Cha ...

Early life

After graduating from Santa Ynez High School, Milan quarterbacked Cal Poly from 1968 through 1970. In his top season of 1970, he threw for 1,236 yards on 64-for-118 accuracy with 11 touchdown passes, and added 479 rushing yards on 89 carries, while earning All- CCAA Team and CCAA Back of the Year award honors and leading Cal Poly to an 8-2 record. A speech major, Milan graduated with a total of 2,348 passing yards.

Professional football

Milan signed as an undrafted free agent with Oakland in April 1971. After being waived by the Raiders in the summer of 1972 the Kansas City Chiefs signed him in July. A month later they traded him back to the Raiders for "future considerations". During the preseason of 1972, Milan threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to Mike Siani in the Raiders' 34-9 exhibition win over the Rams. On September 10, 1974, the Raiders cut Milan and in October the Los Angeles Rams signed him to be their number three quarterback. The Rams had traded

to Green Bay elevating James Harris to starter and number three quarterback Ron Jaworski to the backup position. Milan dressed but never played in a game for the Rams who waived him the following September. Milan didn't clear waivers, the Packers signed him to backup Hadl in Green Bay. In the 1976 preseason, prior to retiring, Milan went 5-of-8 passing for 78 yards against Tampa Bay. Milan announced his retirement in August of 1977.

Early life

Professional football

References

See also