Dan Villari

#89 · TE · Sr. · Syracuse6′4″ · 245 lb · Massapequa, NY · Plainedge

Dan Villari is a tight end who has not played this season; the last season with a stat line was 2025, at Syracuse.

Villari shows up in the passing game from any alignment. The five seasons span two programs and four head coaches: Jim Harbaugh, Dino Babers, Nunzio Campanile and Fran Brown. One game to point at: 104 receiving yards and 7 receptions against UConn — Week 2, 2025.

Style of play

Play style

No single go-to route — the receiving numbers show up inline and split out alike.

Similar players

Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.

Izayah CummingsApp State · 2025 · 80% season match
D'Andre RogersTCU · 2025 · 74% season match
Ben YurosekStanford · 2022 · 74% season match
John Samuel ShenkerAuburn · 2021 · 73% season match
David Martin-RobinsonTemple · 2022 · 71% season match

Where to follow

Career stats

Swipe the table sideways for more columns.

Season	Team
2025	Syracuse	39	412	10.6	0	35
2024	Syracuse	6	57	9.5	0	21
2023	Syracuse	20	180	9.0	3	37
2022	Syracuse	1	22	22.0	0	22
2021	Michigan	--	--	--	--	--
Career		66	671	10.2	3	37

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 11 games

Box score · CFBD

Swipe the table sideways for more columns.

Wk	Opp	REC	YDS	AVG	LONG	Note
Wk 1	L 26-45vs No. 24 Tennessee	5	55	11.0	20
Wk 2	W 27-20vs UConn	7	104	14.9	26	Season-high 104 yds
Wk 3	W 66-24vs Colgate	4	40	10.0	13
Wk 4	W 34-21@ Clemson	4	41	10.3	13
Wk 5	L 3-38vs Duke	2	10	5.0	5
Wk 6	L 18-31@ SMU	5	61	12.2	26
Wk 8	L 13-30vs Pittsburgh	3	19	6.3	9
Wk 9	L 16-41@ No. 7 Georgia Tech	1	35	35.0	35
Wk 11	L 10-38@ No. 18 Miami	2	14	7.0	8
Wk 13	L 7-70@ No. 9 Notre Dame	5	30	6.0	14
Wk 14	L 12-34vs Boston College	1	3	3.0	3
Total		39	412	10.6	35

Signature game

Week 2 · 2025

W 27-20

vs UConn

7 rec · 104 yds

A close one, won by 7 at home.

With S. Angeli — 417 yds · 2 TD · 1 INT · QBR 56.1 · J. Stonehouse — 53.2 yards per punt · 5 punts · 1 inside the 20

Signature plays

The plays that mattered most

Week 2 · UConn · 4th and 2 · Q1 · EPA −4.02Dan Villari run for 1 yd to the CONN 7
Week 2 · UConn · 3rd and 5 · Q2 · EPA +3.19Steve Angeli pass complete to Dan Villari for 24 yds to the CONN 46 for a
Week 13 · Notre Dame · 3rd and 10 · Q2 · EPA +3.05Filardi to Villari: a 14-yard pass.
Week 2 · UConn · 2nd and 10 · Q4 · EPA +2.99Steve Angeli pass complete to Dan Villari for 26 yds to the CONN 35 for a
Week 14 · Boston College · 4th and 1 · Q4 · EPA +2.79D.Villari rush middle for 1 yard gain for a touchdown D.Villari pass attempt failed
Week 6 · SMU · 2nd and 10 · Q4 · EPA +2.69Rickie Collins pass complete to Dan Villari for 19 yds to the SMU 43 for a

4 more plays

Week 6 · SMU · 2nd and 10 · Q4 · EPA +2.65Rickie Collins pass complete to Dan Villari for 26 yds to the SMU 29 for a
Week 9 · Georgia Tech · 1st and 10 · Q3 · EPA +2.58Collins to Villari: a 35-yard pass.
Week 2 · UConn · 2nd and 10 · Q1 · EPA +2.22Steve Angeli pass complete to Dan Villari for 17 yds to the SYR 42 for a
Week 3 · Colgate · 3rd and 3 · Q4 · EPA +2.16Steve Angeli pass complete to Dan Villari for 13 yds to the COLG 40 for a

Receiving profile

Receiver profile · Targets, catch rate, and throw depth

How often he's targeted, and how well it works

39 rec · 412 yds · 0 TD

39 of 39 receptions matched to play-by-play

15 of 53 targets charted for true throw depth

Targets

5315% of team targets

Catch rate

74%39 of 53 targets

Behind LOS · Negative air yds

27% of targets (4)

75%catch rate

Air -1.8 · YAC 4.7 avg

Short · 0–9 air yds

47% of targets (7)

71%catch rate

Air 3.6 · YAC 4.6 avg

Middle · 10–19 air yds

7% of targets (1)

0%catch rate

Air 13.0 avg

Deep · 20+ air yds

20% of targets (3)

33%catch rate

Air 23.7 · YAC 11.0 avg

74% catch rate on 53 targets · 15% of the team's targets.

Situational

Situational · Share of own targets (PBP, 2025)

Third-down role

24%12 of his 51 targets came on third down · TE median is 22%

Teams and coaches

2021Michigan12-2HC: Jim Harbaugh · Run-leaning

2022Syracuse7-6HC: Dino Babers · Run-leaning, slow tempo

2023Syracuse6-7HC: Dino Babers · Run-heavy

2024Syracuse10-3HC: Fran Brown · Pass-leaning, fast tempo

2025Syracuse3-9HC: Fran Brown · Balanced

Our ratings

CFB Zeitgeist Score 63 (#30 of 156). Show the ratings

Where this profile ranks vs the TE cohort

Box-score + play-by-play EPA percentiles · 2025 season

63Quality starter #30 of 156 · 2025?

Ascending12 metrics · season cumulative

2025 score: the 2026 sample is not big enough yet. The rows below are 2026 so far. Elite: rush yards (98th percentile). Strength: receptions (90th percentile). Concern: td rate (18th percentile).

Real play-by-play efficiency

Catch rate#163 / 798 · 79th pct

76.5%

EPA / target#192 / 798 · 76th pct

0.59

Explosive rate#404 / 798 · 49th pct

9.8%

Yards / catch#494 / 798 · 38th pct

10.6

TD rate#507 / 798 · 18th pct

0.0%

Box-score rates (7)

Rush yards#1 / 33 · 98th pct

Receptions#17 / 175 · 90th pct

Rec yards#33 / 175 · 81st pct

412

Rush TDs#5 / 33 · 74th pct

Long catch#81 / 175 · 53rd pct

Yards / catch#87 / 175 · 49th pct

10.6

Rec TDs#152 / 175 · 7th pct

Season trend

EPA / target— first qualifying season

Explosive rate— first qualifying season

Catch rate— first qualifying season

TD rate— first qualifying season

Yards / catch— first qualifying season

Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps in 2025. Most bars are box-score rates; EPA / success-rate bars are computed from real play-by-play (offense only — no defensive EPA model exists yet).

Splits

Home and road splits, scheme and staff

Splits · Per-game

2025 season · 11 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	REC/g	YDS/g	YPR	TD/g
Home5g	3.4	35.2	7.8	0.0
Road5g	3.4	36.2	14.1	0.0

First half vs Second half

	REC/g	YDS/g	YPR	TD/g
Weeks 1-76g	4.5	51.8	10.6	0.0
Weeks 8+5g	2.4	20.2	11.5	0.0

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2025 season

Head Coach

Fran Brown

Pass share

48.6%

408 pass / 432 run

Plays / game

70.0

12 games

Team sack rate

7.8%

447 dropbacks · PBP

Scheme: Balanced.

Awards

Player standing · 2025

Impact starter

39 catches and 17 carries in 11 games, more catches a game than most FBS tight ends who play every week.

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Zeitgeist Score

63 · #30 of 156 TEs · 2025

Three-star recruit. Now #30 at the position.

2026 outlook

In the mix for All-ACC

Based on 2025: #6 of 22 ACC TEs

How the All-ACC base rate is computed

A base rate for the rank, not a forecast of this player: 35% of returning players who ranked #4–10 at their position in their conference made an all-conference team the next season (95% confidence interval 31–38%).

Starter

The No. 1,200 recruit in the country is starting at tight end in the ACC as a senior.