VH's Daniels, Spencer excel on the field -- and as best buddies

It probably didn't register, probably wasn't even given a second thought.

DaVaris Daniels nonchalantly walked over to Evan Spencer's house Tuesday night so that I could do a sit-down interview with the two biggest stars on the Vernon Hills football team, which decisively won its season opener last week over Niles West, 42-12.

Daniels, who can play anywhere but is probably best suited at wide receiver, scored 3 touchdowns. Spencer, meanwhile, caught 2 touchdowns, one of which was a pass from Daniels, who had rotated in at quarterback at the time.

Daniels lives six doors down, but showed up to Spencer's house barefoot. No socks, no shoes. No big deal.

Now, you'd understand the oversight, or perhaps the lack of formality, if you saw how tight Daniels and Spencer are.

Basically, for Daniels, leaving his house to go to Spencer's house isn't like leaving the comforts of his own home at all. Spencer's house might as well be an extension of Daniels' house. And vice versa.

Mi casa es su casa definitely applies here.

"Evan is always going over to DaVaris's house," Evan's mother Gilda Spencer said with a laugh. "Probably more than he should be.

"And we love to have DaVaris here. The boys have a great time together and they hang out a lot."

Well, they certainly have enough to talk about, and plenty of shared interests.

In fact, in many ways, Daniels and Spencer, who have been best buddies since grade school and are now juniors, are leading parallel lives.

Not only do they live in the same neighborhood and share the spotlight at wide receiver, both love football to the point that they want to coach someday. And both are the sons of NFL dads, defensive lineman Phillip Daniels of the Washington Redskins and Tim Spencer, a former running back for the San Diego Chargers who is now an assistant coach with the Bears.

On top of all that, both Daniels and Spencer are also gaining serious attention from major Division I college scouts, so serious that they will likely be able to go to any school in the country.

And, well, you guessed it, they're even talking about the possibility of going to school together.

"I think it would be fun being together four more years after high school," said Daniels, who has been pegged by many scouting services as the No. 1 prospect nationally in the junior class. "We've grown up together, live down the street from each other, we know each other so well. It would make life a lot easier in college."

"It would be awesome," Spencer said of such an arrangement. "I think we're thinking pretty seriously about that."

According to Daniels, Florida State has already floated the idea.

Others are sure to follow.

Any college would be happy with either Daniels or Spencer, and over the moon to land them both.

"I've had some great athletes come through here over the years," Vernon Hills coach Tony Monken said. "But this level of athlete? And to have two of them at the same time? That is very, very rare. You don't often get guys with as much potential as DaVaris and Evan have."

Daniels' potential became evident first.

At 6-foot-3 with blazing speed, long arms, shifty moves and great hops, he was brought up to the varsity four games into his freshman year.

After his very first game, in which he scored 2 touchdowns against Round Lake, a letter arrived for Daniels from UCLA. And so the deluge began.

Daniels, who caught 26 passes for 432 yards and 5 touchdowns last season, says that he's been getting a steady stream of letters and e-mails and now phone calls ever since.

He says that he's even getting comments on his Facebook page from fans from all the top programs in the country.

"They tell me about how great their school is, how I should go there, stuff like that," Daniels said with a chuckle, almost embarrassed by the attention. "It's been really fun, but it's kind of been a circus like that ever since the beginning of sophomore year."

And the circus isn't leaving town any time soon. Especially not after Daniels clocked the fastest 40 time at this summer's Nike combine at 4.5 seconds.

In fact, just hours before he arrived at Spencer's house, Daniels learned that one of the biggest of college football's big boys, the University of Miami in Florida, had put an offer on the table.

Keep in mind, Daniels is just one game into his junior year.

"If DaVaris picked up the phone and called up any coach and said, 'I'm interested,' I'd have to think that an offer is going to be extended," Monken said. "You're talking the kind of athlete for whom the sky is the limit. He's going to be a huge playmaker at the next level and we might just even see him on Sundays some day."

Daniels has dreamed of that his whole life, partly because he's been around football on Sundays his whole life. Same with Spencer.

Spencer, whose stock went up after a solid sophomore campaign in which scouts couldn't help but notice him when they were out to watch Daniels, says that having a dad who has made is to the top has been quite a motivator.

"Seeing what he did helps me be even more motivated for the sport I love," said Spencer, a 6-foot-1 speedster with giant hands that devour footballs. "My dad is always trying to help me out, too. He'll say things to me about this or that, things I could've done. As I've gotten older I've started to actually listen to him instead of arguing with him because I know he really knows about the game."

Daniels and Spencer also listen to each other. A lot.

"We're like coaches for each other," Spencer said. "We're always trying to tell each other things to help each other get better."

And that won't stop, the friends say, even if they happen to one day be competing for the same spot.

"If I lost a spot to someone else, I wouldn't be happy," Daniels said. "But if I lost a spot to (Spencer), I don't think I'd mind that much. I know how hard he works.

"And-we're friends."

pbabcock@dailyherald.com