WVU’s Sills arrives, as a receiver
The wide receiver with the best story in the Big 12, if not the nation, returns to the field Saturday at Milan Puskar Stadium.
And no, it’s not Oklahoma State’s James Washington, although his tale remains a good one.
The journey of West Virginia’s David Sills V to Morgantown, out of Morgantown, and back again is nothing short of fascinating.
And it begins in the seventh grade ...
Then a 13-year-old phenom quarterback playing in Delaware, Sills committed to football — college football — accepting an offer from then-Southern Cal coach Lane Kiffin. Of course, news of the kid recruit, as well as Kiffin’s unheard of offer, made headlines and raged across TV and radio talk shows. Within days, Sills took a seat on the set of Good Morning America, already being projected as the next big thing.
“We thought about his age,” Kiffin told ESPN. com. “At the same time, we had never seen anybody look like that . ... We thought he could be a great quarterback.”
And that’s only the start of Sill’s fantastic journey.
He never made it to USC, backing out of his commitment a few months after Kiffin was fired.
Mountaineers coach Dana Holgorsen got him instead, and Sills arrived expected to compete for the starting job for the 2015 season ... and finished fourth in the competition. Pretty soon, due to his athleticism, Sills was playing wide receiver on the scout team. And then in games. “Two years ago at Baylor,” Holgorsen said, “we took the redshirt off David and said, ‘You’re going to be a receiver this
week.’ He went out and caught some passes, even caught a touchdown pass against Baylor.”
Sills finished that season with seven receptions for 131 yards and score the winning touchdown against Arizona State in the Cactus Bowl.
The following spring, he split duties at quarterback and receiver, yet sensed his chance to play quarterback slipping away. So after meeting with Holgorsen, he left for El Camino College in California to continue his dreams. Holgorsen told him he’d always be welcome back with the Mountaineers, although as a receiver, and Sills thanked him for that and headed West with no intention of turning back.
Yet after a pedestrian season a year ago at quarterback for El Camino,
and Sills finding few Division I programs seeking his services to occupy that coveted spot behind center, Holgorsen called again, reminding him of his offer. Holgorsen said he saw Sills as a big-time receiver, an NFL-level receiver. And this time, Sills was seeing it, too.
Now, everybody sees it.
Sills leads the country with 15 touchdown catches. His 105.3 receiving yards per game rank third in the Big 12, two spots behind Washington, and the two will share the spotlight when their teams clash Saturday at 11 a.m.
And there’s a sense Sills is only getting started.
“He’s only been doing it full time for about
eight, nine, 10 months now,” Holgorsen said. “I think he’s only going to get better and better.”
The Mountaineers are set at quarterback, too, with Florida transfer Will Grier settling in as perhaps the best at the position in Holgorsen’s time at West Virginia. Grier leads the nation with 26 touchdown passes.
“You always want to have some guys in the huddle that have that starting quarterback gene,” Holgorsen said, including Sills in that mix.
“They’re coaches’ kids, they know how to study for games, they see it, the game just slows for them out there. They have that kind of knowledge. It’s been fun to watch.”