David Sills (American football)

David Sills
West Virginia Mountaineers No. 15
Position Quarterback / Wide receiver
Class Freshamn
Major Civil Engineering
Career history
College
High school Elkton (MD) Eastern Christian Academy
Personal information
Date of birth (1996-05-29) May 29, 1996
Height 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Weight 198 lb (90 kg)

David Sills V (May 5, 1996) is a high school football quarterback who at age 13 in 2010, was recruited by former USC Trojans football head coach Lane Kiffin.[1] Sills is currently committed to West Virginia University.[2][3]

Since the age of eleven he has been recruited by major college football programs. He is a pupil of Steve Clarkson, whom some consider to be the foremost quarterback trainer in the country and who has mentored among others Jimmy Clausen, Terrelle Pryor, Matt Barkley, Ben Roethlisberger, Matt Leinart and Matt Cassel.[4]

Early life

Since the age of 9 he has trained with Clarkson about 40 days a year.[4] His father, David Sills IV, played one year for the Virginia Military Institute.[4] Sills began playing youth football at age six.[5]

In Summer 2009, Sills was among the 7th grade youth quarterbacks at the Debartolo Sports University in Las Vegas, with the likes of 7th grade Randall Cunningham, Jr. and several other notable performers.[6] Lane Kiffin offered Sills a scholarship in 2010.[7] On February 5, 2010, Sills made a verbal commitment to attend University of Southern California even though he is ineligible to sign a letter of intent until 2015.[8] Kiffin heard about Sills via a popular YouTube video that Clarkson recommended and had not actually met him personally at the time of his verbal commitment.[8][9] Clarkson coordinated the communication of the scholarship offer to keep its execution within the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) bylaws.[10] The commitment that Sills has made is non-binding, which allows him to decommit and pursue another program.[5] Sills is among the youngest football players to ever receive a scholarship offer from a major football program.[11] Sills' commitment brought about numerous responses from sources such as ESPN calling into question NCAA recruiting policies on youth athletes.[12][13]

In February 2011, there were rumors that the Auburn Tigers football team had made him a scholarship offer. The rumors turned out to be unfounded.[14] Sills flew from Delaware to California to observe USC spring practice in March 2011.[15]

At age thirteen, Sills, a seventh-grader from Bear, Delaware, was nearly 6 feet (1.83 m) tall.[16] Scouts mentioned his youth athletic prowess in the same breath with Tiger Woods and LeBron James.[17] As a Freshman, Sills was the starting quarterback for Red Lion Christian Academy, a private Delaware school for grades K-12.[8] By 2007, Sports Illustrated had already hailed him as one of the greatest prospects ever,[18] and Bloomberg News described him as the "best arm money can buy".[19] Sills uses National Football League video footage to learn quarterbacking skills.[20] At Red Lion in 2010, he accumulated 1,355 passing yards and nine touchdowns against five interceptions in eight games.[15] Midway through his high school freshman season in 2011, Rivals.com described him as follows: "Plays beyond his years and has all the tools already to be a great one."[21]

High school

On September 1, 2011, in his debut as a high school freshman, Sills earned ESPN HS East Region Player of the Week for games of August 25–27 for 17 for 21, 221 yards and four touchdowns in a 54–18 defeat of 2010 Ohio High School Athletic Association Division V state champion Ursuline.[22] For his freshman 2011 season, he totalled 2,340 yards and 28 touchdowns in what was his second year as a varsity quarterback. He was named a MaxPreps.com U.S. Air Force Second Team Freshman All-American.[23][24] Following a freshman season, where father and coach David Sills IV contributed to financing an entirely out-of-state schedule including air travel games to California,[25] Red Lion Christian Academy took actions to downsize its athletic program.[26]

Since his commitment to USC in 2010, Sills has been surpassed by many quarterback prospects in the 2015 class. USC has offered 2 other quarterbacks scholarships in the same class, raising questions as to whether or not they will fulfill their scholarship offer to Sills when he is actually legally able to sign a letter of intent. Many scouts have deemed Sills as overrated and cite his lack of development (despite his tutelage by supposed QB "guru" Steve Clarkson) and lack of athleticism as the reasons. Many have questioned whether Sills was simply a marketing boon for Clarkson and his QB "guru" coaching business.[27]

On July 1, 2012, he led his team to the National 7-on-7 Championships.[28] As a sophomore, Sills became the quarterback for Eastern Christian Academy (ECA) of Elkton, Maryland. The move was controversial because the school is a newly formed online educational institution. All boys that are enrolled are on the 46-man football team established by David Sills IV to showcase their talents to college scouts.[29][30] Eastern Christian Academy was only able to play in 3 games in 2012 due to the school's failure to gain accreditation from the state.[31][32]

Michigan made Sills an offer as a member of the class of 2015 after having gotten commitments from two of his class of 2014 teammates.[33] On July 16, 2014, Sills announced his commitment to West Virginia University via Twitter.[2][3]

Name Home town High school / college Height Weight 40‡ Commit date
David Sills
QB		 Elkton, MD Red Lion (DE) (FR.)
Eastern Christian Academy (MD)		 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 210 lb (95 kg) NA  
Scout:3/5 stars   Rivals:3/5 stars   247Sports: N/A    ESPN grade: 79
Overall recruiting rankings: Scout: 29 (QB)   Rivals: 14 (QB, prostyle), 8, (MD)  ESPN: 17 (QB, pocket passer), 8, (MD)
  • ‡ Refers to 40 yard dash
  • Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height, weight and 40 time.
  • In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale.

Sources:

Personal

His parents' names are Denise and David Sills IV. He has two older sisters, Emma, 17 as of February 2010, and Abby, 14. Sills IV is a commercial developer and contractor. In 2010, he appeared on Good Morning America with his whole family.[8]

Notes

  1. ↑ Dodd, Dennis (2010-02-05). "Sills, brash and young? Yes to latter, but it's coaches who are audacious". CBS Sports. Retrieved 2010-02-07.
  2. 1 2 Dohn, Brian (2013-07-16). "With WVU Commitment, Sills Trying To Shed Title Of 7th-Grade USC Commit". FOX Sports. Retrieved 2014-07-17.
  3. 1 2 "Twitter/DS5_:Committed...". Twitter. 2013-07-16. Retrieved 2014-07-16.
  4. 1 2 3 Dodd, Dennis (2009-02-13). "Twelve-year-old QB's ascent toward NCAA already under way". CBS Sports. Archived from the original on 2012-10-11. Retrieved 2010-02-07.
  5. 1 2 Venezia, Todd (2010-02-06). "QB commits to USC . . . and he's only 13". New York Post. Retrieved 2010-02-07.
  6. ↑ "Las Vegas Festival Recap". Debartolo Sports University. Retrieved 2011-06-04.
  7. ↑ Staples, Andy (2010-02-05). "USC stands to gain much more than one QB from offering 13-year-old". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 2010-02-07.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Markazi, Arash (2010-02-06). "Sills: USC is 'dream school'". ESPN. Retrieved 2010-02-07.
  9. ↑ Helin, Kurt (2010-02-05). "13-Year-Old Quarterback Commits to USC: By the time David Sills arrives on campus, everyone from Wednesday's recruiting class will have left USC.". NBC. Retrieved 2010-02-07.
  10. ↑ Klein, Gary (2010-02-05). "Trojans get their first commitment ... for 2015: David Sills, a 13-year-old quarterback from Delaware, says he called USC Coach Lane Kiffin on Thursday and told him he would play for his 'dream' school. Sills works with Steve Clarkson.". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-02-07.
  11. ↑ "Report: 13-year-old QB commits to USC". United Press International. 2010-02-06. Retrieved 2010-02-07.
  12. ↑ Saxon, Mark (2010-02-05). "I want to laugh, then take a shower". ESPN. Retrieved 2010-02-07.
  13. ↑ Sondheimer, Eric (2010-02-04). "Football: 13-year-old QB commits to USC". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-02-07.
  14. ↑ Sondheimer, Eric (2011-02-07). "Updated: Football: St. Francis gets quarterback transfer". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2011-06-03.
  15. 1 2 Sondheimer, Eric (2011-03-21). "USC football: 14-year-old quarterback David Sills looking forward to spring practice". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2011-06-03.
  16. ↑ "USC committed to 13-year-old QB (video included)". USA Today. 2010-02-05. Retrieved 2010-02-07.
  17. ↑ "Next Big Thing? 13-Year-Old Football Player Commits to USC". Fox News. 2010-02-05. Retrieved 2010-02-07.
  18. ↑ Markazi, Arash (2007-09-29). "The future is now: Pre-teen prodigy at quarterback growing up fast". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 2010-02-07.
  19. ↑ Levinson, Mason (2007-06-22). "Quarterback Camp Lures Kids With $1,400 Lessons, Joe Montana". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 2010-02-07.
  20. ↑ "USC Gets Commitment from 13-year-old QB: Coach Lane Kiffin Reportedly Offered David Sills a Scholarship just Before Del. Teen Pledged to Be a Trojan". CBS Interactive. 2010-02-05. Retrieved 2010-02-07.
  21. ↑ "Midseason Report: Top Players Scouted". Rivals.com. 2011-10-06. Retrieved 2011-10-22.
  22. ↑ Tennis, Mark & Doug Huff (2012-09-01). "ESPNHS Players of the Week". ESPN HS. Retrieved 2012-01-14.
  23. ↑ Buzby, Jon (2012-01-07). "David Sills named to All-American team". Newark Post. Retrieved 2012-07-23.
  24. ↑ Spiewak, Stephen (2012-01-06). "MaxPreps 2011 U.S. Air Force Freshman All-American Football Teams". MaxPreps.com. Retrieved 2012-07-23.
  25. ↑ McGrath, Ben (2011-12-28). "High School Football Beyond "Friday Night Lights"". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2012-07-23.
  26. ↑ Cook, Ben (2012-01-20). "Hotshot Recruit David Sills' High School Downsizes Football, Struggles to Stay Open". Forbes. Retrieved 2012-07-23.
  27. ↑ Casey, Tim (2013-09-15). "A Commitment to Uncertainty". Sports on Earth. Retrieved 2013-12-24.
  28. ↑ Fischer, Bryan (2012-07-01). "David Sills leads team to New Level 7-on-7 National Championship". CBS Sports. Retrieved 2012-07-23.
  29. ↑ Jenkins, Lee (2012-08-23). "Eastern Christian Academy is H.S. football's first virtual powerhouse". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 2012-09-28.
  30. ↑ Cook, Bob (2012-09-25). "Long Island Vengeance Denied: How Not To Spend Money On Your Child's Sports Career". Forbes. Retrieved 2012-09-28.
  31. ↑ "Eastern Christian Game Cancelled By West Catholic Due to Sanctioning Worries". Retrieved 2013-03-29.
  32. ↑ "Eastern Christian Football Schedule". Retrieved 2013-03-29.
  33. ↑ Baumgardner, Nick (2013-12-12). "Michigan reportedly offers '15 QB David Sills, who once committed to USC at age 13". MLive.com. Retrieved 2014-05-29.

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