David Sills' journey continues where it was supposed to begin
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The irony of the situation isn’t lost on David Sills.
He has plenty of time to think about things on the occasions that he waits in his car outside of USC’s football facility. He regrets nothing, but that’s not to say he avoids shaking his head or grinning when his roommate, current Trojan offensive lineman Khaliel Rodgers, hops in the passenger seat following practice.
If this is the universe having a laugh, Sills chuckles right along with it.
“It’s wild.” Sills says with a chuckle. “I pick Khaliel up from workouts a handful of times in the morning. So, it’s funny how that worked. I’m driving on campus a lot. It’s kind of weird being 15 minutes down the road from USC. I’ll say that, but I’m happy where I am and I’m happy to compete.”
Sills wears no shortage of nametags. He’s been a “child prodigy.” He’s been unfairly used as the poster child for “everything wrong with football recruiting." He’s been a West Virginia Mountaineer. He’s been a quarterback and a wide receiver. His current title is quarterback at El Camino College, a community college less than 12 miles away from USC’s campus. But one label is a bit more prevalent than the rest.
Sills is “that kid that committed to USC as a seventh-grader.”
“Some of our guys knew who he was when he got here and some didn’t,” said El Comino college head coach John Featherstone. “It’s not his fault, but people have a lot of views on him and how his situation happened. It’s not his fault that he got caught in the media rush. If USC offered you a scholarship at 13 years old, what would you do? He’s still so humble. That’s a credit to him and his family when you consider how long he’s been in the spotlight.”
The way it unfolded seems more commonplace in today’s age of expedited recruiting than it did in 2010, when Stills committed to a college as a 13-year old. The situation was unheard of and, ultimately, the product of middle school game film and his private quarterback coach’s relationship with then-USC head coach Lane Kiffin.
Renowned quarterback guru Steve Clarkson, who still works with Sills to this day, showed Kiffin the tape and informed him of his protégé’s young age. A scholarship offer materialized in the matter of minutes.
A verbal commitment followed suit, and new recruiting ground was broken. The situation was the first of its kind.
“I had just finished lifting weights and I was in study hall,” Sills recalls. “It was a weekday, at like 6:00 in the evening. My dad came in and wanted to talk to me. He brought me down to my coach’s office. He said, “Steve has been talking to Coach Kiffin and he wants to offer you.’ I thought. ‘What kind of joke are you playing? Nobody gets offered in seventh grade.’ I only had to think about it for an hour or two. My mom drove up and we all made the call together.”
The commitment lasted nearly four years. There were campus visits and plenty of conversations with Kiffin. Sills showed no interest in other programs. USC was a commodity on which he was totally sold. So while Sills never enrolled in a single class or took a single snap as a USC student, there was some sense of melancholy finality when the relationship fractured under new head coach Steve Sarkisian, who was hired to replace the fired Kiffin in December of 2013.
Sills’ father, David Sills Sr., remembers the shift in tone well. It took hold quickly and represented a drastic change at how the program to which his son had long been committed viewed his future.
“When (Sarkisian) got the job, he called and said he would be out in early January and never came,” Sills Sr. said. “He said he would be out in February. He never came. He said he would be out in March and never came. Ultimately, David went out to practice and met with him. It was just a feeling. It was, like, ‘you’re not my guy.’ David didn’t feel comfortable with him.”
“If [former USC interim head coach] Ed Orgeron got the job, David would be at USC. If Lane was still there, David would be at USC. Quite frankly, if [current USC head coach] Clay Helton got the job then, David would probably be at USC.”
And so off to West Virginia it was for a prospect that had set up shop in the recruiting limelight for years. He signed as a quarterback and worked out at the position until a group of scout team players were dismissed from the team for a violation of team rules. Sills assisted at wide receiver for a depleted practice squad. The change was only temporary. He was a body filling a role during a redshirt campaign.
Or so he thought.
“I did scout team receiver for about two or three weeks, and I get a text before the Oklahoma State game from Coach [Dana] Holgorsen that said ‘Hey, do you want to play receiver this weekend?’ I was like, ‘Uh, yeah I want to, but the thing is that I don’t really know how to play receiver.’”But play he did. Sills recorded seven catches for 131 yards in eight games as a wide receiver. He was on the receiving end of a game-winning touchdown pass against Arizona State in WVU’s Cactus Bowl victory over Arizona State. The catch was celebrated, but it was the last one he’d ever make.
“I wasn’t ready to give up the quarterback dream,” Sills Jr. said. “I feel like I can do well at that position. And now, being out in California, I have the opportunity to train with Coach Clarkson and I think I’m already seeing results.”
And so following his upcoming season at El Camino, Sills, still with a redshirt season in tow, will have three years to play two seasons of FBS football. And while his father says he advised him against burning a year of eligibility by playing while receiver and also says that he would advise his son to hold off on an early commitment if he could go back and do so, Sills Jr. says he’s without regret.
If anything, the Los Angeles backdrop that serves as scenery for this chapter of his story provides a reminder of his motivation.
“In seventh grade, if you would have told me that I would be playing receiver for West Virginia and then I’d go to a junior college because I wanted to play quarterback again, I would have never believed any of that,” Sills said. “It was clear-cut. I was going to USC. It’s been a wild experience but I don’t regret any of it. None of it was a mistake.“I look at this as just another path on my journey. I’m not ready to give up.”
