Nationality American Height 1.93 m Role American football player | Name David Sills Occupation Student athlete | |
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Born May 5, 1996 (age 27) ( 1996-05-05 ) Bear, Delaware Known for Quarterback child prodigy Education University of Southern California | ||
David Sills V (May 5, 1996) is an American football wide receiver for the West Virginia Mountaineers. As a seventh grader in 2010, he garnered national attention when he verbally committed to play football at the University of Southern California. In 2014, Sills decommitted from USC and eventually signed a national letter of intent to play at West Virginia University. After spending his freshman year playing for the West Virginia Mountaineers, Sills transferred to El Camino College.
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Early life
Sills was born in 1996. His parents are Denise and David Sills IV. He has two older sisters, Emma and Abby. His father is a commercial developer and contractor. He began playing youth football at age six and began training at age nine with quarterback trainer Steve Clarkson.
Lane Kiffin offered Sills a scholarship to play college football at USC in 2010. Sills gave USC a non-binding verbal commitment in 2010. Sills was among the youngest football players to receive a scholarship offer from a major football program.
High school career
As a high school freshman, Sills was the starting quarterback for Red Lion Christian Academy, a private Delaware school for grades K-12. Sports Illustrated hailed him as one of the greatest prospects ever, and Bloomberg News described him as the "best arm money can buy". At Red Lion in 2010, he accumulated 1,355 passing yards and nine touchdowns against five interceptions in eight games. In 2011, 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.
As a sophomore, Sills became the quarterback for Eastern Christian Academy (ECA) of Elkton, Maryland. The move was controversial because the school was a newly-formed online school. All enrolled boys were on the 46-man football team established by David Sills IV to showcase their talents to college scouts. Eastern Christian Academy was only able to play in three games in 2012 due to the school's failure to gain accreditation from the state.
Lane Kiffin, who had originally offered Sills a scholarship back in 2010, was fired by USC in 2013. He was replaced by Ed Orgeron on an interim basis. Eventually, USC would hire Steve Sarkisian to become the new head coach. According to Sills' father, Sarkisian told his son that USC would honor their scholarship offer. While receiving reassurance from Sarkisian, the Sills got the feeling that David wasn't USC's first option. USC had offered and eventually signed two highly ranked quarterbacks in the same class, Sam Darnold and Ricky Town. Sills decommitted from USC in June 2014.
West Virginia
On July 16, 2014, Sills announced his commitment to West Virginia University via Twitter. Sills was one of West Virginia's early enrollees from the 2015 recruiting class. As a result, he was able to participate in spring practice. He battled fellow quarterbacks Skyler Howard, William Crest Jr. and Chris Chugunov for the starting quarterback spot. Howard was eventually named the starting quarterback. Sills earned playing time as a wide receiver after impressing coaches with his performance on the scout team. On October 17, 2015, Sills made his collegiate debut against the Baylor Bears. He finished the game with two receptions for 64 yards. His second collegiate reception was a 35-yard touchdown. He made the game-winning touchdown reception in the 2016 Cactus Bowl against Arizona State and ended the season with seven receptions for 131 yards.
During spring drills in 2016, Sills split time between quarterback and wide receiver. After West Virginia's 2016 spring game, West Virginia head coach Dana Holgorsen stated that Howard solidified his position as the starting quarterback and that Crest and Chugunov would continue to battle for the backup quarterback spot. With several quarterbacks ahead of him on the depth chart and former Florida starting quarterback Will Grier scheduled to become eligible to play for the Mountaineers in 2017, it appeared unlikely Sills would ever get an opportunity to play quarterback at West Virginia.
El Camino College
On June 23, 2016, it was announced that Sills would be transferring to El Camino College. In his lone season playing for the Warriors, Sills played quarterback and threw for 1,636 yards and 15 touchdowns.
Return to West Virginia
On December 15, 2016, West Virginia football announced on Twitter that Sills would be returning to West Virginia. In West Virginia's 2017 spring game, Sills lined up at wide receiver and caught six passes for 98 yards from Will Grier. In the season opener for the 2017 West Virginia Mountaineers against the Number 21 Virginia Tech Hokies Sills posted 9 receptions for 94 yards and 2 touchdowns.