The Sock 'Em, Bust 'Em Board Because that's our custom

David Sills, you say?

December 15, 2016 by Mike Casazza

Two days in a row begin with one of my favorite stories.

The Wake Forest story, which is turning into the Louisville story now that Lonnie Galloway is indeed in the middle of it, is surreal.

This David Sills story is merely cool, and an underrated part is the fact the follow-up tweet with highlights, which WVU did for all seven signees yesterday, had his top plays from WVU in 2015.

And no, we did not see this coming.

Well, not clearly, at least. WVU lost Marquise Brown to Oklahoma, and a receiver with whom there was mutual interest might be a knucklehead. WVU doesn’t want knuckleheads. The Mountaineers were looking for someone, and all I had heard, which is to say very little since I don’t follow this too solemnly, was there was a familiar name on the line. I think I thought Sills for some fraction of a second — more on that in a bit — and then I thought about Christmas cookies up in the kitchen.

But we’ll remember that Ryan Dorchester, the head of player personnel, loves to fly at least one in under the radar every year. When you’re in a line of work that has so many reporters and so many reports, so much information and so much misinformation, these are the little delights you seek and you take. You should congratulate him.

Anyhow, I enjoy this story not for that and not because recruiting is so often silly and sordid but because it’s good for Sills and the Mountaineers. It makes sense and doesn’t require much analysis. I often say, “Trust your eyes,” which is a simplified way of saying, “What you see is what you get.” This is that.

He really wanted to play quarterback in college. It was not happening at WVU, and that was made clear to him. He chased it all the way out to California, where he was OK. There’s nothing wrong with that. I admire the kid for betting on himself. But he wasn’t getting the results or the attention he wanted, and he surely realized he wasn’t playing quarterback at a major college football program. That meant he wasn’t going to the NFL.

Folks at WVU and with NFL teams believe Sills has NFL talent. He’s 6-foot-3. He can run. He can jump. He’s got the sort of tools that let him play quarterback in college for a few months and then catch a touchdown pass in his first game as a receiver in the sixth game of the season.

So with the Mountaineers searching for a junior college receiver, who was really better for them than Sills? With Sills looking for a home, who was better for Sills than WVU? He knows the offense. He’ll transition fast and fine to campus, coaches, teammates, class, strength and conditioning and all the other things that might derail a junior college transfer. WVU knows everything about Sills after recruiting and coaching him before.

It’s rare, I know, but where’s the risk?

This was an odd case of a slow burn and a sudden development. Sills was a model citizen before. He earned a bunch of respect from teammates and coaches for ditching his redshirt and changing positions to help the team. When he left, he and WVU had an agreement that the door would be open for his return. His dad told me that. Some people, like Joey LoMonaco, even wrote about that possibility. I admit I was not one of those people, because I thought it was just talk and a way to smooth out an exit so that everyone looks good.

But WVU stayed in touch. Sills maintained friendships with the Mountaineers — he was Dakiel Shorts’ quarterback in high school — and I had heard Sills’ parents were at the BYU game. There was no fracture. The bridge was not burnt.

Not long after the end of the season, when the Mountaineers shifted gears from the regular season to recruiting, more serious talks with Sills began. It wasn’t a new idea, but both sides needed to know if it was a possibility. Wednesday night, you discovered the answer.

We also discovered another junior college receiver is on the roster now. Dominique Maiden played at Riverside City College. That’s where Skyler Howard played. He’s 6-5, so he’s a different type than what the Mountaineers have now, and he catches touchdowns. Given WVU’s troubles scoring points, especially in the red zone, Maiden is an intriguing option.