In perhaps the most telling sign of how out of control big time college athletics has become, USC Trojans head coach Lane Kiffin offered then 13-year old David Sills a scholarship last year. Sills, now just one year removed from starting his high school football career, was just a seventh grader in Delaware. Pretty crazy considering the kid won't even be eligible to sign his letter of intent until 2015. Who knows if Sills will physically mature in a way that will allow him to play quarterback at the highest of levels in college? Then there's the whole question of whether Kiffin will be around by the time Sills matriculates in 2016.
↵Sills has been working with private quarterbacks coach Steve Clarkson for several years no. If that name doesn't ring a bell, Clarkson is the same guy who's worked with a host of NFL quarterbacks including Ben Roethlsiberger, Matt Leinart, J.P. Losman, and Gino Torretta. Current 'SC signal caller Matt Barkley has also been tutored by Clarkson. So clearly he's getting good instruction with his mechanics and fundamentals. But I still don't like the idea of kids that young being recruited by college programs.
↵Sills doesn't mind the early attention and lofty expectations. He's loving every moment of it, in fact. On Thursday the 14-year old joined Mason & Ireland on ESPN Radio in LA to talk about his recruitment, what he's been up to on his trip out to the 'SC campus, how he doesn't feel like it's 'too much too soon' for him, and how playing for the Trojans has been a life long dream.
↵↵↵↵What went through his head when he learned that he’d been offered a scholarship by Lane Kiffin:
↵"Well, when the scholarship came up, Coach Kiffin was actually talking to my quarterback coach, Coach Clarkson, and he was trying to get a hold of my dad and he couldn’t get a hold of him. He finally got a hold of him and my dad told me and I thought my dad was joking when he told me. I didn’t know what to think. You don’t think of seventh graders at the time getting scholarships to USC. So I thought he was joking. When I realized it was real, I didn’t even know what to do. I mean, that was my dream my whole life — to go to USC and play football. It’s just been great since then."
↵With him taking trips to the USC campus recently, has there been any thought from him or his parents that this might be a bit too much too soon:
↵"There is definitely no thought from me that it is. I’m just trying to get ahead so that when I do go to USC, I’m prepared for USC and prepared for whatever comes at me. So it’s just an early start for me, and I think it’s a full advantage for me, and I think my parents and my whole family like it as well."
↵On what some of the highlights of his trip to the USC campus have been:
↵"Well yesterday I went to the quarterback meetings and I was with all the quarterbacks. And they treated me like I was one of the quarterbacks, I wasn’t any different. It was cool being in there. They went through things like they were on the field; they were calling cadences like they were on the field. It was just cool when they were going over and protections being like ‘wow, this is going to be me when I get older and can go to USC.’ And then we went and watched their practice and it was really cool. It was just really cool watching all the players do their positions. So…"
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