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02-05-2010, 01:40 AM
Lane Kiffin really is getting a jump on recruiting.
No sooner had the Trojans new coach put the finishing touches on the Class of 2010 recruits, that he turned his attention to the Class of 2014.
That's right, 2014.
Thursday evening Kiffin received a verbal commitment from 13-year old wunderkind quarterback David Sills of Bear County, Del..
Too young?
Not according to his personal coach Steve Clarkson, who has mentored some of the game's best quarterbacks including current USC starter Matt Barkley.
"His skill set is off the chart," Clarkson said. "I've never seen anyone at his age do what he's been able to do."
The commitment, which was first reported by ESPN's Shelley Smith, has happened in college basketball previously, but is unprecedented for college football where it's harder to project how a player as young as Sills will develop physically. Clarkson says that won't be a problem.
"He's already six feet as a 13-year old," Clarkson said. "And he's breaking down NFL footage."
Clarkson said the scholarship offer emerged after he called Kiffin to discuss a quarterback recruit for next year's class.
Clarkson said that Kiffin asked him his opinion of the recruit and Clarkson said, "You might call me crazy, but you've known me a long time, right? And when I said if there was going to be a LeBron James of football it'd be Jimmy Clausen that turned out to be a pretty good prediction.
"And when I said Matt Barkley had the potential to be as good as Jimmy, he ended up winning Gatorade Player of the Year as a junior and starting at USC as a freshman, right?
"Well, I've got a kid now who is better than all of them and he's in Delaware. You gotta take a look at him."
Kiffin watched it and called him back immediately.
"He was like, 'This kid is incredible. How old is he again?'
"I was like, 'That's the problem, he's 13.' "
A couple of hours later, the Sills family called Kiffin and they spoke for the first time. USC had always been Sills' dream school, according to his father, David Sills IV.
"I'm as shocked as anybody," Sillis' father said. "I was just talking with friends yesterday about what it'll be like four years from now when David goes through the recruiting process. I never expected this to happen so soon.
"But David's always wanted to go to USC. I mean, is there a better place to play football in the country? How can you pass up the best offer you're ever going to get?"
The younger Sills, who is an eighth-grader at Red Lion Christian Academy in Bear County, has been training with Clarkson for three years. They meet about once every six weeks at various locations around the country.
Sometimes in California, where Clarkson is based. Sometimes in Delaware.
And sometimes somewhere in the middle, if Clarkson is conducting a clinic.
"Steve and David hit it off immediately," David Sills IV said. "If there's ever
anything David is doing wrong, Steve can fix it in like 10 minutes."
Still, 2014 is a long time from now. A lot can change.
"Well, we're going to be out to California in a few weeks and we'll meet Lane then," Sills' father said. "We're excited to meet him. And we're excited to verbally commit. Hopefully it all works out in the future."
http://sports.espn.go.com/los-angeles/nc...NHeadlines
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYn1OFxvsls"]YouTube- David Sills Highlight[/ame]
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUb8F8Ltru0"]YouTube- David Sills- The Next Tiger Woods[/ame]
No sooner had the Trojans new coach put the finishing touches on the Class of 2010 recruits, that he turned his attention to the Class of 2014.
That's right, 2014.
Thursday evening Kiffin received a verbal commitment from 13-year old wunderkind quarterback David Sills of Bear County, Del..
Too young?
Not according to his personal coach Steve Clarkson, who has mentored some of the game's best quarterbacks including current USC starter Matt Barkley.
"His skill set is off the chart," Clarkson said. "I've never seen anyone at his age do what he's been able to do."
The commitment, which was first reported by ESPN's Shelley Smith, has happened in college basketball previously, but is unprecedented for college football where it's harder to project how a player as young as Sills will develop physically. Clarkson says that won't be a problem.
"He's already six feet as a 13-year old," Clarkson said. "And he's breaking down NFL footage."
Clarkson said the scholarship offer emerged after he called Kiffin to discuss a quarterback recruit for next year's class.
Clarkson said that Kiffin asked him his opinion of the recruit and Clarkson said, "You might call me crazy, but you've known me a long time, right? And when I said if there was going to be a LeBron James of football it'd be Jimmy Clausen that turned out to be a pretty good prediction.
"And when I said Matt Barkley had the potential to be as good as Jimmy, he ended up winning Gatorade Player of the Year as a junior and starting at USC as a freshman, right?
"Well, I've got a kid now who is better than all of them and he's in Delaware. You gotta take a look at him."
Kiffin watched it and called him back immediately.
"He was like, 'This kid is incredible. How old is he again?'
"I was like, 'That's the problem, he's 13.' "
A couple of hours later, the Sills family called Kiffin and they spoke for the first time. USC had always been Sills' dream school, according to his father, David Sills IV.
"I'm as shocked as anybody," Sillis' father said. "I was just talking with friends yesterday about what it'll be like four years from now when David goes through the recruiting process. I never expected this to happen so soon.
"But David's always wanted to go to USC. I mean, is there a better place to play football in the country? How can you pass up the best offer you're ever going to get?"
The younger Sills, who is an eighth-grader at Red Lion Christian Academy in Bear County, has been training with Clarkson for three years. They meet about once every six weeks at various locations around the country.
Sometimes in California, where Clarkson is based. Sometimes in Delaware.
And sometimes somewhere in the middle, if Clarkson is conducting a clinic.
"Steve and David hit it off immediately," David Sills IV said. "If there's ever
anything David is doing wrong, Steve can fix it in like 10 minutes."
Still, 2014 is a long time from now. A lot can change.
"Well, we're going to be out to California in a few weeks and we'll meet Lane then," Sills' father said. "We're excited to meet him. And we're excited to verbally commit. Hopefully it all works out in the future."
http://sports.espn.go.com/los-angeles/nc...NHeadlines
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYn1OFxvsls"]YouTube- David Sills Highlight[/ame]
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUb8F8Ltru0"]YouTube- David Sills- The Next Tiger Woods[/ame]
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02-05-2010, 01:49 AM
His mechanics look GOOD!
02-05-2010, 03:01 AM
Aslan Wrote:Hmm ain't he a little young? lol.
i was thinking the same thing lol
02-05-2010, 11:00 AM
This is not true. You cannot even be offered a scholarship until you are cleared through the NCAA Clearing house. You cannot even be considered for clearing until after your Junior year of HS.
02-05-2010, 11:35 AM
Aslan Wrote:It's a verbal commitment though, not written.
My point is, a college representative is NOT ALLOWED to even communicate to a prospective student until they have been cleared by the NCAA Clearing house. The kid could have made a comment, but it has not come from having conversation with anyone from the USC Football program.
02-05-2010, 11:56 AM
Stardust Wrote:My point is, a college representative is NOT ALLOWED to even communicate to a prospective student until they have been cleared by the NCAA Clearing house. The kid could have made a comment, but it has not come from having conversation with anyone from the USC Football program.
Well Kiffins been known to break a few rules
. But in the article, the parents contacted him first, and it looks like the commitment was made through them.
02-05-2010, 01:06 PM
I'm not privy to all the rules, but I dont think its a good idea in general for colleges to be recruiting 13 year olds. By law in this country minors can't enter into legally binding contracts unless that ratify them after the age of 18. The reason for that is we don't think kids have the capacity to make legally binding decisions. The kid is 13 and thinks he wants to go to USC, the Trojans think they might want him....When I was 8 I wanted to be a rodeo team roper or an airplane pilot, I wasnt sure... This kid is awful young to be put in this kind of situation!
02-05-2010, 02:45 PM
Jim Caldwell, the Colts current coach, offered a scholly to a then 8th grader Chris Leak while Caldwell was at Wake Forest. I think Leak turned out to be alright. Maybe Kiffin has the ability to spot talent early on.
02-05-2010, 02:52 PM
http://sports.espn.go.com/los-angeles/nc...id=4888515
There is the link for anyone. Its True.
But the commit means nothing. No Ties. He can still choose wherever in a few years.
Thursday evening Kiffin received a verbal commitment from 13-year old wunderkind quarterback David Sills of Bear, Del.
Well, we're going to be out to California in a few weeks and we'll meet Lane then," Sills' father said. "We're excited to meet him. And we're excited to verbally commit. Hopefully it all works out in the future."
There is the link for anyone. Its True.
But the commit means nothing. No Ties. He can still choose wherever in a few years.
Thursday evening Kiffin received a verbal commitment from 13-year old wunderkind quarterback David Sills of Bear, Del.
Well, we're going to be out to California in a few weeks and we'll meet Lane then," Sills' father said. "We're excited to meet him. And we're excited to verbally commit. Hopefully it all works out in the future."
02-05-2010, 03:53 PM
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/bl...aaf,217861
Last year, a fairly ridiculous story made the rounds wherein Lane Kiffin, then the new head coach at Tennessee, reportedly offered a scholarship to 14-year-old Evan Berry, younger brother of UT All-American Eric Berry and soon-to-be high school freshman, who reportedly accepted. Now at USC, Kiffin apparently figured on Thursday that was setting the bar a little too low -- why target eighth-graders, after all, when you can get to them in seventh grade:
According to the Wilmington News Journal, Bear, Del., seventh-grade quarterback David Sills committed Thursday night to accept a football scholarship from USC.
The 13-year-old, who attends Red Lion Christian Academy, told delawareonline.com, "my heart was beating so fast" when he talked to Kiffin.
Red Lion high school varsity coach Eric Day confirmed confirmed that Kiffin recently offered the teen a scholarship, and that Sills committed, according to the Wilmington paper.
I offer this brief pause to allow you to stop laughing and/or crying. OK, we good?
Onward: Sills is a camp kid, already molded and polished enough to star in at least one earnest promotional video set to a Fountains of Wayne song for his high-priced private coach, Steve Clarkson (or, as he prefers to refer to himself, "Steve Clarkson, Dreammaker"). If he were to eventually join the Trojans, he'd enter as a member of the class of 2015, five full seasons from now. In the meantime, he hopes to pass the seventh and eighth grades and begin studying for his driver's license, among more lurid pursuits.
I maintain, as I did last year when I wrote about the younger Berry, that the usual recruiting parlance of "offers" and "commitments" is rendered virtually meaningless when extended to players too young to have taken a varsity snap. It's almost a contradiction in terms, like a four-sided triangle or something. Coaches aren't allowed to extend official, written scholarship offers until Sept. 1 of a player's junior year in high school -- still three-and-a-half years away for Sills -- and though the scouting process begins much earlier than that for many players, any story that employs the offer/commit language prior to that point is only serving a publicity-seeking sideshow, a grotesquerie of a process that's grotesque enough to begin with. It's no coincidence that both incidents of unabashed middle-school stalking in the past year have been attributed to college football's resident carnival barker, Kiffin, who will push any button for a headline but can't even promise with a straight face that he will be at USC in five years. (Has anyone asked Evan Berry about his "commitment" to Tennessee since Team Kiffin hightailed it for L.A. last month?) That's all Sills' "commitment" is: A weird, slightly disturbing and ultimately empty headline.
In the meantime, USC has landed its first commitment for the class of 2011 from a local player with three seasons of high school play under his belt. That one I'm willing to acknowledge, but in the recruiting business, nothing's in the bank until a signature is on the page
Last year, a fairly ridiculous story made the rounds wherein Lane Kiffin, then the new head coach at Tennessee, reportedly offered a scholarship to 14-year-old Evan Berry, younger brother of UT All-American Eric Berry and soon-to-be high school freshman, who reportedly accepted. Now at USC, Kiffin apparently figured on Thursday that was setting the bar a little too low -- why target eighth-graders, after all, when you can get to them in seventh grade:
According to the Wilmington News Journal, Bear, Del., seventh-grade quarterback David Sills committed Thursday night to accept a football scholarship from USC.
The 13-year-old, who attends Red Lion Christian Academy, told delawareonline.com, "my heart was beating so fast" when he talked to Kiffin.
Red Lion high school varsity coach Eric Day confirmed confirmed that Kiffin recently offered the teen a scholarship, and that Sills committed, according to the Wilmington paper.
I offer this brief pause to allow you to stop laughing and/or crying. OK, we good?
Onward: Sills is a camp kid, already molded and polished enough to star in at least one earnest promotional video set to a Fountains of Wayne song for his high-priced private coach, Steve Clarkson (or, as he prefers to refer to himself, "Steve Clarkson, Dreammaker"). If he were to eventually join the Trojans, he'd enter as a member of the class of 2015, five full seasons from now. In the meantime, he hopes to pass the seventh and eighth grades and begin studying for his driver's license, among more lurid pursuits.
I maintain, as I did last year when I wrote about the younger Berry, that the usual recruiting parlance of "offers" and "commitments" is rendered virtually meaningless when extended to players too young to have taken a varsity snap. It's almost a contradiction in terms, like a four-sided triangle or something. Coaches aren't allowed to extend official, written scholarship offers until Sept. 1 of a player's junior year in high school -- still three-and-a-half years away for Sills -- and though the scouting process begins much earlier than that for many players, any story that employs the offer/commit language prior to that point is only serving a publicity-seeking sideshow, a grotesquerie of a process that's grotesque enough to begin with. It's no coincidence that both incidents of unabashed middle-school stalking in the past year have been attributed to college football's resident carnival barker, Kiffin, who will push any button for a headline but can't even promise with a straight face that he will be at USC in five years. (Has anyone asked Evan Berry about his "commitment" to Tennessee since Team Kiffin hightailed it for L.A. last month?) That's all Sills' "commitment" is: A weird, slightly disturbing and ultimately empty headline.
In the meantime, USC has landed its first commitment for the class of 2011 from a local player with three seasons of high school play under his belt. That one I'm willing to acknowledge, but in the recruiting business, nothing's in the bank until a signature is on the page
02-05-2010, 03:56 PM
its all ready a thread some one close this one
02-05-2010, 04:55 PM
PC_You_Know Wrote:Jim Caldwell, the Colts current coach, offered a scholly to a then 8th grader Chris Leak while Caldwell was at Wake Forest. I think Leak turned out to be alright. Maybe Kiffin has the ability to spot talent early on.
Yeah they actually just showed that on ESPNEWS. Tennessee also offered a scholarship to Evan Berry, younger brother of Eric Berry, and he is only 14.
02-06-2010, 11:36 PM
This is done
02-06-2010, 11:37 PM
back_in_black Wrote:This is done
I ment dumb
02-08-2010, 04:08 PM
I think he looks like an amazing player for 13 years old! But that is way to young to be making any type of commitment! IMO I don't think a player should even be able to make a verbal commitment until his sophmore year in high school!
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