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Football Notebook: Sills Emerging at WR
October 22, 2015 01:35 PM | Football
David Sills is proof that what a player does on the scout team can make a big difference.
The defensive coaches were highly complimentary of Sills for what he did in getting the Mountaineers ready for their season opening game against Georgia Southern by simulating the Eagles’ tricky zone-read option attack.
Then, he impressed them with his ability to catch the football as a scout-team wide receiver, which led to some after-practice conversations between defensive coordinator Tony Gibson and coach Dana Holgorsen.
“He started playing receiver for Gibby because we don’t have enough bodies to play receiver on the scout team,” said Holgorsen earlier this week. “He turned some people’s heads down there, so I took him last week and had a talk with him.”
What came out of that discussion was the decision to remove his redshirt to help the team this year at inside receiver where the Mountaineers are sorely lacking size and athleticism.
Sills came to West Virginia as a quarterback, and all indications are quarterbacking is still in his future plans. However, Holgorsen made the choice before the Baylor game to put the Wilmington, Delaware, resident into the game at wide receiver.
“We practiced and he looked pretty good,” said Holgorsen. “I asked him if he wanted to go play ball, and he said he wants to do anything he can to help the team.”
It’s one thing to look good in practice with nobody else around. It’s something entirely different when you perform well in front of 45,000 people against the No. 2-ranked football team in the country.
And that’s exactly what Sills did last Saturday in Waco, Texas.
He made a big third-down catch early in the second quarter that led to Cody Clay’s six-yard touchdown reception, and then early in the third quarter, he went up and pulled down a Skyler Howard pass for an impressive 35-yard score.
Two catches, 65 yards and a touchdown on the road in a hostile environment are a good way to get more passes thrown your way in the coming weeks. Of equal importance is Sills’ stature: 6-feet-3 inches and nearly 200 pounds, which makes him one of the biggest receivers out on the field now.
Ka’Raun White, the younger brother of Kevin White and another bigger receiver, also saw his first action against the Bears and came away with a couple of catches for 40 yards.
“Putting those guys in there and getting them some coaching points is big for learning,” said Howard after Saturday’s loss to the Bears. “They got limited reps, but the reps they did get are a great learning opportunity for them.”
Howard admitted that having a bigger target out there working the middle of the football field makes his throwing windows much easier. Skyler is completing 59 percent of his pass attempts this year, but just around 51 percent of his passes in Big 12 play.
Having some bigger targets out there could help improve West Virginia’s completion percentage in remaining games against TCU, Texas Tech, Texas, Kansas, Iowa State and Kansas State.
The fact that Sills also plays quarterback and understands offensive concepts so well can also benefit the passing game.
“He’s fast enough, and the thing is he’s smart,” said Howard. “He’s a quarterback and he’s probably one of the smartest players on the team when it comes to football just from being around it all of his life.
“He’s able to find those holes, and the conversations we’ve had coming off the field are a lot more football intelligent than I can have with some of those other guys, so I’m really getting a clear look on what he’s seeing and he’s getting a clear look on what I’m seeing,” Howard continued. “Hopefully we can put that together and make some plays.”
“If I didn’t think he could compete I wouldn’t have put him out there,” added Holgorsen. “I put him out there, he looked good, so we will probably keep doing it.”
As for Sills getting back into the equation at quarterback for the remainder of the season, Holgorsen indicated that’s not likely.
“He hasn’t taken enough reps at quarterback,” said the coach. “(Backup) William Crest (Jr.) has been taking reps. (True freshman) Chris Chugunov has been taking reps. Those guys would have the best chance to go in there and run the offense based on the reps we have been giving them. It would be tough to put a guy in at quarterback that hasn’t taken any reps since August.”
But not so tough to put him out there at inside receiver, which is where Sills now finds himself at No. 1 on the depth chart heading into next Thursday night’s game at third-ranked TCU.
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