Photo by: Katie MacCrory
Josh Sills: Blond Chaos
August 20, 2018 03:55 PM | Football
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Don't be too alarmed if you see a 6-foot-6-inch, 330-pound dude walking around Morgantown with a blond squirrel sitting on top of his head.
That's just West Virginia University sophomore offensive guard Josh Sills, who is simply trying out a new hairstyle.
"Yeah, I'm kind of growing a little bit of a mullet," Sills chuckled.
First off, there is nothing little about Sills, including his hair. In the front, the brown locks he's got are closely cropped to match his reasonably well-trimmed beard.
As for the back?
It's blond chaos!
Who knows, perhaps if Sills plays up to his immense potential this year impressionable kids from Weirton to Welch, Martinsburg to Matewan, and all points in between will be going to their local barber shops and ordering up their own blond chaos haircuts?
The best way to get a handle on what Josh has got going on in the back is by considering some of the best mullet haircuts you can think of from the 1980s and early 1990s such as Billy Ray Cyrus, John Daly, Jaromir Jagr and David Ghantt, the guy Zach Galifianakas plays in the movie Masterminds who once stole a Loomis Fargo truck and thought he could get away with it.
You could have probably added contemporary mullet man Mike Gundy to this prestigious list of Mullet Moguls, but he has since significantly reduced the brown chaos that he had going on in the back.
Well, Josh's fits somewhere in there.
Senior defensive end Ezekiel Rose sports his own unique blue-and-gold-dreadlock hairstyle he is calling "The Mountaineer" and admits he's a little envious of what Josh has got coming out of the back of his football helmet.
"He walked into the building, and I didn't notice it until he walked by, and I was like, 'Oh yeah, I like that!" Rose laughed.
Asked to come up with a name for what Sills is wearing, he put his hand to his chin and he thought for a moment, "Hmm … Gold-i-locks," Rose said, a big smile forming on his face.
David Sills V, who Josh states he is related to someplace down the line either before or after the Sills' got off the big boat from the old country, is another blond chaos supporter.
Now keep in mind, you look at any picture of David and it's obvious not a single follicle of his hair is out of place, so it could be one of those better-on-him-than-me deals going on.
"I love it," David said with a straight face. "I told him he needs to get it dyed again so it's bleach, bleach blond because it's starting to fade a little bit."
Sills saying that without cracking a smile sort of reminds me of the story the late Jack Fleming once told me during his bachelor days living in Chicago in the mid-1970s. That's when aging hipster broadcasters Fleming and Hot Rod Hundley used to go out shopping together for clothes in the garment district whenever Hundley was in town.
Hot Rod would talk Jack into buying some of the most ridiculous outfits, convincing him that he looked absolutely fantastic wearing it. Here was Fleming, approaching his 50s, wearing clothes like Ron O'Neal wore from the movie Super Fly with Hundley egging him on.
It wasn't until later that Fleming finally realized something was up when he noticed that Hundley never bought any of the clothes he was recommending.
So I'm sure, David, Ezekiel and the rest of Josh's teammates wouldn't lead him astray, right?
"I like it," offensive tackle Colton McKivitz said. "Hey, whatever works for you."
If you recall, Colton came here four years ago looking like he had just left a Headbangers Ball, prompting some intensive counseling sessions from the WVU strength and conditioning staff on his look.
"Yeah," McKivitz sighed, "that was my basketball haircut coming out of high school, but I had a deal with the strength staff here and I shaved it bald. I'm not going back, so it's going to get cut here again before the season starts."
Josh? He says he's letting his mullet grow just like those pythons that people keep throwing out into the Everglades.
McKivitz pointed out that Josh's girlfriend was a willing accomplice, so he's got that going for him as well.
"I don't know if his parents like it, but his girlfriend signed off on it because she did the coloring," McKivitz said.
"It was more or less 'it's your hair, do whatever you want with it,'" Sills laughed, quickly adding that he offers absolutely no advice whatsoever on how she wears her hair.
Then, once you get past the blond chaos going on below his head, Josh has also got a whole wing of tats on his right arm that starts with a lion.
"Confidence and hunger," he said.
Moving up toward the shoulder are tattoos of his great grandpa and great grandma, which obviously hold sentimental meaning to him.
As you can only imagine, Sills is one of the unique characters on this year's team who knows how to push veteran offensive line coach Joe Wickline's buttons. Wickline has become sort of a player favorite because of his one-of-a-kind mannerisms and his interesting takes on things.
"Yeah, he likes to get under Wick's skin a little bit," McKivitz chuckled.
All kidding aside, Sills possesses a great deal of ability, and he's been basically taught from the ground up by Wickline.
Sills and McKivitz come from small Northeastern Ohio towns where the high school programs don't have the resources that many other college players receive at much bigger high schools.
"My line coach in high school, it was straight-on blocking," McKivitz recalled. "There wasn't any zone blocking or pass sets. I don't think I ever took a college pass set in high school like I do now, so it's definitely a learning experience."
It was the same deal for Sills.
"In high school I didn't really have a true, true line coach," Sills admitted. "It was basic. It was 'that's your guy, go block him.' If the guy across from you didn't make the tackle you got a plus. Now, it's 'well, you're behind him and you're supposed to be frontside' so you get a negative. That was a big learning step for me.
"The angles that you have to take to put yourself in that position was a big learning step for me because I didn't learn that in high school," Sills added.
But he's learning now, and he's learning rapidly.
You watch practice and it's immediately obvious how athletic Sills is when you see him out there moving around like a 250-pounder instead of a 330-pounder.
The guy whose buttons Josh likes to push, Wickline, will grudgingly say as much.
"Which Sills are we talking about," Wickline joked. "No, scratch that. Josh has a lot of ability; great guy; going to be a good player; talented; but it's baby steps. You see some great things from him and then once in a while he'll whiff on a guy. The bottom line is he's fighting it; he's getting it on and what he has done is he's beginning to understand where he fits in the scheme."
"He's definitely taken time to watch film and he's learning the offense," McKivitz added. "He's got that goofy kind of character, but he's also serious about his work and his plays. Doing some of our summer stuff with him, he's probably our most agile guy for being 330. It's definitely cool seeing a guy that big move like that."
Even his long, lost relative David is sometimes in awe of his "little bro."
"He's a lot bigger than I am but I call him 'little bro' and he accepts that," David remarked. "He's very physical, very strong and very big. He'll have a good year this year, for sure."
And you guys are really related, right David?
"I've never met another Sills so I wouldn't be surprised if we were related because we're two, big goofballs," Sills V laughed. "We like to have a lot of fun and if we are related someplace down the line I wouldn't deny it."
Nor will he deny the admiration he has for Josh's blond chaos going on below his helmet - even if he won't be adding a little blond chaos to his own repertoire anytime soon.
That's just West Virginia University sophomore offensive guard Josh Sills, who is simply trying out a new hairstyle.
"Yeah, I'm kind of growing a little bit of a mullet," Sills chuckled.
First off, there is nothing little about Sills, including his hair. In the front, the brown locks he's got are closely cropped to match his reasonably well-trimmed beard.
As for the back?
It's blond chaos!
Who knows, perhaps if Sills plays up to his immense potential this year impressionable kids from Weirton to Welch, Martinsburg to Matewan, and all points in between will be going to their local barber shops and ordering up their own blond chaos haircuts?
The best way to get a handle on what Josh has got going on in the back is by considering some of the best mullet haircuts you can think of from the 1980s and early 1990s such as Billy Ray Cyrus, John Daly, Jaromir Jagr and David Ghantt, the guy Zach Galifianakas plays in the movie Masterminds who once stole a Loomis Fargo truck and thought he could get away with it.
You could have probably added contemporary mullet man Mike Gundy to this prestigious list of Mullet Moguls, but he has since significantly reduced the brown chaos that he had going on in the back.
Well, Josh's fits somewhere in there.
Senior defensive end Ezekiel Rose sports his own unique blue-and-gold-dreadlock hairstyle he is calling "The Mountaineer" and admits he's a little envious of what Josh has got coming out of the back of his football helmet.
"He walked into the building, and I didn't notice it until he walked by, and I was like, 'Oh yeah, I like that!" Rose laughed.
Asked to come up with a name for what Sills is wearing, he put his hand to his chin and he thought for a moment, "Hmm … Gold-i-locks," Rose said, a big smile forming on his face.
David Sills V, who Josh states he is related to someplace down the line either before or after the Sills' got off the big boat from the old country, is another blond chaos supporter.
Now keep in mind, you look at any picture of David and it's obvious not a single follicle of his hair is out of place, so it could be one of those better-on-him-than-me deals going on.
"I love it," David said with a straight face. "I told him he needs to get it dyed again so it's bleach, bleach blond because it's starting to fade a little bit."
Sills saying that without cracking a smile sort of reminds me of the story the late Jack Fleming once told me during his bachelor days living in Chicago in the mid-1970s. That's when aging hipster broadcasters Fleming and Hot Rod Hundley used to go out shopping together for clothes in the garment district whenever Hundley was in town.
Hot Rod would talk Jack into buying some of the most ridiculous outfits, convincing him that he looked absolutely fantastic wearing it. Here was Fleming, approaching his 50s, wearing clothes like Ron O'Neal wore from the movie Super Fly with Hundley egging him on.
It wasn't until later that Fleming finally realized something was up when he noticed that Hundley never bought any of the clothes he was recommending.
So I'm sure, David, Ezekiel and the rest of Josh's teammates wouldn't lead him astray, right?
"I like it," offensive tackle Colton McKivitz said. "Hey, whatever works for you."
If you recall, Colton came here four years ago looking like he had just left a Headbangers Ball, prompting some intensive counseling sessions from the WVU strength and conditioning staff on his look.
"Yeah," McKivitz sighed, "that was my basketball haircut coming out of high school, but I had a deal with the strength staff here and I shaved it bald. I'm not going back, so it's going to get cut here again before the season starts."
Josh? He says he's letting his mullet grow just like those pythons that people keep throwing out into the Everglades.
McKivitz pointed out that Josh's girlfriend was a willing accomplice, so he's got that going for him as well.
"I don't know if his parents like it, but his girlfriend signed off on it because she did the coloring," McKivitz said.
"It was more or less 'it's your hair, do whatever you want with it,'" Sills laughed, quickly adding that he offers absolutely no advice whatsoever on how she wears her hair.
Then, once you get past the blond chaos going on below his head, Josh has also got a whole wing of tats on his right arm that starts with a lion.
"Confidence and hunger," he said.
Moving up toward the shoulder are tattoos of his great grandpa and great grandma, which obviously hold sentimental meaning to him.
As you can only imagine, Sills is one of the unique characters on this year's team who knows how to push veteran offensive line coach Joe Wickline's buttons. Wickline has become sort of a player favorite because of his one-of-a-kind mannerisms and his interesting takes on things.
"Yeah, he likes to get under Wick's skin a little bit," McKivitz chuckled.
All kidding aside, Sills possesses a great deal of ability, and he's been basically taught from the ground up by Wickline.
Sills and McKivitz come from small Northeastern Ohio towns where the high school programs don't have the resources that many other college players receive at much bigger high schools.
"My line coach in high school, it was straight-on blocking," McKivitz recalled. "There wasn't any zone blocking or pass sets. I don't think I ever took a college pass set in high school like I do now, so it's definitely a learning experience."
It was the same deal for Sills.
"In high school I didn't really have a true, true line coach," Sills admitted. "It was basic. It was 'that's your guy, go block him.' If the guy across from you didn't make the tackle you got a plus. Now, it's 'well, you're behind him and you're supposed to be frontside' so you get a negative. That was a big learning step for me.
"The angles that you have to take to put yourself in that position was a big learning step for me because I didn't learn that in high school," Sills added.
But he's learning now, and he's learning rapidly.
You watch practice and it's immediately obvious how athletic Sills is when you see him out there moving around like a 250-pounder instead of a 330-pounder.
The guy whose buttons Josh likes to push, Wickline, will grudgingly say as much.
"Which Sills are we talking about," Wickline joked. "No, scratch that. Josh has a lot of ability; great guy; going to be a good player; talented; but it's baby steps. You see some great things from him and then once in a while he'll whiff on a guy. The bottom line is he's fighting it; he's getting it on and what he has done is he's beginning to understand where he fits in the scheme."
"He's definitely taken time to watch film and he's learning the offense," McKivitz added. "He's got that goofy kind of character, but he's also serious about his work and his plays. Doing some of our summer stuff with him, he's probably our most agile guy for being 330. It's definitely cool seeing a guy that big move like that."
Even his long, lost relative David is sometimes in awe of his "little bro."
"He's a lot bigger than I am but I call him 'little bro' and he accepts that," David remarked. "He's very physical, very strong and very big. He'll have a good year this year, for sure."
And you guys are really related, right David?
"I've never met another Sills so I wouldn't be surprised if we were related because we're two, big goofballs," Sills V laughed. "We like to have a lot of fun and if we are related someplace down the line I wouldn't deny it."
Nor will he deny the admiration he has for Josh's blond chaos going on below his helmet - even if he won't be adding a little blond chaos to his own repertoire anytime soon.
Players Mentioned
OL
/ Football
DL
/ Football
OL
/ Football
WR
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Jeff Weimer | Nov. 29
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Rich Rodriguez | Nov. 29
Saturday, November 29
