MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia’s David Sills, the one-time quarterback prodigy whose only playing time as a freshman came at wide receiver, announced he is transferring.
With three years of eligibility and a redshirt season remaining, Sills was headed to a California junior college to resurrect his quarterback career, according to a DKPittsburgh report.
“We appreciate everything David has done for the Mountaineer football program. He has done everything asked of him and has been a great teammate,” said WVU coach Dana Holgorsen said Thursday. “He has decided to transfer to pursue his dream of playing quarterback in college. We wish him nothing but the best in all of his future endeavors on and off the field.”
Sills planned to redshirt in 2015 but caught the coaches’ eyes while playing receiver on the scout team. He debuted against Baylor on Oct. 17 and appeared in eight games while making seven catches for 131 yards and two touchdowns.
He caught the go-ahead touchdown in the Cactus Bowl to push West Virginia past Arizona State 43-42.
After the bowl game Sills told WVMetroNews:
“This season went totally different than I expected. God opens many doors and works in mysterious ways, so I kind of just took what he gave me and ran with it.”
With Skyler Howard entrenched as the Mountaineers’ 2016 starter and Florida transfer Will Grier coming aboard for 2017, quarterback opportunities in Morgantown seemed scant for Sills.
He was trying to refine a funky, from-the-ear throwing motion during spring practice, a mechanical change made difficult while splitting focus at receiver.
“My heart is at quarterback,” Sills said in this April column. “That is what I want to do, that is what I came here to play. In the meantime I’m playing a lot of receiver right now, because I want to help the team out in any possible, but I’m still going to work on my quarterback craft.”
Question is: Might Sills eventually settle on playing receiver? He’s tall, springy and showed nice ball-tracking skills last season while essentially undergoing live-game training.