If David Sills is worried about any potential NCAA sanctions heading USC’s way, he isn’t showing it. That’s probably because the middle-schooler won’t sign his letter of intent until 2015.
USC head coach Lane Kiffin offered the 7th grade quarterback from Delaware a scholarship today and Sills accepted.
“I’m very excited, but I was very, very nervous,” Sills told the News Journal tonight. “It was very cool but my heart was beating so fast and I was scared. But after it was over, I was so excited and pumped.”
Sills has been training with California quarterback coach Steve Clarkson since he was a 10-year-old, and the 13-year-old quarterback is now a twiggish 5-foot-11 and 135 pounds. Don’t worry, Trojan fans, doctors tell Sills that once he goes through — well, you know — puberty, he could grow to 6-foot-5.
I’m trying to find positive things to say about this, but let’s get serious. What are the odds this kid ends up at USC? One in ten? One in fifty? What are the odds Lane Kiffin is coaching the Trojans in 2015? One in a hundred?
Kiffin, who made headlines offering Eric Berry’s 13-year-old brother a scholarship last year and accepting his commitment to the Vols, followed the same playbook with a kid, this time offering a kid that’s been making headlines for getting shipped across the country and spending thousands of dollars on sports to follow his father’s dreams since he was ten.
(Does anyone else feel like they need to take a shower?)
The NCAA prohibits schools from formally offering scholarships until a recruit registers with the NCAA Clearinghouse, but why would that stop Kiffin from getting his hands on a preteen?
While I’m sure USC will backpedal their way out of this one, and this is all a part of Kiffin’s grand-plan to draw publicity to a Trojan program that really needs more eyeballs on it (or to gather a few more secondary violations), but Kiffin really does his best to be a part of what’s wrong with college football.
Barkley looks to be about 13 as well.
Don’t commit! Kiffin won’t be around by then. Shame on you Lame err Lane Kiffin. I didn’t know you liked them so young.
Yeah, like Kiffin will be at USC in 2015. What a douche.
So Arnold, your high school wants your diploma back, if you did indeed get one. Try reading (oh, sorry that would involve effort/intelligence/etc…) the article on Berry’s brother very carefully. You may note the huge black letters that no scholarship was offered. Pathetic.
Arrogant, egotistical, self-centered…let’s see…what other attributes can we think of?…coach?…NOT! Good luck with the NCAA, USC. As if you didn’t have enough troubles…did your AD finish 7th grade?
wow, he sure likes his kids young doesn’t he, hahaha, ok bad joke.
If the kid is really good, the odd are his family will get a house and he will end up at USC
that Kiffin, what a classy guy.
I would like to announce that I too have verbally committed to USC.
With me on board its a good day for the Trojan family.
All publicity is good to some degree and since Lame Kitten has never proven himself as a head football coach, he has to get publicity to validate his self worth…
More and more, Kiffin is appearing to be a slime who will stop at absolutely nothing in order to help…Lane Kiffin. This story is so outrageously ridiculous that I hope USC gets it’s butt kicked… a lot.
Hey, Trojan hater Arnold, any chance you could find another program to dump on? Get all the facts straight for a change, Keith. Then again, getting the boot from this post again would be nothing new for you. BTW – compare the number of violations that Urban Meyer has had since he went to the Gators to the number that Kiffen has had. Had he been a good ‘ol SEC boy, nobody would have said a thing. Ever ask yourself why there are so few NCAA violations against SEC “STUDENT” athletes? You think the broadcast $$$’s have anything to do with that, oh brilliant journalistic scribe? Let’s see you take on a real story for a change.
Hilarious. I post a comment about a factual error in your post and you guys delete it. Don’t bother posting this one either but it’s quite hilarious. Arnold, you suck.
There are so many aspects of this that are very unsavory. Personal coaches, the all-star dad, offering 13 YOs, Lane Kiffin acting with impunity at Tennessee and likely USC, etc. The NCAA is a joke.
Some of these people are almost like human traffickers. And yet parents still invite the Lane Kiffins/John Caliparis/RichRods of the NCAA into their living room.
@ frozen: No comment was deleted. It may have been delayed as we aren’t on here to approve comments 24/7.
Is/Was Kiffin contemplating joining the priesthood? The kid doth seem a little young………what? come on, no, too soon for that kind of joke?!? I apologize…..
@ KA says: “but Kiffin really does his best to be a part of what’s wrong with college football.”
———- no doubt.
MONTE JR = HOMO!
Like Kiffin the douche will the at USC when this kid is ready to play college ball. YA RIGHT!
Kiffin will be there– he’ll keep getting the best prospects, the best coaches want to work under him, his father’s defense is used by every team in the NFL in some capacity…. look for USC to be STRONG for years..
Perhaps Lane should be coaching Bring’em Young?
@ Nate: OK, that one made me chuckle.
What makes me laugh is that this kind of crap has been going on in college basketball for a while and just because it’s Kiffin, it’s news and OH SO BAD…
BENITO = HOMOphobic
frozen – thanks for stepping up as the “DUMBA$$ of the the day” on CFT. I don’t recall seeing the Irish loving Arnold, JT or any of the other contributors on the CFT staff claiming to be journalism majors – they could very well be tho… AND they don’t write the headlines as much as re-post them from the original sources.
Sounds like you’re airing sour grapes of some sort. You can always just choose not to read – and especially not to comment since you told the PFT writers “your high school wants your diploma back, if you did indeed get one.”
I wonder if he has a squad of 13 year old ‘hostesses’ he sends out for these recruits?
“I wonder if he has a squad of 13 year old ‘hostesses’ he sends out for these recruits?”
To paraphrase Bill Simmons, yep, these are CFT’s readers.
edgy1957,
It’s not that because it is Kiffin that makes this story sickening, it’s that it is happening in college football.
College basketball support increase 200% around the end of February… because of March Madness. College football, you could say, receives a considerable increase in support come bowl-season, but it is certainly more popular than its winter counterpart. And no one likes seeing 13 year olds being offered scholarships.
College basketball has lost its lure, as has the MLB. Allegations and politics are shadowing the actual sport. Once this bullshit hits NCAAF, it will be on the decline, and it can definitely start with Lane Kiffin being a prick. The guy couldn’t even play at Fresno State.
Minnesota-Chris: Please name ome recruiting violation major or secondary that Urban Meyer has committed at UF. Don’t talk about athlete arrests because if you are a yankee trojan sucker, I can come up with plenty for your men of troy. Go shovel some snow. I feel for you because even with talent…..dude can’t coach and the PAC-10 will eat him up just like Urban and Saban. He’s a quiter and LA deserves a guy like him. He’ll fit right in on the left coast.
@Frozen: I read that column carefully, and more importantly, I remember when it happened. That editor’s note is called BACKTRACKING after they realized it wasn’t legal to do, it didn’t mean that Kiffin didn’t do it.
@MNChris – I don’t understand your point. The Gators don’t commit many violations, they just get arrested a lot.
Sean Martin, NO, it’s about Kiffin. If Urban Meyer had done this, the story would have quickly turned to how it was affecting his heart.
You’re right, Kiffin’s never proven anything. Without a single year behind him as college head coach he came in and won 7 games with a team Fulmer only achieved 5 wins with the year before.
In that 7 wins, he blew out Richt and Spurrier (combined margin of 44 pionts) and came within a kick of beating Saban and the national champion Tide on the road. Imagine if he’d actually been there more than a season……
As for secondary violations, Kiffin’s staff had 6. Same number as Georgia had, but where’s the whining about Richt?
edgy,
Sean Martin nailed it. It speaks to the credibility of the sport. That ship sailed on college basketball because of one-and-done, the AAU pipelines and the many other things that make a mockery of the sport. Now, for many, it’s nothing more than a novelty that is boiled down to a piece of paper in offices around mid-March.
Even with its own set of problems, college football still has an element (relative) of purity and credibility as a team sport with 22 guys heading in the same direction. I guess you could say that college football is the “good child” while basketball is the sibling that sill picks his nose and is as dumb as a box of rocks. Our expectations are higher with the former.
whodat, a lot of people are hating on Lane but he did a pretty good job at Tennessee and God, could ANYONE have done anything in Oakland? Imagine how that one kick could have turned the BCS upside down. It might have ended up being Texas vs Cincinnati….
FormerMinnesotaChris:
Re: BTW – compare the number of violations that Urban Meyer has had since he went to the Gators to the number that Kiffen has had.”
O.K., I’ll bite….proof and numbers please? Kiffy had 6 in one year. I don’t recall any for Urban.
Re: “Ever ask yourself why there are so few NCAA violations against SEC “STUDENT” athletes?”
Again, I will bite. There have been several cases of NCAA violations and probation punishments against SEC teams. UF was on probation prior to Spurrier. Bama was on probation about a decade ago. More recently they admitted to some minor stuff,
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=4250596
LSU is likely staring at some recruiting violations (Hicks).
The SEC isn’t immune to violations like you think. Meyer has avoided them.
Usually people attempt to think prior to posting. I suggest that you adopt that practice as it may help make your posts coherent and factual.
Re: “I wonder if he has a squad of 13 year old ‘hostesses’ he sends out for these recruits? ”
Doubtful, he probably just visits with Layla in the in famous “orange dress” doing her best Sharon Stone imitation.
To FormerMinnesota Chris:
Urban Meyer is a class act – nothing at all like Kiffin – not to mention nobody else would be offering scholarships to children who are 12 and 13. Ridiculous – just some grandstanding play to get more attention. Kiffin needs to try to keep a low profile – USC has enough problems as to violations – they are still under investigation. Kiffin will be long gone from USC in 2015.
Headline:
Kiffin offers 13-year-old QB scholarship, doesn’t realize joke is on him.
From the home office in Sweet Home Alabama, Top 10 Reasons Why Lane Kiffin Recruited a 13-Year-Old Kid:
Hey, Todd Marinovich had a crazy-assed dad, too, and look how well he turned out!
10) Wanted to get an early start on his first post-probation recruiting class.
9) Figured he’d get to him before the agent that paid Reggie Bush did.
7) Needed someone to keep him up-to-date on Spongebob Squarepants.
6) Wanted to get something he could taunt Urban Meyer about, until he suddenly realized he wasn’t in the SEC anymore.
5) Every Sith Lord needs an apprentice.
4) Figured he could use him to feed Monty his strained peas and carrots.
3) Needs to feed on the blood of the young and innocent to keep those supple, youthful looks.
2) Oops, thought it was his JERSEY that was 13.
And the number one reason Lane Kiffin Recruited a 13-Year-Old:
1) Wanted someone his own age to hang out with.
Lane Kiffin likes young boys. So do Catholic Priests.
This is the most disgusting thing Ive ever heard of! If the NCAA allows this sort of stuff, they’re just proving how out touch they are with their mission to help the “student athlete:! As for Lane Kiffin, let’s just say I would NOT want him to have a hand in molding my son’s character! A good role model he is not!
Do what they do at Ole Miss.. a Scholarship, a no show job at a car dealership,plenty of Vicodin,and a white woman.
Where oh where is 1usctrojan? Surely he will be able to put some sort of positive spin on this likely citing Trojan history.
Of course, if you think this is screwy, consider that he will be offering a scholarship on Monday to a running back who is scheduled to be born by Caesarian next month.
“Of course, if you think this is screwy, consider that he will be offering a scholarship on Monday to a running back who is scheduled to be born by Caesarian next month.”
You guys seriously crack me up sometimes…
[...] to answer the question of those who are wondering, no, we don’t know if Lane Kiffin has offered the kid [...]
[...] sane people to throw up a little bit in their mouths” — early last year when he extended a scholarship offer to 13-year-old quarterback phenom David Sills, who promptly gave his “verbal [...]
[...] (unfortunately?), as that honor falls to David Sills, who was a 13-year-old quarterback when he received a scholarship offer from Lane Kiffin and USC. Unlike Moses, though, Sills verbally committed to the Trojans; three [...]