MEDIA MACHINE PROPPING UP 12-YEAR-OLD QB RECRUIT

Well, I might have found a college football “prospect” that I dislike more than a certain running back out of Kansas. And this kid is only a 12-year-old.Meet David Sills... “The Future of the Quarterback Position.” Just this weekend, Dennis Dodd at CBSSports.com profiled the quarterback as part of an article that almost asked the question “is recruiting getting out of control?"Instead, it turned into an article about Sills, and his quarterback coach Steve Clarkson, a renowned Southern California quarterback coach who has worked with quarterbacks Jimmy Clausen, Matt Leinart, and Ben Roethlisberger, among others.While Dodd did speak with Joe D’Antonio, the chairman of the NCAA Legislative Council, about the growing need to label junior high athletes college prospects, he spent more time shilling for Clarkson and his other under-aged “prodigies."But sadly, Dodd wasn’t even the first writer to this story. Arash Markazi at SI.com wrote a similar profile on Sills a year and a half ago. Again, Markazi talked about a just turned 11-year-old quarterback with a skill-set that could be destined for greatness. Again, he profiled Steve Clarkson, and touted the pedigree of the quarterback coach and his esteemed clients. And again, he spouted hyperbole about a kid years from puberty, giving credence to Clarkson, a coach notorious for outlandish predictions for his clientele.(He once was quoted calling Jimmy Clausen the LeBron James of high school football.)While parents pushing their ten and eleven year-olds down a path dead set on athletic stardom isn’t new (Hello Todd Marinovich), mainstream media members like Dodd and Markazi aren’t doing anyone any favors glorifying a kid like Sills... and more importantly, a father like David Sills IV.In the past few weeks, Dodd has now done a glorified info-mercial for Brian Butler, he of Bryce Brown recruiting fame, and now Clarkson, who just so happens to be shopping a reality televison show to the networks.