One of the best under-the-radar storylines of the 2017 season continued Saturday evening in Little Manhattan.
Once a highly-touted quarterback prodigy -- as a 13-year-old he was offered a scholarship to USC by Lane Kiffin — David Sills moved to wide receiver not long after signing with West Virginia as part of their 2015 recruiting class. In June of 2016, WVU announced that Sills was moving on to the junior college level “to pursue his dream of playing quarterback.”
Six months later, that dream ended as WVU announced that Sills had come back to the Mountaineers — and was coming back as a receiver. And come back he did as, after catching seven passes for 131 yards and a pair of touchdowns in eight games as a true freshman in 2015, Sills has now caught 18 touchdowns in 10 games this season after recording two more in WVU’s narrow five-point win over Kansas State -- one on an absolutely ridiculous catch, especially for a former quarterback.
The only other FBS player even remotely in Sills’ end-zone neighborhood is Memphis’ Anthony Miller, who has 11. With 10 each, UCLA’s Darren Andrews and Miami of Ohio’s James Gardner are the only other players at this level in double-digits.
With three games remaining, the 6-4, 203-pound Sills has an outside chance -- a very outside chance -- of tying the FBS single-season record of 27 touchdown catches set by Louisiana Tech’s Troy Edwards in 1998. He’s also seven scores away from tying the school record of 25 set by Stedman Bailey in 2012. Bailey is currently tied for second all-time with Marshall’s Randy Moss, who set the FBS record of 25 the year before it was broken by Edwards.
In seven games this season, though, Sills has scored two or more touchdowns in a single game. He’s caught three in thee contests.
As for the man feeding Sills the ball through the air, Will Grier (howdy Florida!) leads the nation with 34 touchdowns passes, pending what Missouri’s Drew Lock (31) does tonight against Kentucky. With the same three games remaining, Grier needs eight touchdowns to tie Geno Smith‘s school record of 42 set in 2012 and nine to break it.