David Sills could be the next hot quarterback to follow in the footsteps of Mark Sanchez at Southern Cal. Well, maybe not next — there could be three or four hot quarterbacks at USC before Sills ever gets to L.A.
David Sills is 13 — yes, 13! — but yesterday the middle school student issued a verbal commitment to new Trojans head coach Lane Kiffin to play at the Pac-10 school, starting in 2015.
The hot-throwing wunderkind — who hails from Bear, Del. — was suggested to Kiffin by Steve Clarkson, Sills’ personal coach who runs a passing camp in California. Clarkson has discovered several top college and eventual NFL quarterbacks, including Ben Roethlisberger, Matt Cassel and Matt Leinart. The latter two also played at USC, and Sills could be better all of them.
“He’s definitely got that potential,” Clarkson’s son, Anton, told The Post yesterday.
The 5-foot-11, 135-pound seventh grader caught Clarkson’s attention with a video on YouTube showing him moving in the pocket like Tony Romo and chucking 30- and 40-yard passes with ease.
Anton Clarkson, a three-year starter at Hofstra who now is a coach at his father’s camp, said Sills has both physical gifts and a head on his shoulders that set him apart from others his age.
“David is really ahead of the curve as far as mental preparation,” he said. “He was breaking down NFL films when he was 10 years old.
“He understands timing. He understands breaking down defenses. He thinks like a high school senior or junior.”
Because the verbal agreement with USC is non-binding, he can change his mind at any time if he loses enthusiasm for the school or for football itself before he reached his senior year. And USC can rescind the offer if Sills doesn’t fulfill his potential.
Sanchez, for one, said he was surprised that Kiffin, on the job for less than a month, made the offer.
“That was a little weird,” Sanchez said on “The Dan Patrick Show” yesterday. “I’ve only heard about stuff like that in basketball, you hear about these kids getting scholarships in junior high.”
Sills’ dad, David Sills IV, said his son is excited to be going to USC, which became his favorite school when he visited the Clarkson’s training camp in L.A. There he met USC figures such as former coach, Pete Carroll, the former Jets coach who last month returned to the NFL with the Seahawks.
“He’s loves the program,” Sills’ dad said. “I don’t think if it was any other school he would have committed.”
Sills’ father said he always knew his son was good, since he first started playing Pee-Wee football at age 6. He said that three years ago, he took him to Clarkson, who deiced he that he had potential.
Getting accepted by Clarkson has been described as getting into the MIT of football quarterbacking, because so many of his proteges go on to strong college careers.
“He was shocked,” the elder Sills said of his son’s reaction to getting the offer from USC.
The scholarship offer from USC makes Sills among the youngest people to ever be offered a college ride.
Is 13 was too young for a middle school boy to be thinking about guiding a major program to the Rose Bowl? Clarkson admitted that it might be for most, but not for Sills.
“I don’t think that David is your average kid,” he said. “I think it would be hurtful for a large majority of us. It would be hard for people who aren’t David.”
The offer from Kiffin comes in the wake of the NCAA in December announcing it was investigating the recruiting practices at Tennessee, where Kiffin was head coach this past season. He lasted just one year in Knoxville. Also, USC may come under some NCAA scrutiny soon as well, as it’s quite possible violations could surface now that Carroll left so abruptly.
Before Sills can start thinking about the Heisman Trophy and the NFL draft, he will first have to prove himself on the Red Lion Christian Academy freshman football team, which he can join in eighth grade.