Sills brings something unique at WR for WVU

He did so with such efficiency that they approached him, asked him if would like to put some serious work into the position, leading to him not only playing this week against Baylor but looking like the best WVU had the position, his first catch being a professional grade over-the-shoulder TD grab in a corner of the end zone.

The tie-in with Boykin, whom Holgorsen termed “the best player in college football” not only this year but last as well, is that Boykin quarterbacks this week’s TCU opponent after also having spent what would have been a do-nothing sophomore year at wide receiver.

Boykin had actually quarterbacked in his freshman season but was moved aside for Casey Pachall as a sophomore before returning to QB last year where he led TCU to a one-loss season and, some believed, a deserved spot in the first collegiate playoff.

“I am tired of seeing Boykin,” Holgorsen said, “I know that. He came out here as a freshman, and he played quarterback at a really high level.

“Then we saw him as a receiver when they were trying to figure out what to do with him. I know when (co-offensive coordinator/inside wide receivers Doug) Meacham received that job, he called, and we talked. I told him whatever you do, don’t put (senior quarterback Trevone) Boykin back at quarterback.

“I want to recruit quarterbacks that have athleticism, and I want to recruit guys like (redshirt freshman quarterback William) Crest and Sills that love the game of football. I will recruit as many of those guys as much as I can. I don’t care what position it is.”

Boykin has had a huge hand in the outcome of the last three games between these two teams, games decided by the slimmest of margins.

As that freshman quarterback he threw a two-point conversion in overtime that proved the difference for TCU. As a sophomore wide receiver, a game WVU won on Josh Lambert’s buzzer beater of a field goal, his first ever game-winning kick, Boykin was an unstoppable pass catcher, latching on to 11 for 100 yards.

Then last year, Boykin led TCU on a 56-yard drive to game-winning field goal of their own on the game’s last play of 31-30 victory despite having been contained for much of the day by the WVU defense.

The Sills transition is off to a somewhat similar start.

There really had been no masterplan for WVU to follow.

“It came out of nowhere. Just knowing him, his work ethic, his family,” wide receiver coach Lonnie Galloway said. “He was groomed to be a quarterback. We saw him on the scout team making catches that good wide receivers do and he was doing it without anyone teaching him. He wanted to do it and we wanted him to do it.”

How good was Sills while on the scout team? He was good enough that the regular players were talking about him as they left the field every day.

“He was making catches on all of us. He did a great job down there for us. All of us were talking, he should be playing wide receiver,” middle linebacker Jared Barber admitted.

“I had a talk with him. Then Daikiel (Shorts) and Wendell (Smallwood) talked to him, being good friends of his, seeing if he really wanted to do it,” Galloway said.

Shorts and Smallwood at been teammates with Sills at Eastern Christian Academy in Elkton, Md., and Sills assured them he wanted to find a way to get on the field.

And so they spent two weeks grooming him.

His approach was what really sold the idea.

“Seeing him staying after practice every day, working on something he knows he needs to get better at. It was me and him are throwing after practice every day this bye week. I’m impressed with the amount of work he is putting in on the field and it’s showing with the plays he is making. He’s using better technique and continuing to get better,” said quarterback Skyler Howard, who is becoming famous for his work ethic himself.

Howard has seen this before. Earlier, Holgorsen had used William Crest, his backup quarterback, at both wide receiver and running back to get his athletic skills on the field, too.

Howard appreciates working with them.

“We sit in the same meeting rooms and have done so over the summer. We know how coach looks at the defense and how we’re trained to look at the defense,” Howard explained.

The result is that they are far advanced from a quarterback and wide receiver just beginning to work together.

“Me and David did it yesterday. We ran a play and he did something that wasn’t drawn up in the play and it worked. He told me when he came back, ‘I knew you were going to do that.’ That shows we’re on the same page.”

This is the thing Sills brings to the position that others can’t.

“The football IQ level is what’s different,” Howard said. “Just knowing what to do in certain situations like finding the holes in a defense. He picks it up a lot faster because he’s been looking at it from the same perspective I have and he knows how to get in those places.”