real turf fan
February 6th, 2010, 05:46 PM
Personal QB coach Steve Clarkson has assumed the caboose position on the Lame Train.
The kid from Delaware who LC offered to keep his own face in the public eye has been under the training of a freakin' personal quarterback coach who also has envolvement with Matt Leinart and Matt Barkley.
The backlash following Sills' commitment has been severe. Most of the criticism has been directed at USC coach Lane Kiffin for offering a scholarship to a 13-year-old, Sills' father for pushing his son into the limelight and personal quarterback coach Steve Clarkson, who has pipelined many of his star pupils from Matt Leinart to Matt Barkley to USC over the years.
Sills' recruitment had little to do with his father and everything to do with Clarkson and his relationship with Kiffin. Clarkson was the one who called Kiffin and told him about Sills.
"Steve called me and I didn't even take the call because I was at a job site," said Sills' father, who is a commercial developer and contractor. "So I called him back and he said, 'You're never going to believe it.' He was talking to Lane about some junior quarterbacks and potential recruits who were juniors and he said, 'Look, I gave you Matt Leinart, I gave you Matt Barkley, you trust me and we've known each other for a long time and if you really want to look at a kid you need to look at this kid from Delaware.' So Lane looked at the video, called Steve back and said, 'I'll offer that kid a scholarship right now.' Steve told us that he couldn't call us so we had to call him and gave us his number."
Sills sat down with his parents and discussed the offer before calling Kiffin. But it didn't long for them to decide that USC was the right school. It wasn't a surprise considering Clarkson, who has USC memorabilia throughout his office, had taken Sills to USC games, introduced him to Pete Carroll after watching spring practices and brought in Leinart and Barkley to work with him.
"He has more of a relationship with USC for all these weird reasons than any other school. If any other school had asked him to do this I would have told him to say no," Sills' father said. "He decided if he was a senior he'd pick USC, if he was a junior he'd pick USC, if he was a sophomore he'd pick USC, if he was a freshman he'd pick USC. So why not just pick USC now? You think about a recruiting process taking two years and this recruiting process took three hours."
While Sills' father said he wasn't surprised by the backlash, he believes people would have a different point of view if they were the father of a child being recruited by one of the most storied college football programs in the country.
"For the people that don't like kids getting recruited early, if it was their kid, what would they do? Would they hold them back?" Sills' father asked. "I understand people's opinions and I respect that everybody is allowed to have an opinion but I don't really have a problem with people young, old or in between getting recruited. I don't think it's a big deal. People talk about pressure and expectations but that's not who David is. He doesn't feel a lot of pressure. He loves football and he likes to have fun. I told him if it ever gets to a point where he's not having fun to stop and we'll play golf."
Sills' father believes the reaction would have been different if Sills were a prodigy pianist offered a spot in the Philharmonic Orchestra.
(Clarkson's publicist is working on getting him on variety of national shows ranging from Ellen to Oprah
My question: who pays Clarkson to fly a kid from Delaware to California?
Multiple trips: Spring practice and USC games attendance That's at least three transcontinental trips
Sounds kind of special, doesn't it? Even more special than a single fishing trip.
Inquiring minds AND the NCAA ought to want to know.
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=4891901
The kid from Delaware who LC offered to keep his own face in the public eye has been under the training of a freakin' personal quarterback coach who also has envolvement with Matt Leinart and Matt Barkley.
The backlash following Sills' commitment has been severe. Most of the criticism has been directed at USC coach Lane Kiffin for offering a scholarship to a 13-year-old, Sills' father for pushing his son into the limelight and personal quarterback coach Steve Clarkson, who has pipelined many of his star pupils from Matt Leinart to Matt Barkley to USC over the years.
Sills' recruitment had little to do with his father and everything to do with Clarkson and his relationship with Kiffin. Clarkson was the one who called Kiffin and told him about Sills.
"Steve called me and I didn't even take the call because I was at a job site," said Sills' father, who is a commercial developer and contractor. "So I called him back and he said, 'You're never going to believe it.' He was talking to Lane about some junior quarterbacks and potential recruits who were juniors and he said, 'Look, I gave you Matt Leinart, I gave you Matt Barkley, you trust me and we've known each other for a long time and if you really want to look at a kid you need to look at this kid from Delaware.' So Lane looked at the video, called Steve back and said, 'I'll offer that kid a scholarship right now.' Steve told us that he couldn't call us so we had to call him and gave us his number."
Sills sat down with his parents and discussed the offer before calling Kiffin. But it didn't long for them to decide that USC was the right school. It wasn't a surprise considering Clarkson, who has USC memorabilia throughout his office, had taken Sills to USC games, introduced him to Pete Carroll after watching spring practices and brought in Leinart and Barkley to work with him.
"He has more of a relationship with USC for all these weird reasons than any other school. If any other school had asked him to do this I would have told him to say no," Sills' father said. "He decided if he was a senior he'd pick USC, if he was a junior he'd pick USC, if he was a sophomore he'd pick USC, if he was a freshman he'd pick USC. So why not just pick USC now? You think about a recruiting process taking two years and this recruiting process took three hours."
While Sills' father said he wasn't surprised by the backlash, he believes people would have a different point of view if they were the father of a child being recruited by one of the most storied college football programs in the country.
"For the people that don't like kids getting recruited early, if it was their kid, what would they do? Would they hold them back?" Sills' father asked. "I understand people's opinions and I respect that everybody is allowed to have an opinion but I don't really have a problem with people young, old or in between getting recruited. I don't think it's a big deal. People talk about pressure and expectations but that's not who David is. He doesn't feel a lot of pressure. He loves football and he likes to have fun. I told him if it ever gets to a point where he's not having fun to stop and we'll play golf."
Sills' father believes the reaction would have been different if Sills were a prodigy pianist offered a spot in the Philharmonic Orchestra.
(Clarkson's publicist is working on getting him on variety of national shows ranging from Ellen to Oprah
My question: who pays Clarkson to fly a kid from Delaware to California?
Multiple trips: Spring practice and USC games attendance That's at least three transcontinental trips
Sounds kind of special, doesn't it? Even more special than a single fishing trip.
Inquiring minds AND the NCAA ought to want to know.
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=4891901