Unfinished business drives Sills decision to stay at WVU
When David Sills was making a decision on his future it came down to one thing.
The junior, who finished as a finalist for the Biletnikoff Award in his first full season at the wide receiver position with 18 touchdown grabs, felt like there was still work to be done on several different fronts.
The NFL was an appealing option, as Sills sought advice from those close to him and those around the game.
But the possibility to come back and become better at his craft while attempting to take West Virginia to heights they haven’t been since joining the Big 12 was too hard to turn down.
Unfinished business, if you will.
It wasn’t a slam dunk by any means and was the third time that head coach Dana Holgorsen had to recruit Sills after first doing it out of high school and then enticing him to come back to Morgantown after a year of junior college to fully invest at wide receiver.
“Who recruits a kid three times? This is the third time I have had to recruit him. That to me is kind of funny. It’s a different set of circumstances with the same reason,” Holgorsen said.
To Sills there is both a lot left to prove about himself as a wide receiver and as a team. That means elevating he program to the point where it is in contention for a Big 12 crown.
“Definitely going into next year with the mentality of unfinished business,” he said.
There’s that phrase again. But in the case of Sills, it’s true for a variety of reasons. Sills still has work to do in becoming a complete wide receiver working on his leg strength and polishing up the other aspects of his game to make not just the spectacular plays but the routine ones.
“He has made some unbelievable catches and it’s a great story. He can catch touchdowns better than a lot of people. There are just a whole lot of things that he can improve on,” Holgorsen said.
More reps will do that and it almost became a no-brainer when Will Grier announced his return. Sills asked the only wide receivers coach he’s ever known about the possibility of making the jump to the NFL and his assessment was two-fold.
Tyron Carrier believed he could make the jump, but like many others in the program his story at West Virginia had yet to be fully written.
The technique aspect has never been an issue, it’s the only parts that need to improve.
“It gives him more of an opportunity to really own that position. Like I said, it’s amazing what he did in that short amount of time, but he still has a lot to work on,” Carrier said.
And work on he will. Immediately after the bowl game, the focus shifted to the 2018 campaign and what West Virginia can accomplish. Something that will be much easier with Sills back in the fold.
There’s work left to do and expect Sills and his desire to improve to be at the center of it all.
“He isn’t even out of the water yet,” Carrier said.
