Originally published February 5, 2010 at 8:00 PM | Page modified February 5, 2010 at 8:41 PM

Snap decision: 13-year-old QB commits to USC

David Sills, a 13-year-old quarterback from Delaware, has accepted a football scholarship offer from new USC coach Lane Kiffin.

By Philadelphia Inquirer and The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES — Talk about making quick quarterback decisions.

David Sills, a 13-year-old from Bear, Del., has made a verbal commitment to play football for USC and new coach Lane Kiffin.

According to the quarterback's father, Kiffin talked by phone with the seventh-grader Thursday night and offered him a scholarship.

His father, David Sills IV, said his son's answer was: "Absolutely."

The player can't sign a binding national letter of intent until February, 2015.

The elder Sills says he is comfortable with his son's early commitment.

The boy trains with quarterback guru Steve Clarkson, who is based in Southern California and has a relationship with Kiffin. Clarkson's list of clients includes NFL players Ben Roethlisberger, Matt Cassel and Matt Leinart; and Notre Dame's Jimmy Clausen and USC's Matt Barkley.

Sills is listed at 5 feet 11 and 136 pounds. He's projected to grow to be 6-5.

"He is extremely special," Clarkson said last fall of the 13-year-old. "I first saw it with Jimmy Clausen. If there was a LeBron James in football, Jimmy Clausen would be the one. Then Matt Barkley was sort of second.

"This one (Sills), he is so unique. I thought he was the Tiger Woods of his position."

More knowledgeable than your typical seventh-grade quarterback, Sills spends his free time breaking down film of Tom Brady and Peyton Manning. He's also mastered pre-snap reads.

"I've always imagined in my dream going to USC," Sills told the Wilmington (Del.) News Journal. "All I imagined was playing in the Coliseum. But this is so crazy and out of nowhere."

It's not the first time Kiffin has recruited a player who's not yet even driving. Last summer, as coach at Tennessee, Kiffin got a commitment from Evan Berry, the 13-year-old brother of All-American safety Eric Berry of the Volunteers.

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