West Virginia’s Long & Sills Have Been Named All Americans

David Sills had a pretty good year for a kid recruited by the USC Trojans to be their quarterback when he was only 13 years old. You haven’t heard that story, right? After starting at receiver for the first time in 2015 against Baylor and catching a touchdown, West Virginia Mountaineers fans had to know that Sills could be special. They found out just how special this year when Sills really broke out.

David Sills finished the regular season with the 18 receiving touchdowns, the most in the nation. Those 18 catches came on only 60 receptions and 980 yards. Sills wasn’t a speedster or the only person catching the ball, what he was, was the go-to guy in the redzone.

Sills is now the 21st Mountaineer player to be named to Walter Camp's All-America team and has also has been named to SI.com's All-America First Team and SBNation’s All-America second team. He is the 36th All American for WVU since 2002.

David Long has been recognized by Pro Football Focus as second team All-American based on the grading system used by PFF. Long has consistently graded out as one of the top linebackers, not only in the Big 12 but in the country. Long graded out with a 90.4 grade based on PFF’s system, missing the first team selection by 0.1 points. Roquan Smith from the Georgia Bulldogs graded out with a 90.5.

Smith, who won the Butkus Award for best collegiate linebacker was also a finalist for the Chuck Bednarik Award, given to the Defensive Player of the Year. This goes to show that David Long was in good company all year.

Finally, Kirk Herbstreit has done something right. During Herbstreit’s annual “Herbie Awards” because everyone has an award show these days, Herbstreit awarded David Sills and Will Grier the Best Tandem Award.