Editor’s note: For decades, pass efficiency has been a well-publicized measurement of quarterback performance. We think the wide receiver position is well-suited for such measurement as well. So we created a formula that accounts for yards, scoring, yards per attempt (catches and targets), fumbles and opponent strength. See the methodology below.

As a seventh-grade quarterback, David Sills V made national headlines by verbally committing to Lane Kiffin and USC in June 2010, thus becoming one of the youngest players to ever commit to a college.

But by the time his signing day actually rolled around in February 2015, Sills chose West Virginia, one of two quarterbacks in coach Dana Holgorsen’s recruiting class that year. After a position move to wide receiver as a freshman that was capped with a winning touchdown catch in that season’s Motel 6 Cactus Bowl, Sills decided he would transfer to El Camino (Calif.) College to keep his quarterbacking dream alive.

After 15 touchdowns and 1,636 passing yards for the Warriors, however, he returned to West Virginia in January to play wide receiver again.

The cross-country moving and bi-coastal commitments might have caused a bit of whiplash, but he’s now settling into his role. A big part of his emergence as one of the country’s top receivers, according to Sills, is that fact that he did spend so much time behind the offensive line.

“I do think playing quarterback my whole life has helped me with playing receiver now. Just seeing where the natural holes of the defense are,” Sills told The All-American. “Definitely just trying to recognize what the defense is doing pre-snap, I would say that is a big part of it.”

Sills’ five receiving touchdowns is tied for the most among FBS receivers, and his 15.4 yards per catch is fifth-most among FBS receivers with at least 15 catches this season.

No other receiver on the Mountaineers’ roster has recorded more than one touchdown, making him the early frontrunner as quarterback Will Grier’s safety blanket. That’s a comforting feeling Sills would understand considering he spent most of his career looking for one of those himself.

Here are two specific examples Sills offered to The All-American of plays in which he benefited as a wide receiver by having been a quarterback:

“I think I anticipated that being a back-shoulder throw before it was a back-shoulder throw,” Sills said. “The defender was over top of me, and there wasn’t room for Will to put it over top of him, out in front of me. So, he put it back shoulder, and I expected it to be there.”

“If we got that coverage we were going to call that play, so right when I saw the coverage I knew that Will was going to call that, and he did,” Sills said.

Here are the rankings of FBS wide receiver efficiency entering Week 3 (minimum 12 receptions):

Rank Name School Rating 1 Darren Andrews UCLA 8.14 2 David Sills V West Virginia 8.09 3 A.J. Brown Mississippi 7.98 4 Andy Isabella Massachusetts 7.42 5 D.J. Moore Maryland 6.83 6 Deontay Burnett USC 6.68 7 Jaleel Scott New Mexico State 6.65 8 Tyre Brady Marshall 6.52 9 Stanley Morgan Jr. Nebraska 6.39 10 Hakeem Butler Iowa State 6.29 11 Cedrick Wilson Boise State 6.24 12 John Ursua Hawai’i 5.87 13 Simmie Cobbs Jr. Indiana 5.84 14 Richie James Middle Tennessee 5.74 15 Mark Chapman Central Michigan 5.71 16 Anthony Johnson Buffalo 5.61 17 Jaylen Smith Louisville 5.53 18 Charles Nelson Oregon 5.30 19 Cam Phillips Virginia Tech 5.28 20 Gary Jennings West Virginia 5.24 21 Kelvin Harmon N.C. State 5.16 22 Detrich Clark Colorado State 5.13 23 (tie) Austin Proehl North Carolina 5.01 23 (tie) Michael Gallup Colorado State 5.01 25 James Gardner Miami (Ohio) 4.83 26 (tie) Darren Carrington II Utah 4.62 26 (tie) Calvin Ridley Alabama 4.62 28 Allen Lazard Iowa State 4.53 29 Austin Conway Wyoming 4.42 30 KeeSean Johnson Fresno State 4.24

Methodology

The All-American’s Wide Receiver Efficiency rankings are based on five statistical inputs: Yards receiving, touchdowns, yards per attempt, fumbles (also known as protection percentage) and opponent strength. Yards per attempt includes catches and targets. Opponent strength is based on Cody Kellner’s strength of schedule ratings at kellnerratings.com.

Yards receiving accounts for 30 percent of the formula, touchdowns 20 percent, yards per attempt 20 percent, protection percentage 10 percent and opponent strength 20 percent. Each input is standardized to the mean of the data set. A rating of 5 would signify an average efficiency rating among all players that qualified for consideration this week. Players must have a minimum number of six catches per game, on average, to qualify.

Other than opponent strength, all data is derived from SportSource Analytics.

(Top photo of David Sills V by Ben Queen, USA TODAY Sports)

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