Thirteen-year-old David Sills V had a destination—plugged that thing into the GPS and everything.

Sills was training with Steve Clarkson at the age of nine. He was in the seventh grade when he committed to Southern Cal in 2010. Sports Illustrated’s Arash Markazi called him one of the greatest prospects ever.

My guy was being interviewed on “Good Morning America” at an age when the rest of us were just trying to get a damn driver’s permit.

Next stop: Transcendent Quarterback.

But, commitments from middle schoolers have a demonstrated tendency to be a bit, shall we say, irrelevant. A lot happens over the course of four-plus years—particularly when those are teenage years.

In 2013, one year after Sills suffered a now-infamous injury to his knuckle, Lane Kiffin, the coach who actually extended that remarkably early scholarship offer, was fired. He was eventually replaced by Steve Sarkisian and the vibes between coach and prospect just weren’t the same.

Sarkisian offered—and eventually signed—two other quarterbacks in Sills’ class: Ricky Town and some dude named Sam Darnold.

Not many things are more frustrating, more demoralizing, than that moment when Siri or Alexa or whoever conducts the map app of your choice announces a change of plans. In Sills’ journey, this period served as the first such instance.

“Recalculating…”

Rather than flipping coasts, Sills—ultimately a three-star prospect—elected to, instead, sign with West Virginia, where he entered into a quarterback competition with Skyler Howard. He lost.

“Recalculating…”

Sills, universally regarded as an excellent athlete by teammates and coaches, started making some plays on the scout team—at wide receiver. He was so impressive, in fact, that head coach Dana Holgorsen elected to burn his redshirt and put him on the receiving end of Howard’s passes.

Sills made his debut for West Virginia on Oct. 17, 2015, on the road against Baylor. His second career reception? A 35-yard touchdown.

No matter, Sills wasn’t ready to call it quits on his career as the signal caller.

“I told Coach Holgorsen after the season that I wanted to go back to quarterback," he says. "I wasn’t done. I thought that was the best thing for me.”

With Howard the clear-cut starter and a Florida transfer by the name of Will Grier on the way, Sills made the decision to transfer to El Camino College.

“Recalculating…”

Sills passed for 1,636 yards and 15 touchdowns in his lone season as the starter at El Camino, but it wasn’t enough to garner the types of offers he expected to see.

“The recruiting for junior college [compared to] high school is completely different. I didn’t really know that at the time,” Sills admits. “They recruit based off of a need—someone they need to come in right away, as opposed to the process of developing them.”

For Sills—and for Holgorsen—this is where things get really unique. Neither party set fire to the bridge that Sills crossed on his way out of Morgantown and, as a result, plenty of couches have been burned instead.

“When I left West Virginia, I left with open arms,” Sills says. “We had a really good relationship even after I left. I talked to him throughout the season... when I was at the junior college. It wasn’t like we left on bad terms. When he called and said he wanted me back, I was 100 percent in and excited because, at that point, I didn’t know what else to do.”

Things may not have worked out for David Sills V, transcendent quarterback prospect. But, for David Sills V, elite wide receiver, it has been an altogether different story.

"I don't have a mean mug. I just think that's silly. I'm not mad, I'm having a good time out there." - @willgrier_ @DS5_

Coming to an @AthlonSports cover near you! ? pic.twitter.com/wlFbZ7FWdX

— WVU Football (@WVUfootball) March 28, 2018

In 2017, Sills hauled in 60 passes for 980 yards and led the nation with 18 touchdown receptions. Five times, he caught 7-or-more passes in a game. Seven times, he caught multiple touchdowns. He became a sort of Will Grier Whisperer down the field, as the pair quickly developed a level of trust and understanding rarely seen between a quarterback and receiver.

“He wants to be great. He’s a freakish athlete, but he still has that quarterback mind,” Grier says. “He understands what I’m looking at. He’s constantly trying to learn and get better and improve, and it’s made me a better player. He pushes me and challenges me to work on little things and try to really become great.

“Through that, we’ve cultivated this great relationship on and off the field. It’s been a pleasure playing with that guy. He’s a really impressive guy.

Sills’ production in the red zone, while incredible, was never forced. Grier—who will begin the 2018 season as one of the front-runners in the Heisman race—was simply in search of the best available option. And, more times than not, Sills made himself that option.

“When it comes down to it, when you get down there, part of playing offense is taking what the defense gives you. If they give you the fade or give you the slant you take it,” Grier explains. “David’s really good at running those routes. And when he gets his chance, when the ball’s thrown his way, he makes the play, he makes it happen. 

“I don’t just get down there and immediately think ‘David Sills.’ When I get down there, I’m taking what the defense gives me. And when the ball goes his way, he finds a way to make a play. He’s just a special guy in that way.

Special not just in his propensity for squeezing the football, but also in his understanding of what his quarterback is processing at any given moment.

“Will’s obviously got a lot to deal with back there,” Sills says. “He’s got to deal with the front, if he’s protected, what the running back’s doing and all of that. And I’m kind of just split out wide looking at the back end of it. Sometimes on the sideline we’ll talk about what they’re doing on the back end because he does have a lot to handle, he’s got a lot to look at. So I try to make it a little bit easier for him.”

“I think we do a great job of talking on the sidelines and talking throughout the week on what we see. He watches film with Coach [Spavital] all the time and I try to sit in there and kind of have a quarterback mind… kind of just be a fly on the wall in there and listen to what they’re saying so that I’m on the same page with them.”

As for how virtually one-in-three of his receptions ended in six points last season, Sills says there’s no secret sauce—at least not that he’s aware of. 

“I haven’t figured that one out either,” he says. “Will obviously has a really big amount of confidence in me—especially when we get down there—so when he puts the ball in the air I just try to make him happy.”

More often than not, Grier is thrilled. So much so, that Sills has eclipsed what he was supposed to be and what he could’ve been with what he has become.

Sills is the only returning Biletnikoff Award finalist and will begin the year as a preseason All-Big 12 selection. He’s also one of the most important players on a West Virginia team that enters 2018 with a level of championship optimism that has been absent in Morgantown for more than a decade.

Like a childhood actor, the odds of living up to the early hype were always against Sills. And, yet, when he lines up on the outside against Tennessee on Sept. 1, surveying the secondary, making life easier on another man playing quarterback, he will continue defying those odds by surpassing expectations in a way that was completely unforeseen nine years ago.

It has been a long and winding road, but David Sills, elite wide receiver, has arrived at his destination.