The Football season is just over a week away and it's been a minute since I've posted about Football.  I wasn't able to get out to see any practices until this week plus the open scrimmage Friday.  I wanted to take a few minutes to highlight fall camp and what I see heading into the season.  

Offense 

OL - On Offense we've heard all camp that the OL has a chance to be a difference maker.  Losing Schlittler certainly hurts but HCJC mentioned today they still feel like they have 7 to 8 guys ready to play that are real difference makers.  Gray, Tucker & White are all instant impact veteran transfers to go along with all conference performer Gadlin.  Our size and athleticism was noticeable in the scrimmage. 

RB- The RB room is loaded with all types of backs.  I saw a good bit of Cooley last year including against the Flames.  He's a load and both he and Jointer will give the Flames a power short yardage back that they've sorely lacked since Peyton Pickett transferred.  Victor Venn looks to have big time speed and explosiveness and seems to be able to catch the ball pretty well out of the backfield.  I could see him in the 3rd down back role as the season progresses.  Blue has a ton of upside and may be the best all around back of the group but I could see him redshirting just simply because there's not enough snaps to go around for 5 backs including the Duquense transfer Lucas.  Best RB room I've seen in my time following the program (2006).  

TE -The TE room can be a real strength for the Flames.  Henderson has all the tools you want in a flex TE including size, wingspan, height & vertical.  He was nicked up and struggled a bit with drops last year but I think he has a chance to break out in this offense and be the 3rd down chain mover.  Not many guys at the G5 level that have the height and athleticism to battle him.  Hanshaw is a really physically developed kid that can help in both phases.  Durocher looks to me to be an elite blocker from the JUCO video that was available online.  Not sure how much he can help in the pass game yet.  The staff has raved about Bo Burklow since the day he signed and obviously made him a top priority to flip from Coastal when they came over.  The room did take a hit when Coastal transfer Jacob Jenkins waiver was denied to be immediately eligible.  That in of itself is ridiculous when you look around the nation at other requests that were approved. 

WR - The WR room has been the big question mark for several years and will be again heading into 2023.  Demario Douglas was unstoppable at times and dictated the oppositions coverage.  I felt like he could have had 350 yards against Arkansas if Freeze didn't take the foot off the gas.  What a weapon.  I don't think we have anybody that can do that on this roster unfortunately.  CJ Daniels is returning off the torn ACL but he has been a DNP for a couple weeks now and his week 1 status is in question.  Noah Frith is also back and he's been a decent option for the Flames but he's struggled to stay healthy as well (Hard to believe there are still a couple Gill recruits including Frith, Schlittler, JB and Dupree on this team).  Freeze and Co. had some solid WR's lined up but they were all flipped in the early signing period by Georgia State, UAB & others before HCJC could get the staff together.  There's a few other returners like Markel Fortenberry and Kylen Austin both of which came in as highly touted HS recruits with P5 and high end G5 offers.  Both appear to have had up and down camps and both still appear to need to add some physicality to their game but if Liberty is going to be able to throw the ball at all those 2 are going to have to step up.  The Flames went hard core into the portal to add guys like Reese Smith from WVU, Victor Jones from Nebraska, Errol Rogers Jr from Louisiana and Elijah Smoot from UT Martin.  Unfortunately, Jones & Smith both suffered season ending injuries over the Summer.  Finally, Treon Sibley has bounced around for the Flames and looks more like a RB in terms of body type but he has a knack to make clutch plays in the receiving game and on special teams.  Finally, Darius Copeland was a late add to the HS class that could factor in over time.   

QB - For the first time Liberty has 5 legitimate FBS level QB's on the roster.  We all watched the carousel unfold last year at the position.  I've been impressed with all 5 in the bits and pieces that I've seen.  Salter certainly stuffed the stat sheet in the scrimmage and exhibits the strongest arm and quickest straight line speed.  The question with Salt has always been protecting the football.  JB has been a consummate professional and led the program to arguably the 2 biggest wins in it's history last year against Arkansas and BYU.  Trey Lowe and Nate have shown some good stuff in the run game.  Practice and scrimmages are live game action but I feel like the QB play has been a decent step up from last year from what I've seen.  Will see once the bullets start flying.    

Bottom line is Chadwell offenses are all about options and misdirection and the ability to run the ball and throw off the run.  I fully expect teams will try to stack the box and make our WR's beat them in 1 on 1's outside and then the QB's will have to deliver the ball accurately and on time and protect the rock.  I also think even if the QB play is steady we will need to have multiple guys ready.  The QB's take some hits in this system and Mccall was dinged up fairly often at Coastal.  

Special Teams

Max Morgan got some time last year when Alves was out and looked really good.  I don't expect much drop off there.  An underrated loss was Austin Mock who was Mr. reliable.  Austin Turner and Ryan Mannis will look to keep the Flames run of great long snappers alive.  The coverage units were up and down under Tanner Burns and they will feature mostly all new guys so TBD there.  Stricker was the kickoff specialist and he's gone as well but it appears Morgan will handle those duties as well.  The kicking game was wildly inconsistent last year and what we've seen so far is more of the same there.  I would expect HCJC to consider going for it on 4th and short quite a bit if it's anything over 30 to 35 yards right now unless something changes.  

Defense 

Let's just note Liberty lost roughly 3/4 of the snaps played last year on the defensive side of the ball.  Liberty defense finished each of the last 2 years ranked in the top 15 of total defense.  That will be hard to back up this year with all the changes in personnel.  Liberty lost 4 defenders to P5 transfers and 3 more to SMU plus graduation subtracted studs like Osagadie and Durrell Johnson who led the nation in TFL's.  Most of the returning guys are really young or haven't played a lot of snaps or both.  The staff really had to hit the portal hard on D to replace the defections.  The defense as a whole could have a lot of guys moving around depth chart wise as they gain experience.  

DB - I really like the collection of talent in the DB room. There's a handful of guys like Singleton, Reese & Green that played a good bit of snaps.  There are a lot of new players and young guys that could shake up the 2 deep as the year goes on here.  It will be interesting here to see which of the young guys step up and lock in there roles.  This defense (like Symons & Curtis/Aldredge) is likely to play a lot of 4-2-5 stack so we will easily need 4 corners and 5 safeties to play heavy snaps.  

LB - Linebacker is the other position that took a big hit losing Ahmad Walker and Mike Smith Jr to SMU & Baylor respectively.  The Flames will look to guys like Tyren Dupree, Aakil Washington, Jerome Jolly and Mo Freeman to step up and take on bigger roles than they have in the past.  Chike Nwanko came in from Abilene Christian and was one of the most sought after transfers the Flames landed.  Nick Days was a late add from Toledo that could provide depth.  Olan Robinson was the HS add that the staff held over from Freeze's staff and Jordan Norwood is back out of the portal.  This is the other position besides WR that is the hardest to project what exactly happens.  Joseph Carter was a walk on that received a scholarship.  Could he factor into the mix as well?  LB and WR are the 2 most difficult positions to project...sound familiar?

DT - The Flames lost some talent here but not nearly as much as DE. DT is right up there as one of the most talented positions on the roster.  Back are contributors like Chris Boti, Bryce Dixon, Jay Hardy & Kendy Charles.  Charles has obviously gotten all kinds of attention in the preseason and rightfully so.  Hardy was one of top recruits in Auburn's class a couple years back and has slimmed down and could be primed for a huge year.  Bryce Dixon was frequently referred to as a big time P5 type player that they (Freeze) were thrilled to hold on to.  Boti has quietly been a solid contributor that has been spoken of highly in the coaches pressers.  Add in newcomers Nairne, Landsfeld (reclassifier) & JUCO transfer Tysheik Galloway & Boise St. bounce back Amari Williams and it's easy to get excited about the potential of this unit. 

DE - Perhaps no group was hit harder by defections than DE as it lost Sings & Butler (played both spots) to the portal, Johnson to graduation and Treshaun Clark who left the program with a year of eligibility left.  HCJC has mentioned VA Gatorade state defensive player of the year TJ Bush as a big time difference maker as a true freshman since the day he set foot on campus.  He was another Coastal recruit that the staff placed a huge emphasis on to flip and has made an immediate impact.  CJ Bazile Jr played some big time snaps in the Arkansas game especially and can really get after the QB. If he can set the edge and stay in his lanes he could take a huge step this year. Miyon Conaway is the other returner that redshirted last year.  The Flames had to go to the portal to add Grey Carroll from GT, Bryson Jennings from UNC and Bryan Whitehead who was a JUCO All American to roster.  Whitehead has some big time pass rush ability from what I've seen.  Donovan Dozier and Larry Jones III were the other 2 freshman that came in.  Jones just got here but he made some huge plays in the scrimmage.  My biggest concern on the edge is that our average weight has dropped a bit.  Can we hold up in the run game as well as we have the last couple years?  I don't think getting pressure will be a problem with this group.  It wouldn't surprise me if the top 4 by the end of the year are Whitehead, Bush, Jones & Bazile.