[PeterParker]

Since the hockey team has a lock on garnering Canadian talent to play, perhaps there are a few football prospects that would be available as well. I cited the reasons over in the Cross-country thread about an article that cited the reason so many Canadian athletes pour across the border to compete in the NCAA. Not sure how compatible playing Canadian Football rules is with jumping over to NCAA rules...but it's at least worth a discussion.


A couple links:

http://www.allcanadagridiron.com/

http://www.gridironnewbrunswick.org/links.html

[newlufan]

I thought this was the thread I was looking for but not real sure about canadiens and football. I am relatively new to Liberty Football and was looking for some input for the future. It seems Coach Rocco has already put the program in the right direction. New coach, new facilities, talk of going D1 some time soon. Someone help me out with information about Liberty for potential recruits. Your opinion on the football program, the athletic department, and life at Liberty in general. Thanks in advance.

[PAmedic]

welcome aboard.

plenty of opinions on this board. Most of them, except mine of course, wrong

Check out this thread for life in and around campus: The Lynchburg Life

read thru the entire FB thread for topics such as:

Why Coach Rocco is the Man

many others, pro and con- but we never lack opinions here.

[SuperJon]

Sorry, HUGE pet peeve of mine:

We are Division I. We are in the championship subdivision, not the bowl subdivision (the name officially changed this weekend).

[newlufan]

Yes, I saw that on i-aa website that 1aa is gone, I won't let it happen again. Just repeating what I have heard the coaches say. The football division with a true championship playoff system. My question is will Coach Rocco, staff, and team carry Liberty to the playoffs and perhaps to a national championship?? From what I have seen so far, I say yes.

[LU'sbestmanager]

Sorry, HUGE pet peeve of mine:

We are Division I. ).

tell that to the WU people. they seem to think that we are d-II

[SuperJon]

My question is will Coach Rocco, staff, and team carry Liberty to the playoffs and perhaps to a national championship?? From what I have seen so far, I say yes.

Playoffs yes. I think they will definitely lead us there. As far as a national championship, that will be EXTREMELY tough but it's possible given we get a few great recruiting classes in here.

[Sly Fox]

JMU proved a couple of years ago that with a great influx of I-A transfers and a nice core in place, a national championship can happen rather quickly. I'm not saying it is likely by any stretch of the imagination, but anything is possible.

[LU'sbestmanager]

yeah, hopefully we can bring some more big boys to lynchburg and get this party started

[SuperJon]

The party's already started.

[newlufan]

I know a big one that Liberty is interested in. Tommy Shaver, Bath County HS, Hot Springs. 6'6 238 lb Tight End

[LU'sbestmanager]

The party's already started.

not yet. we have to wait next year when we beat toledo. then the party will be officially started. i'm kinda happy that brock went through the stuggles that he went through, because it will only make him better. i also liked the struggles that zack... wait he didn't stuggle. lol. with him, rashad(needs to stop tip toeing), our receiving corp, steavie ray, greiser, and our 2 corners coming back, we should be something to talk about next year.

[Sly Fox]

Big TEs who have good hands are tough to find ... they usually are playing power forward.

[SuperJon]

The party's already started.

not yet. we have to wait next year when we beat toledo. then the party will be officially started. i'm kinda happy that brock went through the stuggles that he went through, because it will only make him better. i also liked the struggles that zack... wait he didn't stuggle. lol. with him, rashad(needs to stop tip toeing), our receiving corp, steavie ray, greiser, and our 2 corners coming back, we should be something to talk about next year.

So this year doesn't mean anything? Things started this year. The turnaround happened this year. The winning record started this year. The party started this year.

Rashad was "tip toeing" because he wasn't healthy. Had you been able to watch the game on Saturday you would've saw that there was not much of that at all.

The "party" started back in December when Rocco was hired. It's only going to get better from here.

[PeterParker]

Okay, so we've established that the "party" has started, any chance there is any high talent Canadians that may get an "invitation" to it?

[SuperJon]

Personally, there is enough talent in VA, NC, SC, GA, and PA where we recruit now that I don't think we need to go to Canada. We've got 5 states with a ton of talent right there.

[LU'sbestmanager]

The party's already started.

not yet. we have to wait next year when we beat toledo. then the party will be officially started. i'm kinda happy that brock went through the stuggles that he went through, because it will only make him better. i also liked the struggles that zack... wait he didn't stuggle. lol. with him, rashad(needs to stop tip toeing), our receiving corp, steavie ray, greiser, and our 2 corners coming back, we should be something to talk about next year.

So this year doesn't mean anything? Things started this year. The turnaround happened this year. The winning record started this year. The party started this year.

Rashad was "tip toeing" because he wasn't healthy. Had you been able to watch the game on Saturday you would've saw that there was not much of that at all.

The "party" started back in December when Rocco was hired. It's only going to get better from here.

i guess your right that it has started this year. i was just talking about how much better it will be next year. i like rashad alot, but he did tip toe in games prior to the W&M game.

[SuperJon]

I forgot about Ohio. If we can become a force in those states then we'll be set.

[SuperJon]

i guess your right that it has started this year. i was just talking about how much better it will be next year. i like rashad alot, but he did tip toe in games prior to the W&M game.

Yea, he was only averaging 160 yards in those games. Rashad's tip toe act has got to stop.

[PeterParker]

I agree that there is plenty of talent, but there are also a lot of high profile programs in those states competing for that talent; there may also be some very decent recruits in the "skill positions" that may be overlooked by a lot of programs simply because they are north of the border.

[SuperJon]

You have to remember our budget. Recruiting the kids up there is expensive.

[PeterParker]

True, that is a consideration, but even though Hockey is the Maple Leaf Country's main sport, the non-scholarship Hockey team has been able to tap into the northern brothers talent pool. Perhaps on the football side there is an athlete who would make a great Championship Subdivision player, and would play for a half scholarship if he could, just to play in the NCAA. Just a thought.

[Sly Fox]

Florida is one of biggest pipelines right now and should be into the future. I'd like to see some more Texas & Cali recruiting as well. They are much more fertile territories. And Texas in particular is a heavily Baptist state where we could make some serious inroads. We used to recruit the Great Lakes pretty hard back int he day. But a lot is decided based on the areas where our current staff have connections.

[newlufan]

Hey Sly, you are definitely right. Tommy Shaver plays center on his high school team and played on a USSSA Div II 16-under state championship team in spring of 2005. But, he also played first base in the state junior league tournament two years ago and batted .555 with an .818 on base %. Got hit by 4 pitches (bats lefty and tends to crowd the plate).

Football is where he has the most fun. Bath County is still playing despite finishing the regular season 4-6. They made it in on power points, strength of schedule. They drove 3 1/2 hours to Saltville to play Northwood last friday and won 38-20. Tommy had 3 receptions for 63 yards, including a nice 30 yard TD in double coverage. They advanced and will play at Rural Retreat this Friday. Should be a barn burner.

Tommy's senior stats: 30 receptions for 397 yards and 7 TDs, all on a team that runs the ball about 70% of the time
On the d side, he plays linebacker, around 75 total tackles with at least 40 solos, 2.5 sacks, 4 tfls, 2 fum rec, and an int
To top it off, he is the long snapper on the punt team, BC has not had a bad snap or punt block in 3 seasons

[Sly Fox]

Thanks for the rundown on Tommy. He sounds like a great all-around athlete. Those are typically the types of guys our staff likes to target. Keep us posted on the recruiting process for him.