Anything and everything about Liberty Flames football. Your comments on games, recruiting and the direction of the program as we move into new era.

Moderators: jcmanson, Sly Fox, BuryYourDuke, Class of 20Something

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By Geraldos Mustache
Posts
#617654
What's with all the recent de-commits? There have been a lot just recently. I don't get it. Liberty is an amazing school with state-of-the-art facilities, top notch coaching (with contract commitments) and huge upside.

Do these kids think they are not going to get enough playing time? Looking for a bigger, better deal?
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By prototype
Registration Days Posts
#617658
lawrenceq wrote: December 8th, 2020, 5:36 pm They might think Hugh Freeze leaving
That's not it....

A lot of these players were not good enough. With COVID rules allowing players to stay another year - 2 star athletes will not have a spot and/or higher star players might not get immediate playing time.
User avatar
By PAmedic
Registration Days Posts
#617665
Geraldos Mustache wrote: December 8th, 2020, 5:34 pm What's with all the recent de-commits? There have been a lot just recently. I don't get it. Liberty is an amazing school with state-of-the-art facilities, top notch coaching (with contract commitments) and huge upside.

Do these kids think they are not going to get enough playing time? Looking for a bigger, better deal?
People better connected can confirm this but this is reportedly a case of our staff reaching out and encouraging these guys to find a fall back option because WE are going in another direction. We’re just being nice about it.
These guys were recruited when we didn’t have any FBS rep whatsoever. Now we do and better talent is coming. We need to make room
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By tyndal23
Posts
#617670
PAmedic wrote: December 8th, 2020, 8:15 pm
Geraldos Mustache wrote: December 8th, 2020, 5:34 pm What's with all the recent de-commits? There have been a lot just recently. I don't get it. Liberty is an amazing school with state-of-the-art facilities, top notch coaching (with contract commitments) and huge upside.

Do these kids think they are not going to get enough playing time? Looking for a bigger, better deal?
People better connected can confirm this but this is reportedly a case of our staff reaching out and encouraging these guys to find a fall back option because WE are going in another direction. We’re just being nice about it.
These guys were recruited when we didn’t have any FBS rep whatsoever. Now we do and better talent is coming. We need to make room
I agree - don’t pay attention to recruiting class grade this year - most likely will drop below last year - focus on the talent level rating that comes out later once the dust settles. I would wager 40 percent of this class is transfers. Covid is a boon for LU in many ways and this might be the biggest area - ok it is... the second was national tv we got this year and third was playing P5 away games in empty stadiums. We got 5 years shaved off of our “exposure” and branding due to a perfect alignment of factors. The question is - do we take advantage of it or drone on about wanting to eventually be a G5 “ elite “ Program ? Barf !!!
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By Risewithus
Posts
#617678
prototype wrote: December 8th, 2020, 5:43 pm
lawrenceq wrote: December 8th, 2020, 5:36 pm They might think Hugh Freeze leaving
That's not it....

A lot of these players were not good enough. With COVID rules allowing players to stay another year - 2 star athletes will not have a spot and/or higher star players might not get immediate playing time.
Yeah playing time is a huge issue. But unless u go to a smaller situation, it will be the same scenario everywhere. 2020 class are all freshman again and will have to deal with it, so 2021 will need to suck it up and do the same.
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By Geraldos Mustache
Posts
#617795
Risewithus wrote: December 8th, 2020, 10:36 pm
prototype wrote: December 8th, 2020, 5:43 pm
lawrenceq wrote: December 8th, 2020, 5:36 pm They might think Hugh Freeze leaving
That's not it....

A lot of these players were not good enough. With COVID rules allowing players to stay another year - 2 star athletes will not have a spot and/or higher star players might not get immediate playing time.
Yeah playing time is a huge issue. But unless u go to a smaller situation, it will be the same scenario everywhere. 2020 class are all freshman again and will have to deal with it, so 2021 will need to suck it up and do the same.
That makes more sense.

There is a kid here at Aurora Christian (2020 grad) who had a full ride to Purdue to pitch on the baseball team. He decommitted and is playing baseball at a JuCo in Kansas to get playing time. All the seniors at Purdue got to stay on an extra year of eligibility due to COVID. He needed those seniors to graduate and move on for him to have room on the team to get playing time. Not gonna happen. It backed up the entire recruiting pipeline. He'll still play at a top tier D-1 school but one year at a JuCo was best decision for his development and getting reps.
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User avatar
By flameshaw
Registration Days Posts
#617800
Geraldos Mustache wrote: December 10th, 2020, 8:37 pm
Risewithus wrote: December 8th, 2020, 10:36 pm
prototype wrote: December 8th, 2020, 5:43 pm

That's not it....

A lot of these players were not good enough. With COVID rules allowing players to stay another year - 2 star athletes will not have a spot and/or higher star players might not get immediate playing time.
Yeah playing time is a huge issue. But unless u go to a smaller situation, it will be the same scenario everywhere. 2020 class are all freshman again and will have to deal with it, so 2021 will need to suck it up and do the same.
That makes more sense.

There is a kid here at Aurora Christian (2020 grad) who had a full ride to Purdue to pitch on the baseball team. He decommitted and is playing baseball at a JuCo in Kansas to get playing time. All the seniors at Purdue got to stay on an extra year of eligibility due to COVID. He needed those seniors to graduate and move on for him to have room on the team to get playing time. Not gonna happen. It backed up the entire recruiting pipeline. He'll still play at a top tier D-1 school but one year at a JuCo was best decision for his development and getting reps.
Maybe he should be looking at LU? I hear we are in a position to be very picky though as well. 8)
By olldflame
Registration Days Posts
#617804
3 star WR Gamarian Carter is the latest decommit. I suspect this is one we probably wanted to keep. He has had several P5 offers since his commitment.
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By ballcoach15
Registration Days Posts
#617841
With everything happening in college sports this year since pandemic interrupted sports seasons, and continues to play havoc with games and scheduling, the NCAA needs to be careful with their decisions.
Bad leadership by NCAA will have a ripple effect, even down to high school recruits. Banning in person recruiting, giving extra year of eligibility and liberal use of transfer portals, will overload roster management in most every sport.
User avatar
By Cider Jim
Registration Days Posts
#618187
Not sure where to post this, but backup QB Chris Ferguson has entered the Transfer Portal, according to ASOR. :shock:
User avatar
By Geraldos Mustache
Posts
#618188
Cider Jim wrote: December 15th, 2020, 4:02 pm Not sure where to post this, but backup QB Chris Ferguson has entered the Transfer Portal, according to ASOR. :shock:
Not worried. We have Malik Willis in 2021.

Incoming QB 3-star NATE HAMPTON is one of the gems of the 2021 class. The 6’6″, 230 pound quarterback is from Davie County High School in Mocksville, North Carolina. He had over 20 offers out of high school including Appalachian State, Coastal Carolina, Kentucky, Vanderbilt, West Virginia, Old Dominion, and several others.

https://n.rivals.com/content/prospects/ ... ton-235928

Highlight video here...
https://www.hudl.com/profile/9466756/Nate-Hampton

This will be a great kid to develop behind Willis.
User avatar
By sstaedtler
Posts
#618190
Ferguson seemed like a really cool guy. However, in his two extensive appearances against N. Alabama and UMass, he could only throw for 64 yards vs. N. Alabama and somehow managed to go 1 for 7 vs. UMass. His completion % on the year, against bad competition, was 51.4%. I agree, him transferring out is a good thing.
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User avatar
By sstaedtler
Posts
#618218
DT Christopher Boti and WR Stetson Moore have pretty much indicated they plan to sign tomorrow based on Twitter feed.
User avatar
By PAmedic
Registration Days Posts
#618304
olldflame wrote: December 10th, 2020, 10:28 pm 3 star WR Gamarian Carter is the latest decommit. I suspect this is one we probably wanted to keep. He has had several P5 offers since his commitment.
This kid ended up at Vandy?
User avatar
By alabama24
Registration Days Posts
#618323
Geraldos Mustache wrote: December 15th, 2020, 4:20 pm He had over 20 offers out of high school including Appalachian State, Coastal Carolina, Kentucky, Vanderbilt, West Virginia, Old Dominion, and several others.
This is one of the reasons why #BEATCOASTAL is so important.
User avatar
By Cider Jim
Registration Days Posts
#618325
I did the math. Of our 18 new players, 6 of them had scholarship offers from Coastal.

Super Jon, did Coastal sign any players who also had scholarship offers from LU?
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By olldflame
Registration Days Posts
#618332
Cider Jim wrote: December 16th, 2020, 9:32 pm I did the math. Of our 18 new players, 6 of them had scholarship offers from Coastal.

Super Jon, did Coastal sign any players who also had scholarship offers from LU?
You're forgetting that Super Jon no longer exists. 8)

Based on the 247 profiles of their signees, the answer is no. In addition, none of the names were familiar to me.
User avatar
By Jonathan Carone
Posts
#618333
Cider Jim wrote: December 16th, 2020, 9:32 pm I did the math. Of our 18 new players, 6 of them had scholarship offers from Coastal.

Super Jon, did Coastal sign any players who also had scholarship offers from LU?
I don't follow our recruiting. Why would I follow theirs?
User avatar
By Ill flame
Posts
#618338
I don't really keep up with recruiting very much so I was impressed when I saw how good this class is turning out. Our only 2* players are JUCOs which is a huge step in the right direction. We are starting to get closer to recruiting with some of the top G5 schools but we still have some work to do. I'm sure this season will pay dividends with the 2022 recruiting class.
By ballcoach15
Registration Days Posts
#618342
Cider Jim wrote: December 16th, 2020, 9:32 pm I did the math. Of our 18 new players, 6 of them had scholarship offers from Coastal.

Super Jon, did Coastal sign any players who also had scholarship offers from LU?
I checked Coastal website. They had a profile on each of 17 recruits signed, but made no mention of "other offers".
By olldflame
Registration Days Posts
#618344
ballcoach15 wrote: December 17th, 2020, 7:59 am
Cider Jim wrote: December 16th, 2020, 9:32 pm I did the math. Of our 18 new players, 6 of them had scholarship offers from Coastal.

Super Jon, did Coastal sign any players who also had scholarship offers from LU?
I checked Coastal website. They had a profile on each of 17 recruits signed, but made no mention of "other offers".
School athletic department websites often don't publish that kind of information. Ours did.

https://www.liberty.edu/flames/index.cf ... 0&teamID=9

I checked the 247 sports profile of Coastal's recruiting class, and it does not appear that any of their signees had an offer from Liberty.

https://247sports.com/college/coastal-c ... l/Commits/

To see the offers, click on individual player profiles.
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