[Sly Fox]

Coach Chadwell and his staff have had a slew of prospects visiting camp this spring. And now they have their first commitment from the Class of '24:

ASOR Story on Caden Williams Commitment

Once upon a time in the not so distant past, I would post every offer that we made to a prospect. Back in the Rocco days that may have been 40 kids tops. That picked up under Coach Gill a bit and then exploded under Coach Freeze. Now if they don't take an official visit or commit then they don't get individual threads. Crazy days indeed.

[Ill flame]

A big part of the increase in offers is the increase in scholarships from FCS to FBS. I imagine coaches offer a lot more players that are out of their league nowadays knowing that the player is likely to transfer in the future and having that previous rapport goes a long way.

[Sly Fox]

Back in the Rocco era, offers weren't given unless they were a strong indication that they would be accepted. It made it easy for us to see who we missed. Even Coach Gill followed a similar pattern into the FBS era. But when Coach Freeze arrived, the tactics changed dramatically. We went from offering 75-80 kids immediately into the hundreds in one year. Obviously we have gotten into another stratosphere of recruiting based on our success in recent years. But we never even bothered offering 4- and 5-star kids with a few rare exceptions until Freeze arrived. Gospel legend Fred Hammond's son Freddie was a 4-star kid who we not only offered but he accepted ... until the Gators entered the picture.

We tried to find guys who fit our culture and then offered them. Now we offer the top kids who we can find and then let them determine if they fit our culture. I am not saying one tactic is better than the other. But it has been a monumental shift in strategy.

We have always recruited the Mid-Atlantic along with Georgia & Florida very hard. Under Rocco & Gill we also worked Texas and even the Cali JUCOs fairly hard based on the connections of their individual staffs. Obviously under Coach Freeze we pulled back from the West and hammered the deep South in addition to our standard targets. Thus far with Coach Chadwell, he has leaned heavily on his connections in the Carolinas, Georgia & Florida. But he has also given more attention toward the Rust Belt than we have seen since Coach Rocco.

Of course the portal has been a gamechanger since the pandemic. Coach Freeze was more stingy with offers in his final year than when he arrived as the dynamics had changed and leaned more into the JUCOs. It will be interesting to see how many HS kids that Coach Chadwell takes in comparison to working the portal.

[Ill flame]

Apparently we can expect some positive recruiting news soon.

[Ill flame]

https://www.aseaofred.com/2024-s-devin- ... o-liberty/

We just picked up a DB commit with a ton of G5 offers.

[AATL]

I'd hope and think that means his friend is not far behind.

The staff has been busy and talking quite the hype on Twitter. Seems like this is the start of a busy couple weeks.

[Liberty_2023]

This staff is on fire. Felt like in the last regime we didn't get many commits tell later in the cycle. Obviously a different recruiting philosophy.

[flameshaw]

When is the next time these guys can sign LOI's?

[Ill flame]

When is the next time these guys can sign LOI's?

Early signing period starts December 20th

[Kricket]

This class is starting to shape up nicely. Chadwell outrecruited Freeze when he was at Coastal, so I’m hopeful that our recruiting classes can continue to improve with him at the helm.

All eyes on Jayden Bradford on the 7th.

[ballah09]

Fwiw with everyone talking about Bradford but on3 has us as a finalist with Auburn on another 4 star, Malcolm Simmons. The staff retweeted his tweets too, so that’s a good sign. They only retweet players that are committed or are silent commits.

[Ill flame]

Fwiw with everyone talking about Bradford but on3 has us as a finalist with Auburn on another 4 star, Malcolm Simmons. The staff retweeted his tweets too, so that’s a good sign. They only retweet players that are committed or are silent commits.

I have a good feeling we will get Bradford which will be a huge get for us but I'm not optimistic about Simmons. It says a lot that we are even in the conversation against a bunch of P5s but we aren't taking a 4* out of auburns own backyard. If we somehow pull that off whatever we are paying the WR coach isn't enough.

[Cider Jim]

This class is starting to shape up nicely. Chadwell outrecruited Freeze when he was at Coastal...All eyes on Jayden Bradford on the 7th.

It's finally July 7th. Does anyone know what TIME Jayden Bradfod is making his decision???

If this website is to be believed, it's a 2-horse race betwwn LU and South Carolina, and LU has a higher percentage of signing him. Coastal, with Beck as HC, isn't even on Bradford's radar.

https://www.on3.com/db/jayden-bradford- ... interests/

[Kricket]

ON3 has us at 77 overall for our 2024 class ranking. If that holds it would be our best recruiting class ever.

[Ill flame]

Looks like some of the coaching staff is using the mini bye as an opportunity to do some recruiting. Based on the offers I'm seeing it looks like they're largely focusing their efforts on the 2025 HS class. I hope we do what we did last off season and add a bunch of P5 transfers with years of eligibility remaining to fill out the 2024 class instead of reaching on developmental HS players that probably won't pan out. Barring another transfer exodus we shouldn't need to add many grad transfers to temporarily fill gaps.

[Kricket]

Looks like some of the coaching staff is using the mini bye as an opportunity to do some recruiting. Based on the offers I'm seeing it looks like they're largely focusing their efforts on the 2025 HS class. I hope we do what we did last off season and add a bunch of P5 transfers with years of eligibility remaining to fill out the 2024 class instead of reaching on developmental HS players that probably won't pan out. Barring another transfer exodus we shouldn't need to add many grad transfers to temporarily fill gaps.

I think we need to plan to kill an ant with a sledgehammer. Our soft C-USA schedule being the ant and our talent increase this off-season being the sledgehammer.

We have the structure in place to compete for the CFP, so I’d be selling transfers hard on the idea that a few of them committing not only gives us a shot at the CFP, but almost becomes likely. We’d have the best odds out of any G5.

Who has a better chance at the CFP than we do at the G5 level? Heck, we have a better shot than most P5s. I’m excited how this coaching staff can sell the opportunity we have.

[Ill flame]

I think we need to plan to kill an ant with a sledgehammer. Our soft C-USA schedule being the ant and our talent increase this off-season being the sledgehammer.

I think it'll be multiple off-seasons of better recruiting before we get to the point where we are a sledgehammer smashing ants if we ever get to that point. It requires a ton of depth to blowout teams every week that are giving you everything they have and we still have a lot of work to do in that regard on both sides of the ball but primarily on defense.

Who has a better chance at the CFP than we do at the G5 level? Heck, we have a better shot than most P5s.

As long as we are in CUSA we will have to go undefeated to make a CFP and we would still need some help along the way just like this season with a NY6 bowl. In any one year there are definitely other G5s that have better odds than us because they have the luxury of losing a game and still having a chance.

I do think in the long term we are better off than any other G5 program because we don't have to weather the ups and downs that comes with replacing coaches on a tight budget like every other G5. All you have to do is look at boise state and Appalachian State to see how hard it is to win while your coaches are constantly getting poached. If I were a betting man and had to pick one G5 that I thought would make a CFP over the next 5 years I would go with liberty for that reason, hopefully recruits feel the same way.

I do agree that we have a much better chance of making it to a CFP than lower tier P5s and I hope that helps us get higher quality transfers from those types of schools in the future.

[Kricket]

You might be right about it taking a few years to dominate C-USA. I just think our moment to strike may be sooner due to having Salter at the helm and most of the key pieces returning. Add a few really good D Line transfers and a linebacker or two and a little more depth everywhere else. Maybe a go to receiver and this team could run through our schedule. Of course that’s very very hypothetical.

C-USA likely improves a bit going forward too. Combine that with us potentially winning with style points and I think it may be easier to be the top G5 in following years.

You have a good point too about Chadwell being seemingly committed to being here as recruits won’t be worried as much as they were under Hugh Freeze.

I’m hopeful that we can have a Boise State in the WAC type run that they had in the 2000s.

Is there a specific G5 that you think has a better shot at the CFP than us? Tulane maybe… but they have a lot of tougher games and need to win their conference. There’s no clear cut favorite in the Sun Belt either.

Either way, my point is that is what I’d be selling to get talented transfers in right now. The next year may be our year with the right pieces in place, especially if it’s the top 6 conference winners still next year as that would open two G5 slots. Remember, it’s the top 2 G5 conference winners, not just top 2 highest ranked.

https://www.cbssports.com/college-footb ... nment/amp/

[Ill flame]

We picked up another 2024 hs commit. Looks like a receiver with no other offers. This late in the recruiting cycle when we pick up a guy like this with no offers I like to think we've found the next Demario Douglas type of player that just flew under the radar.

[A Sea of Red]

walk-on

[Ill flame]

walk-on

That's good to know. I still hope he's the next Demario Douglas.

[tyndal23]

walk-on

That's good to know. I still hope he's the next Demario Douglas.

When the name of your biggest building is Vines, named after Grandpa and your dad kicked for LU - of course your going to be a Flame. Good player to boot. Hope he does well.

[Kricket]

Not much available on this kid, but it'd be great if he pans out. We've lacked a consistent kicker for awhile.

[Kricket]

Offered LB Transfer.

[Kricket]

Offered a solid FCS DB.