A Sea Of Red

Someone suggested in another thread that it might be time to start this discussion, so............... here we go.

Per verbalcommitts, here are the players we have offered.

http://verbalcommits.com/schools/liberty

I have indicated whether the offer came from Layer or McKay

PG

Jordan Lyons 5´10¨ Peachtree GA Layer
Jalen Harris 6´2¨ Wilson, NC Layer
Dylan Frye 6´1¨ Miami, FL McKay
Preston Parks 6´0¨ Greenville, SC McKay

SG

MaCio Teague, 6´3¨ Bradenton, FL Layer
Kai Lambert 6´3¨ Duluth, GA Layer
Peter Kiss 6´5¨ New York, NY Layer

SF

Clayton Hughes 6´5¨ Jackson, TN McKay
Brock Gardner, 6´7¨ Chandler, AZ Layer

PF

Josiah Talbert 6´8¨Olathe KS McKay COMMIT

No Centers offered as of now.

Hughes is a 3 star, and is really athletic. He is by far the most highly sought of the bunch, but on video Gardner looks just about as good to me. Reminds me of Drew Smith in terms of length and athleticism, but is far more skilled.

They show us with only one schollie available, but they are counting Jurch and Karwowski against our total, and all reports seem to be neither of them are coming, so we will have at least 3, and that assumes Baxter qualifies. No real size on the radar yet til 2017, where we have offered 7´2¨ Brendan Newton who 1. is apparently a legit 7´2¨ and 2. seems to be getting better by the day.

Here is a list of other schools that have offered these guys along with us. Most likely there will be more schools added over the next two weeks. Visits should also start to be scheduled for August and September which will tell a lot.

Jordan Lyons - Mercer, UNCW, Furman, Samford, Radford, Wofford, Middle Tenn, Troy, Old Dominion, Tennessee Tech, Abilene Christian, Chattanooga

Jalen Harris - Buffalo, Abilene Christian, Charlotte, DePaul

Dylan Frye - Central Florida, Bowling Green, Loyola, North Florida, High Point, Radford


MaCio Teague - Alcorn St, San Jose St, NC Ashville, Akron, Seton Hall, Winthrop, Bryant, Oakland, Yale, Air Force

Kai Lambert - Liberty only offer

Peter Kiss - High Point, Robert Morris, Fordham, Stony Brook, Fairfield


Clayton Hughes - DePaul, Rhode Island, La Tech, Ole Miss, Miss St, South Alabama, Murray St., William & Mary, Western Kentucky, Central Arkansas, Central Florida

Brock Gardner - Air Force, Central Arkansas, Columbia, Dartmouth

Another possibility is 2014 signee Stavian Allen, who did not qualify and is now a Sophomore at Talahassee CC. I have no idea whether he is on Ritchie´s radar or not, but Mance and Olinger obviously know him, and his length and athleticicm could make him a good replacement for Theo.

Did we actually have a true starting center during McKay's previous tenure? If I recall correctly, we had five guards starting at one point.

VAGolf wrote:Did we actually have a true starting center during McKay's previous tenure? If I recall correctly, we had five guards starting at one point.

He had Alex McLain his first year. Early in the second season we started Smitty, Kyle and Floyd up front with Curry and Sanders in the backcourt. They were all listed as guards on the roster, but Brolin and Smitty were really small forwards. About midway RMK got fed up with Brolin´s slow progress in learning the system and put 6´9¨ Austen Smith in the starting lineup, but Brolin still played a lot.

olldflame wrote:

VAGolf wrote:Did we actually have a true starting center during McKay's previous tenure? If I recall correctly, we had five guards starting at one point.

He had Alex McLain his first year. Early in the second season we started Smitty, Kyle and Floyd up front with Curry and Sanders in the backcourt. They were all listed as guards on the roster, but Brolin and Smitty were really small forwards. About midway RMK got fed up with Brolin´s slow progress in learning the system and put 6´9¨ Austen Smith in the starting lineup, but Brolin still played a lot.

For an 'Old' guy you have a good memory!

We had some pretty serious athleticism back in those days. Hopefully these new guys can run.

We have added an offer to Preston Parks, a 6´0¨ PG out of Greenville, SC
Here is a Scout article about him

http://www.scout.com/high-school/south- ... ston-parks

and his verbalcommitts profile

http://www.verbalcommits.com/players/preston-parks

He also has offers from Gardner-Webb and Presby

Surprised we are offering kids that have been offered only by Presby and GW. Seems we could do better than that, but ...............................

Some kids are late bloomers. We have offered several rising senior point guards the past couple of weeks who have impressed in summer ball. You always hope you can snag somebody who slips through the cracks their junior season. Thta's how we have landed someof higher performing players over the years.

We have offered another PG, 6´0¨ Xzavier Barmore from Seneca, SC. Xzavier put up impressive numbers as a HS Junior, averaging over 27ppg as well as 5.4 assists.

http://www.libertyflamesnation.com/2016 ... r-barmore/

Interestingly, verbalcommitts has removed the names of all the 2016 guards Layer offered from their scholarship grid. That includes Lyons, Harris, Teague, Lambert and Kiss. SF Brock Gardner, who was offered by DL, remains. Apparently they got some intel as to which of the players DL offered McKay does and does not wish to pursue.

http://verbalcommits.com/schools/liberty

I figure out of this group, and perhaps another PG or 2 we offer in the next few months, we will ultimately sign one as a replacement for Anthony Fields. The lack of offers for any big men at this point still puzzles me if both Jorch and Karwowski are in fact out of the picture. I´m wondering if we are still working with the NCAA clearinghouse to get one or both of them declared eligible. The scholarships are there.

Nice that verbalcommits got the inside scoop to get that cleaned up. I agree it would be nice to know the big man situation. I'm sure the staff is working on it. Maybe JUCO route or late qualifier. I personally like that we aren't out there offering tons of players like some programs. Find the kids that fit the system and Liberty model. Leads to less transfers and more long term success.

It should be a big week with the last evaluation period. It's hard to know with the uncertainty of the bigs for 2015 but there are probably 3 scholarships available for 2016. Would definitely feel good to see an offer or two for some size so we can land one of them with a pg and wing. Should start to hear of official visits in the coming weeks as well which should give us some insight. A lot of faith in Coach McKay so it will be exciting to see who he brings in.

Slightly off topic, but it´s a bit early to start a 2017 recruiting thread, so I´ll put it here. Both of the players DL offered for 2017, SG Elijah Cuffee and C Brendan Newton, are still being pursued by McKay in addition to the 2 Ritchie has offered, SG Jay Barber and PG Jarrod West.

Haven't seen any new offers yet from us. The staff was probably taking a much deserved day to recover from all the travel this month. I did see Gardner got another offer from UC Davis.

He is now rated a 3-star by ESPN. Here is their scout's breakdown of him on their recruiting website.

"SCOUTING REPORT
ESPN Analyst
Updated 07/23/2015

Strengths:
Gardner has a rangy frame with very long arms and good amount of athleticism. He has a high motor and he impacts the game in multiple areas. Offensively, he can finish in transition with a dunk or a slashing move to the rim. In addition, he has an improved crossover (low and tight) going right to left and will either gather for the pull-up jump shot or deliver an on-point pass. Defensively, he plays the passing lanes well and is a solid rebounder. His ball skills are solid in the open court as well and he generally makes good decisions.

Weaknesses:
Gardner needs to continue to improve his perimeter skills. In isolation he can improve his triple threat game (jab step, up fake, etc.). In addition, with his size he needs to continue to improve his post skills to take advantage of match-ups.

Bottom Line:
Gardner is a solid looking mid-major prospect with a great motor, high basketball IQ, and budding skills."

Not at all surprised to see Gardner starting to get more love from the recruiting services. He can play. The kid is also a committed Christian who decided to continue to play for a small Christian school because both he and his parents believed it was where God wanted him to be. Apparently they do have a solid coach, but the level of competition is pretty weak. They do have a good team though, with Brock and a 6´8¨PF who is a year behind him. He has been testing himself against better competition by being very active in high level summer ball.

I don't really get into the HS recruiting scene very often but I have been in the same gym with Coach Getter, Jason Allison and others here in VA once or twice. However I will be checking out Jordan Lyons in person this fall in person down in Peachtree City, GA. Yes we are making the move away from VA after nearly 30 years in the Commonwealth beginning with my Freshman Year at LU. I will try my best to stay around the program as much as possible during football and basketball season though.

you thought you'd sneak that in did you?

we need to talk

SCAR wrote:I don't really get into the HS recruiting scene very often but I have been in the same gym with Coach Getter, Jason Allison and others here in VA once or twice. However I will be checking out Jordan Lyons in person this fall in person down in Peachtree City, GA. Yes we are making the move away from VA after nearly 30 years in the Commonwealth beginning with my Freshman Year at LU. I will try my best to stay around the program as much as possible during football and basketball season though.

If your sole intention in going to see Lyons play is to get a look at a prospective future Flame, I think you can save the trip. His offer came from DL, and it appears Ritchie is looking in another direction for a PG. Of course an evening watching HS basketball with at least one D1 prospect on the court could be fun anyway.

please his sole intention is face time

What Scar is saying is that he's moving to Hotlanta.

thx

PAmedic wrote:thx

Some of your finest work.

thank you thank you

Come on, Scar. You are just putting off the inevitable move to Texas. I'm sure Mrs. Scar would be down with Houston.

Sly Fox wrote:Come on, Scar. You are just putting off the inevitable move to Texas. I'm sure Mrs. Scar would be down with Houston.

Believe it or not Sly Texas never came up We are looking forward to the move though. It is going to make life on the road a lot easier this season for ASN. Driving distance from a few CUSA teams, Southern Conference, GA State, Mercer as well as being able to fly to the other members of CUSA, A10, CAA directly for the most part.