[BJWilliams]

No we arent talking about keeping it on the "down low", we are moving now to the boys who simply are tasked with stopping the OTHER team from scoring, starting with the boys up front:

Players Returning
Asa Chapman (R-Senior) 2010 Big South All Conference First Team
Greg Schuster (R-Junior)
Cory Freeman (R-Sophomore
Paco Varol (R-Sophmore
Bryant Lewellyn (R-Junior)
Toby Onyechi (Freshman)
Dylan Bowman (R-Freshman)
A.B. Latif (R-Senior)
Matt Stokes (Freshman)

Players
Darryl Robertson (graduation)
Patrick Bannon (graduation)
Terry Adams (graduation)
Justin Gunn (converted to TE)

Players Incoming
Luke Pingley 6-4 285 Lbs (Skyline HS)
Nolan Spicer 6-4 250 Lbs (South Fayette HS)
Francis Bah 6-3 285 Lbs (Lise-Meitner School) *converted from TE*
Asa Chapman leads the way for the boys up front on the defensive side of the ball. Chapman earned first team honors along with graduated defensive end Terry Adams and he will no doubt be tasked with using his big frame to take double teams and open up lanes for defensive ends like Greg Schuster and Francis Bah (coming over after playing offense last year). Of the players that recorded sacks in 2010, 6 of them had multiple sacks, and three of them were defensive linemen. Two of those players, Adams and Patrick Bannon, are gone. Look for Schuster, Justin Gunn, Paco Varol and possibly 2010 walk-on Bryant Lewellyn as well as 2010 signee Matt Stokes (brother of former Liberty FB Chris Stokes) and Bah to try to pick up the slack in the trenches

[LUnpretty11]

Freeman and Varol should become impact players pretty quickly. Everyone knows about Chapman, so it should give these 2 guys a great opportunity to produce at their highest potential.

[BJWilliams]

Those two along with Gunn, Schuster and Bah will probably be battling for the two end positions all through camp. Lewellyn (who actually lived on my hall my last year of undergrad) will probably be fighting for the backup NT spot behind Asa. Latif really is an X-factor right now because he didnt see the field at all last year after transferring in.

[jcmanson]

The play of our DL will be crucial to the success of our season. We know what we have in Asa and Schuster. Outside of that, we have unknowns.

[BJWilliams]

Agreed manson...like I said, three of the guys who got multiple sacks last year were linemen and two of them graduated...with Asa likely getting a lot of attention from o-lines, somebody is going to need to really make havoc happen in the backfield.

[LUnpretty11]

I'm confident Freeman will be a big time difference maker. His strength, speed, and athleticism is going to make him a lethal weapon coming around the edge.

[jenkins]

no doubt Freeman looked like he was going to be a monster last year. I still like Bah as well, that guy just never quits on the play and has a Chris Long like motor on special teams. I think that translates well to DE in the pursuit of plays.

[BJWilliams]

I think the competition will prove fruitful...having someone push you for a spot (as our departed friend roccgroh wanted) will only help these guys up their game. I think it could come down to Freeman. Bah, Schuster, Gunn and Varol for the four end spots on the two-deep. Asa has the starting nose spot to lose Im pretty certain, who will be his backup will be an interesting battle as well

[mlschubert]

Chris Lang - when do you take a first look at Liberty Football in the News & Advance? It can't come soon enough!

[Chris Lang]

ML: Big South media days are July 27-28 ... one more week of Hillcats, a week of vacation and then Nathan Warters and I head to Pinehurst for the ACC kickoff. Big South kickoff is two days later. I'll hit the LU stuff hard from there on out.

[BigAl57]

BJ- when can we expect the next installment? Still have LB, Secondary and Special teams to review and for good measure the coaching staff. Camp starts 3 weeks from today

[BJWilliams]

I'll have the next part (Linebackers) up next Monday. I have been recovering from allergies this week

[BigAl57]

Sorry to hear that. Get well and I look forward to your upcoming segments.

[BJWilliams]

Im glad you look forward to them BigAl...this is I think the 4th year Ive done these previews and its great to see people looking at them, I enjoy putting together a look at the team from a fan's perspective

[BJWilliams]

According to the updated Liberty roster, Justin Gunn has been converted to TE