[jcmanson]

Here's a recruiting update after a busy weekend
http://www.libertyflamesnation.com/recruiting-update/

[olldflame]

In the strange but true category; 2 of the 3 guards we have offered, Atencia and Crawford, have also received offers from New Jersey Institute of Technology. The only other offer either has is Atencia's from Marshall. NJIT is independant. They were 21-12 last year., and their coach, Jim Engles, won the John McLendon coach of the year award after they went to the semi-finals of the CIT, where they lost to Northern Arizona.

[olldflame]

At the beginning of his first tenure at LU Ritchie only signed one player (Jeremy Anderson) in the Spring, and focused his efforts on the Fall class. He went into the 07-08 season with only 11 scholarship players ( I believe we were limited to 12 due to an NCAA penalty.) As things stand right now, we have 11 players on the roster with at least a year of eligibility remaining, and 4 more who are signed to NLIs. That puts us 2 over the limit, and it looks like we are still recruiting. Obviously, something has to give.

[olldflame]

I know there are other possibilities out there, but after hearing Ritchie talk about not rushing things and looking for players that are the right fit for Liberty in his interview with Nick, I have a feeling Hansel Atencia is our last targeted player for this Spring. He has his visit at NJIT this weekend I believe, and should be making his decision shortly. Either way, I have a feeling the recruiting focus will be changing to the Fall class, when we will have a minimum of 3-4 scholarships available.

[olldflame]

Hansel is in the fold, and we are now 3 over the scholarship limit. Time to address the elephant in the room. Which of the 16 players currently on the scholarship grid will NOT be on the roster in the Fall?

1) Peter Moller is still in Denmark to the best of my knowledge. At this point I don't think he will need to worry about plane fare back. That was the easy one.

2) Tomasz Gielo has been granted permission to contact other schools and is exploring options. I put him second on the list only because he is the only player we actually know is considering transferring. I actually have a feeling he will stay.

3) John Dawson pretty clearly transferred to Liberty specifically to play for Layer on Buzz William's recommendation. With the coaching change, he can probably get a release. He would be a fit defensively with the pack line, but not so much in a typical RMK offense.

4) Jordan Dembley has his redshirt year, and could transfer, sit, and play 3 years at another D1 school. I think the fact that he started at the end of last year, even when Retic came back from injury, is deceiving. I don't think Ritchie goes out and gets Cabbil and Atencia to sit behind him. If he doesn't look to transfer, I think he would be the number 1 candidate to not be renewed.

5) Joe Retic also has his redshirt year, but with only one year of eligibility, I would think he has fewer options and is less likely to leave. He was inconsistent last year, but he does have talent.

6/7) Robin Jurch and Jacub Karwowski, the 2 bigs Layer signed last fall. Both shoot the 3 and should fit well in Ritchie's system. I would think if one or both of them were wavering on coming we would have seen more recruiting activity with big guys.

[BJWilliams]

Im sure the newsies will be able to get more detailed info once school is over and summer school kicks off on the 11th. Of course Im just a know nothing according the short one so I may be wrong which wouldnt be the first time.

[jinxy]

That sounds about right. Atleast 2 of dawson moller retic and dembley would be gone you would think. The fact that we havent seen any offers to bigs makes you think the euros are in the fold.

[PAmedic]

gotta be rough to be a Layer signee/current player on this team.

you bust your butt every day to impress the new guy but the math says somebody's Dead Man Walking

cannot be a good feeling in the locker room

do it and get it over with coach. like rippin off a bandaid

[TDDance234]

Well, I think we can safely assume Moller is going to be one of those guys. I'd assume Hoffman is probably the most likely candidate for a second guy to be on the outs.

[olldflame]

Well, I think we can safely assume Moller is going to be one of those guys. I'd assume Hoffman is probably the most likely candidate for a second guy to be on the outs.

Hoffman isn't going anywhere, and it wouldn't help our scholarship situation if he did. He doesn't have one.

[Purple Haize]

I'm enjoying all these recruiting posts. I have no idea how these kids will pan out but let's be honest. We can't be worse than we have been. You could probably put me and SCAR on the roster and it would have been an improvement.

[TIMSCAR20]

I'm enjoying all these recruiting posts. I have no idea how these kids will pan out but let's be honest. We can't be worse than we have been. You could probably put me and SCAR on the roster and it would have been an improvement.

Not with my Arthritis bro. I'm old. But I get your point. I'm excited about the future of this team starting next season! I expect them to compete right away.

[Schfourteenteen]

I'm enjoying all these recruiting posts. I have no idea how these kids will pan out but let's be honest. We can't be worse than we have been. You could probably put me and SCAR on the roster and it would have been an improvement.

Not with my Arthritis bro. I'm old. But I get your point. I'm excited about the future of this team starting next season! I expect them to compete right away.

You could have led with your defense as evidenced in the alumni game from 9 years ago.

[TIMSCAR20]

I'm enjoying all these recruiting posts. I have no idea how these kids will pan out but let's be honest. We can't be worse than we have been. You could probably put me and SCAR on the roster and it would have been an improvement.

Not with my Arthritis bro. I'm old. But I get your point. I'm excited about the future of this team starting next season! I expect them to compete right away.

You could have led with your defense as evidenced in the alumni game from 9 years ago.

I walked off the court that night and have not played a second of competitive hoops since. I retired. My stat line was 2 points 1 asst 2 rebounds. I had a triple-single

[olldflame]

The question now is, would you come out of retirement if we had another alumni game? Maybe they could have the play the first few minutes of each half and the young whipper-snapper alums the rest.

[TIMSCAR20]

The question now is, would you come out of retirement if we had another alumni game? Maybe they could have the play the first few minutes of each half and the young whipper-snapper alums the rest.

Absolutely NOT. I would show up though. Maybe announce the game or coach it. I'm a little better at one of those than the other.

I also want to let you guys know that I have been in contact with Coach Getter several times in the past few weeks alerting him about transfers that are available that I think would be a good fit for Liberty and connecting him with alum that have good players including the great Kelvin Edwards down in Dallas (Former Cowboys Receiver and Liberty HOF'er for you young guys). KE's son is an elite 9th grader. He is a 6-4 point guard. KE says that his son is already a better athlete at 15 than he was as a freshman at Liberty.

[flameshaw]

If he is as fast as his dad, they should look at him as a wide receiver. KE was a beast on the outside. I remember him running a deep route and catching the winning TD at App. St. with almost no time left on the clock. No one could cover him that day, or any other day for that matter.

[olldflame]

If he is as fast as his dad, they should look at him as a wide receiver. KE was a beast on the outside. I remember him running a deep route and catching the winning TD at App. St. with almost no time left on the clock. No one could cover him that day, or any other day for that matter.

I hear what you are saying, and he should play both sports in HS to sort out what he is best at, but if he is a 6'4" PG at age 15 and develops into a blue-chip basketball prospect, he would be foolish to play any other sport in college. History has proven that the NFL is still an option for a great athlete who played college basketball but doesn't develop NBA caliber skills. Name one college football player on an NBA roster. Meanwhile, playing basketball, he is taking far less risk for a variety of injuries, especially head/brain trauma.

[olldflame]

Not much word on how the roster will shake out to make room for the new signees, other than the fact that Gielo is exploring his options to transfer. Keep in mind that Peter is the only possible transfer who would definitely not have to sit a year. It's understandable why others may hesitate, especially if they like the new staff and would prefer to stay, but you would think the handwriting may be on the wall for one or 2 based on the players we signed. Of course we also are hearing nothing but crickets on the status of Jurch and Karwowski. The ball is in their court. Because of their NLI, Liberty is obligated to provide a scholarship for the 15-16 academic year as long as they show up and fulfill their obligations. If one or both of them choose not to come, it then is up to Ritchie whether to release them from their NLI (although it's normally pretty much automatic when there is a coaching change.) As far as the timeline for the players currently on the team, things could take longer than one would think. If it comes down to it, the staff actually has til July 1 to inform players if their scholarships will be renewed or not.

[BJWilliams]

The thing is, there really isn't any obligation to RMK or anybody there to release any news at this point. Just because there isn't any news being noted publicly does not mean that things are happening/not happening. No news is good news for now

[Purple Haize]

The thing is, there really isn't any obligation to RMK or anybody there to release any news at this point. Just because there isn't any news being noted publicly does not mean that things are happening/not happening. No news is good news for now

Not if you are one of the current players on the bubble. Scholarships at other schools are becoming more scarce by the day.

[olldflame]

The thing is, there really isn't any obligation to RMK or anybody there to release any news at this point. Just because there isn't any news being noted publicly does not mean that things are happening/not happening. No news is good news for now

Good news? Not really. No news is no news, but it is more likely to be bad than good. Between the current roster and the 2 signees who have not confirmed their intention to come since the coaching change, we need to trim 3 players to accommodate Homesley,Cabbil and Atencia. If Baxter qualifies and signs it will be 4. The worst case scenario here is if there is no voluntary attrition and McKay is forced to cut 3 or more scholarships, all from the current roster. That is something coaches hate to do and try to avoid. Hearing that a certain player or 2 was planning to transfer at this point would actually be good news. Purple makes a good point about players needing to find a scholarship elsewhere from a pool that isn't getting any bigger. Part of the delay may be that our staff is involved right now in helping a player or 2 find another school that wants them, whether it is D1 or D2/NAIA.

[BJWilliams]

That is a fair point PH. I just don't think that RMK feels obligated to make a move because people are asking for it or something, and I think its a good thing he is doing his due diligence to get who he feels are the best 13 (it is 13 right?) guys on the roster. I know it is tough on the players who have to finalize their contingency plans for 2015-16 on the off chance that they are the ones not being renewed, but I would rather he do his homework than simply make a knee jerk reaction just to appease folks on a message board or give a sound bite or a couple inches to news reporters. Not to mention, graduation is next weekend. Id let that take the spotlight for at least the next week, then maybe we can hope for something once summer school starts on Monday. That's just the thoughts of a know-nothing though

[flameshaw]

If he is as fast as his dad, they should look at him as a wide receiver. KE was a beast on the outside. I remember him running a deep route and catching the winning TD at App. St. with almost no time left on the clock. No one could cover him that day, or any other day for that matter.

I hear what you are saying, and he should play both sports in HS to sort out what he is best at, but if he is a 6'4" PG at age 15 and develops into a blue-chip basketball prospect, he would be foolish to play any other sport in college. History has proven that the NFL is still an option for a great athlete who played college basketball but doesn't develop NBA caliber skills. Name one college football player on an NBA roster. Meanwhile, playing basketball, he is taking far less risk for a variety of injuries, especially head/brain trauma.

Yeah, but football is a real sport. You couldn't pay me $1000 to go to a NBA game, no not even sitting at mid-court next to Jack Nicholson. I only follow LU basketball a tiny weenie bit, hopefully it will be a lot more in the near future. Just my opinion of course.

[Purple Haize]

That is a fair point PH. I just don't think that RMK feels obligated to make a move because people are asking for it or something, and I think its a good thing he is doing his due diligence to get who he feels are the best 13 (it is 13 right?) guys on the roster. I know it is tough on the players who have to finalize their contingency plans for 2015-16 on the off chance that they are the ones not being renewed, but I would rather he do his homework than simply make a knee jerk reaction just to appease folks on a message board or give a sound bite or a couple inches to news reporters. Not to mention, graduation is next weekend. Id let that take the spotlight for at least the next week, then maybe we can hope for something once summer school starts on Monday. That's just the thoughts of a know-nothing though

He certainly owes it to the people who he is going to remove from the roster. Graduation has absolutely 0 factor to play in his decision making. He should already know who is off and who is on. The ONLY reason to hold off, and it's a slim one, is if he is going to offer more scholarships and cut more players. But again, he owes it to the players. And they are 'people"