Coach Gill, Offensive Coordinator Joe Dailey, and Defensive Coordinator Robert Wimberly addressed Liberty’s 2017 signing class with a press conference Wednesday afternoon. Here are a few notable quotes on each signee:
QB MASON CUNNINGHAM (JUCO) (EARLY ENROLLEE)
Gill: “More of a dual-threat guy, can throw, can run. Good arm strength, he’s accurate. He can throw on the run very well, and he can take off running. He’s a guy that has tremendous leadership.”
Dailey: “He’s a dual threat athlete. He can throw the football, but he’s also pretty good with the football in his hands as well. I was really impressed with his ability to make people miss in the pocket and still deliver an accurate football on the run. He’s very intelligent. He had a 3.9 coming out of high school and a 4.0 at his junior college. He gives us the opportunity to add some depth at the quarterback position.”
RB FRANK BOYD
Gill: “Very, very exciting player. Runs over people. He can get a great jump cut in a hole and then he shows great burst. That’s the exciting thing about him, people make cuts, but sometimes they don’t have a burst to get through the hold. He showed that ability on tape several times. We held on to him at the last minute, some people tried to come in on him late, but he did sign with us and we’re very excited about him.”
OL COOPER MCCAW
Gill: “This guy here can run over people. He’s very athletic, was on a state championship team. He really loves the Lord. I’m so glad we hung on to him for a long time because he committed to us fairly early in the process. He’s been on our campus 3 times. He definitely loves Liberty University. I think he has a great quality of being a leader. He understands all the blocking schemes that they’re doing on the defensive side of the ball.”
OL TRISTAN SCHULTZ (EARLY ENROLLEE)
Gill: “We got a chance to see him do some one on one blocks, and he’s just a physical guy. He’s a leader. I think he can step up and do a lot of good things on the football field and off the football field. I think Tristan Schultz is a guy that can come in here and compete right away as far as trying to get a job this season.”
WR KHALEB COLEMAN
Gill:“Long, great speed, great length and quickness for his size. He’s long, but he has quick feet. You don’t see that often.”
WR D.J. STUBBS
Gill: “Tremendous speed, punt returner, kickoff returner. He can make people miss, shows great burst. Back to back state championships at his high school.”
Joe Dailey
Dailey: “When (FIU) made the coaching change, it made it a little ambiguous with where he stood with them. He was a young man we looked at this past spring, and said he had a unique skill set. He could return the football, and do the things on offense that we need with the change in our system. Once we got wind of things, we reached out to his coach and to him, and we had mutual interest. Once there was mutual interest, we went all out to get this kid on our campus to show him what we have to offer. Liberty is a special place with special people. We’re the best kept secret in college football, and we don’t want to be the best kept secret anymore. We want people to see what we have to offer here at Liberty University. We brought him in, and he fell in love with the people, with the coaches, and with the people that are going to be involved in his life for the next 4 or 5 years. Once he saw what we had to offer, he couldn’t turn that down.”
TE JEROME JACKSON
Gill: “Him and Fidel are similar in a way that they can catch the football. They’re going to be some big gigantic guys before it’s all over with in 3 or 4 years as we’re going to have Coach Gillespie get a hold of them.”
Dailey: “This is a guy that was under-recruited. We’re fortunate that we were able to get him at the end because he had a last minute offer from Texas State. Up until signing day, they were begging this guy to be part of their program. Our coaching staff did a phenomenal job of recruiting that area. He felt like this was a great place for him because of the opportunity is there to play right away. He’s going to grow into a monster. We’re really excited about what he’s going to look like after a year or two with Bill Gillespie.”
TE FIDEL OGBEIFUN (pronounced Oh-bay-fin)
Gill: “He had some FBS offers, we were able to beat some people on him. He’s smart, explosive. They played him a lot as a receiver type guy. They put him out 1 on 1 and ran a lot of tunnel screens with him. He’s able to break tackles, make people miss, and then he showed great speed. Tremendous upside, only played 2 years of football. His family is from Nigeria, his dad actually is still there working. This guy is a fantastic athlete, and we anticipate him being able to compete to play this year.”
Dailey: “He’s a rather large gentleman. He’s only played 2 years of football. He has the potential to grow into something very, very special. Once he catches the football, his ability to run with the football is what really excites us. On his highlight film, once he catches the football, he’s a bad man. He’s running over everything and anything that comes in his path.”
DL ELISHA MITCHELL
Gill: “A guy that was very, very dominating. He can use his hands very well. He’s very, very physical. He can go from sideline to sideline as far as being able to run and get the ball carrier. He’s a great example of a guy with great football IQ.”
DL JAYOD SANDERS
Gill: “Ooh, I’m excited about this young man. Our coaches did a fantastic job to get him. He’s a guy that’s long. I think he’s going to be a tremendous player. I think you guys, in the 5 years I’ve been here, we’ve always had pretty good defensive ends, and I feel he’s going to be one of those guys. He’s a quick-twitch guy. When we look at him on tape, we say he’s playing with his hair on fire.”
Wimberly: “When his film was brought to me during the season, I laughed because I thought there was no way we had a shot at the young man. Brett Thiesen identified the young man. This is a young man that had mid-major FBS schools trying to come at him, but because of the relationship that had been built by our entire staff they stayed true. He’s explosive, has great length, and I think we found another young man that can compliment Juwan Wells.”
LB REMINGTON GREEN
Gill: “He did a fantastic job at our camp. He’s a very physical player, very passionate. He played tight end and linebacker. He runs from sideline to sideline. Whenever he struck people, everyone went backwards. He’s a guy that we feel very fortunate to have on our team.”
Robert Wimberly
Wimberly: “Remington Green visited us during our Turner Gill camp, and he blew us away. He was our first commit so I call him the Mayor of our class. He reached out to every young man that we had interest in, and let them know first hand what this University is about.”
LB AMARII’ JENKINS
Gill: “He played safety (in high school), but with his size he’s going to play linebacker. He has long arms and he can run. He will strike you. He plays basketball, very athletic in basketball. We went out in the woods in Florida and found him.”
Wimberly: “He had a 22+ ACT. He’s very intelligent. He created his playbook in Pop Warner for his team.”
CB KEITH BEST
Gill: “He’s a unique young man. He had a lot of FBS offers. Unfortunately, he got hurt in his senior season early on, so people fell off on him. I think he can be the steal of the class. I think this guy has a tremendous upside. We’re fortunate and blessed to be able to get him in our football program. He’s a Chris Turner type of guy that can play corner. Long arms, has great ball skills, can run, is physical. He is definitely a press man type corner.”
Wimberly: “It starts with Coach Singletary who had a great relationship with (his high school coach). The young man was definitely an FBS offer guy with multiple scholarships. His coach reached out to us and said that the young man was still looking, a lot of big time schools fell off. He came and visited and fell in love with this place. We’re really excited to have him. We feel like we got a steal when it comes to this young man. You watch his film (prior to his injury), and you know that he’s definitely a BCS type athlete.”
CB KIMANI DONALDSON
Gill: “He’s a little guy, but he’s shown that he will strike you. He has great ball skills, you want to get INTs not just pass breakups. He’s a guy that could play multiple positions, offense or defense, but we’re going to play him at corner.”
S AARON PIERRE
Gill: “Played running back, played safety, played linebacker. He could play running back if we wanted him to do that. I think he has great length, great size, great ball skills. He gave his life to Christ this past summer. He’s just a dynamic guy; committed to us fairly early in the summer.”
Wimberly: “Coach Ron Brown really did a good job of selling the young man. He was scheduled to visit other MAC schools, but he told his dad on the way to one of those schools, ‘I found my place.’ He committed to us in the summer, and he stayed true as several mid-major schools came to Cambridge High School, but Aaron did a great job of letting them know he was committed to Liberty.”
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