Every media session through the first two weeks of training camp for Liberty football, a relatively obscure name has been mentioned frequently by the Flames’ coaching staff and players.
That name is Darius Copeland.
If you are unfamiliar with Copeland, or DC as he is called by his teammates, that is understandable. He was a late addition to the Liberty roster in 2023, joining the Flames in the summer just ahead of the start of the season.
The 6’0”, 190-pound wide receiver came to Liberty and Lynchburg from Pelham High School. He fell through the recruiting cracks a little bit after tearing his ACL during his senior year of high school. He played in only five games his senior year before suffering the injury, hauling in 28 passes for 531 yards and 5 touchdowns. He also carried the ball 29 times for 113 yards and 2 additional scores.
In his junior year, Copeland had 24 catches for 390 yards and 4 touchdowns and 14 carries for 109 yards and 3 scores in 11 games played.
Because of the injury, many schools backed off their pursuit of the shifty receiver. Coming off the knee injury, he was sure to miss his freshman year of college while he recovered and began his rehab. Liberty stepped in when others backed off, offered him a spot on the team, and assisted with his recovery and rehab.
The 2023 season was a slow go for Copeland as he adjusted to college life while not being able to play football. Towards the end of last season, as he got closer to full strength, the coaching staff would see glimpses of his potential during some of Copeland’s individual workouts.
“There were times last year during practice you saw flashes,” said Liberty Co-Offensive Coordinator Willy Korn. “He had a great spring ball, but I remember when he was working back from that knee injury towards the second half of the season last year, he would flash.”
Throughout training camp, Copeland has been turning everyone’s heads and they can’t stop talking about him.
“One of the guys that is standing out the most is Darius Copeland,” Co-Offensive Coordinator and RB Coach Newland Isaac, unprompted. “(He’s) making a ton of plays for us right now.”
When asked about the receivers, the first name out of quarterback Kaidon Salter’s mouth was Darius Copeland, saying, “he’s been one of my outstanding receivers so far this fall.”
Liberty head coach Jamey Chadwell also can’t stop gushing about the redshirt-freshman.
“He’s looked really good the first few days (of camp) and through summer and all that, just making plays and just attitude and everything,” said Chadwell. “He’s been a pleasant surprise. We thought he would be a good player. I did not think he would be where he’s at currently. I like what we’ve seen from him.”
At a position where the Flames are going through somewhat of a transition, Copeland can help ease the burden of some of the losses the team has suffered. He can play in the slot, even on the outside, and also step into the backfield and line up as a running back while taking pitches and handoffs.
“He’s one that can play the role that (Aaron Bedgood) played last year,” Isaac said of Copeland. “You can line him up in the back field, send him on a bunch of different motions. He can run the entire route tree. He’s extremely smart. He’s catching a lot of contested catches. He’s making a lot of difficult catches, diving for balls. He’s just making a lot of difficult plays all over the field in the same role that AB played last year. He’s so dynamic. You can use him in a bunch of different spots, and he can still be pretty effective.”
It remains to be seen when the season starts just how big of a role Copeland will have, but he is certainly a name to keep your eye on this year.
“He’s playing with a lot of confidence,” said Korn. “I think Kaidon has a lot of confidence in him. You will see an expanded role for him this year, for sure.”
