Liberty head coach Jamey Chadwell, running back Quinton Cooley, and safety Quinton Reese are in Frisco, Texas for CUSA Media Day ahead of the 2024 football season.
Coach Chadwell, Cooley, and Reese met with the local assembled media in Frisco as well as some online on Tuesday. Here’s everything they had to say during this media session, beginning with an opening statement from Coach Chadwell:
“On behalf of President Costin, Chancellor Falwell, Ian McCaw, our Athletic Director, very thankful to represent Liberty and be a part of Conference USA going into our second season here. Really, thankful for the group of young men that we get to coach, and the opportunity that our young men get to be the best version of themselves on and off the field and continue to help them grow and become a Champion for Christ. It’s something that’s really important to us and our institution and we are thankful we get an opportunity to do that.”
“This team that we have this year has a great opportunity to continue to build their legacy and what they want to be about. We have 40 new players that have joined our program whether that was in January or this summer. So, we spent a lot of time this summer getting to know each other and implementing values and what we are about. We have a great nucleus that is returning that has been a part of some big games and won a lot of games, but we are 0-1 in 2024 and that’s our mindset. We have a lot to learn and a lot to go out and attack and grow with this team that we have, led by the two Q’s here that are great leaders for us and great players. We have a lot that we need to do and continue to build in our program to obviously be a champion. We have huge goals of being the best version of ourselves we can be, the best Liberty we can be. We are excited about this conference and the teams that are here. We know how challenging it is. We are blessed to be a small part in the success of Conference USA.”
Coach, can you talk about the skepticism from some about Liberty being able to get in the upper echelon/ New Year’s Six?
Chadwell: “Anytime you are relatively new to FBS and relatively new to your conference, our conference went through a lot of expansion and things of that nature, there is a respect factor. You play who is on your schedule, you go out and handle those things. What I hope it shows is that if you go out and play well each and every week, you have an opportunity to play at the highest level. That’s what our team earned and our program earned. I think it took a lot of challenging things because we had to earn some respect nationally. Not only from us but also our conference and what they did out of conference, who they beat and what they were able to do on a national stage helped us and our team get to that New Year’s Six which is big. Now that is happened, you know you can do it from our league. Hopefully it won’t be the last time for us and the last time for this conference.”
How does that translate to the rest of the G5?
Chadwell: “Any one at our level, they believe if they go and have a tremendous year, you have the opportunity to be that representative. I know our team believes if they can handle their business that’s out there. It’s not something we’re going to talk a lot about because we know it is something that is out of our control, but knowing you have an opportunity to play for a national championship, that’s why these guys love that video game. You have a chance to go play it. They want that opportunity to play against the best. All of us have that opportunity now, which is good.”
Quinton Reese, could you talk more about the Reap the Harvest Foundation you and Austin Henderson started?
Reese: “We had a camp a couple of months ago that allowed us to incorporate the love we have for Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, and the love we have for the community, as well. We had an opportunity to run a camp, three live events, as well. All the kids came out and ran some drills. For us, as players, it’s fun for us to give back to the community. We plan to continue to do that in the future, whether it is at Liberty or a surrounding states like where I’m from which is Georgia or where Austin is from which is Tennessee. It is a great opportunity to give back.”
What is it going to take for Kaidon Salter to get the respect he deserves?
Chadwell: “Well, he’s obviously a tremendous player. We believe not only the best quarterback at the G5, we think he’s one of the best in the country. For him to continue to gain that national respect, he’s got to continue to play at a high level. He’s had a tremendous offseason. He’s taken another step from a development stand point, which he needed. He’s still learning, which is crazy, he’s learning how to play the quarterback position at a high level from an offense and different things. He was in a new offense last year and it took him a little while to figure it out. Once he got that, you saw what he is capable of doing. If he will continue to do what he does and put his teammates in the best position to succeed, I believe wholeheartedly that more people will recognize how good he is. He’s got an opportunity to do some special things here at Liberty but also after that.”
Coach, you went 13-1 last year, what does it take for coaches to maintain that success?
Chadwell: “I don’t like the word maintain because I feel like if you try to maintain something you think it’s naturally going to work. I think the challenge as a coach, anytime you have success, whether that is expected success or unexpected success, for the players that return and played a lot, they think, ‘Hey, we already did this once we will do it again.’ I think it’s a challenge. As coaches, you really have to dig in to why you won. Yeah, you outperformed the team but what helps you be a champion? When you have 40 new guys, there are a lot of things you have to do to get them to know the standard and your values. We are thankful for the season we had, but as I’ve shared with these guys and our team, that was last year’s team. This year’s team has not earned one thing. Everything we are getting right now is all based off of last year. If we have that mindset we will get beat quick because there are a lot of good teams. Also, when you are being predicted to win the league, then everybody is coming after you. We understand that, but it is getting everybody to buy into that. I think that is the hardest thing a coaches has is meeting those outside expectations but for us is meeting our expectations. We never talked about going undefeated last year, but our guys did what a champion does every day. That’s what we’re going to focus on this year.”
You lose CJ Daniels, how does that impact your passing game?
Chadwell: “CJ was a tremendous player for us. We wish him a lot of success. Him and Kaidon were roommates so there was a great connection. I do think we have a lot of great players returning. There are good players there, they might not have done it a lot for us, so that is the question. Gaining trust with Kaidon, gaining trust with those guys, that is the challenge. That has gone on in the spring and then with the new guys that got here in the summer. We do have a great rushing attack, led by Cooley here. We did lose some starting offensive linemen, so I think we are going to be a little different this year how we go about things, but if we can find a way how to run it, that does open up our passing game. We have complete faith in who we have up front and in our back field and who is returning at receiver and our new guys. We had some returners that did well, but we need some others to step up if we’re going to have the type of offense we think we’re capable to have.”
Cooley, you are rated a 90 in NCAA25, what are your thoughts about that?
Cooley: “It’s a blessing, honestly. I’ve been happy with it. People have been playing with me from around the world. I have been tagged in a lot of runs. I know me and Kaidon have been joking about the speed. Now, we always have a race. He got it, I give it to him, he got it. I really love it. The kids get to play with me. It’s a dream come true, everybody gets to play with you. It’s a blessing.”
Coach, how is it different being the hunted instead of the hunter?
Chadwell: “I believe they understand that because I think we got a lot of the best shots last year. As you start having the type of year that we had, as you go later in the season, you are getting more of a target and people are coming after you. The main thing for us, our mindset of our program is we are about attacking and not defending. I think any time if you are defending or maintaining, you are losing. We’ve talked a lot about we are going after something. It’s not necessarily a championship, yes we are playing for that, but the focus is playing for each other. If you are playing for somebody you care about, you will do whatever you can to go out and play for them. Our whole program is built on that value system. I expect them to make sure that goes throughout our program. This is why we do what we do. The results will take care of themselves. That will be the challenge because it’s natural to think that you have arrived. The best part of any journey you go on is not when you arrive but the journey along the way and that is what we are focusing on.”
Coach, do you think a G5 team having to go on the road likely in the first round rather than going to a New Year’s Six bowl game is better or is it worse?
Chadwell: “I think anytime you have a seat at the table to play for a national championship and to get into the playoff, I think it’s a great positive. If you go and play somebody and maybe don’t get an opportunity to go to a bowl game is that worse for some of the experience, yeah I think so. Part of the bowl experience is going out there and being part of it. Our bowl experience last year was unbelievable until the second quarter and then it went downhill from there. Some of the bowl experience stuff is a great thing. If we are going to enjoy the bowl experience, then our G5 team is going to have to win that first game. There is a great benefit of being able to play for a championship and being 1 of 12 teams that have earned the opportunity to play for one, but I do love the bowl experience and I think our players do as well. So, if you don’t win that game there might be some teams that maybe have not experienced a bowl game before, they will miss out on some of those great experiences a bowl offers.”
