Liberty head coach Jamey Chadwell met with the media following the Flames’ annual Spring Game on Saturday afternoon as the Flames conclude spring practice. Here is everything Coach Chadwell had to say on Saturday, beginning with his opening statement.
“The 15 practices, culmination today with the Spring Game, the main thing when you come out here is you want to stay healthy, for one, and we did that. Two, you want to see how guys show up in front of a crowd. We had some guys do some good things today. We still got a ways to go, but I think our team is bought in to what we’re trying to do with our program and the values we believe in. Still have a long way to go. This summer is going to be very important to our growth.”
“The 15 have been good. We stayed healthy through it for the most part. I was hoping to establish a starting quarterback for the 15. We didn’t get that accomplished. That will go into this summer and the fall. We got a good foundation laid. Hopefully we will continue to build off of it.”
HOW DO YOU FEEL THE GUYS HAVE PICKED UP ON THE NEW OFFENSE?
“We were very slow and deliberate with it. We probably only put about 60% of it in. We’re getting strides, but you can also see there are some things we’ve still got to work on. I think they’re understanding what we’re trying to do. They just need more reps in it. Now, that they know what we do, now that they can do player led stuff, I think the summer 7 on 7s and the summer things will be very important for our continued development of our offense.”
TALK ABOUT THE DEFENSE, HOW DID YOU FEEL ABOUT WHAT THEY WERE ABLE TO DO?
“I think we have a chance to be good defensively. We’ve got some good players at some key spots. My worry is some depth. We don’t have a lot of depth at certain places. We’ve got to find a way there to continue to build that depth. We’ve got a chance to be good there if they can eliminate some of the inconsistency they play with.”
HOW DO YOU FEEL BEING OUT HERE WITH YOUR GUYS IN THE SPRING GAME?
“It was good. Anytime your first time doing stuff, you wonder how guys are going to perform or handle themselves with the crowd. Normally, we don’t have many people at our practices. We’re at a good place. We know, from a coaching staff, we have to get better and we will. For us, it’s a long play. I’m not going to rush the process. I know we want to win and we want to win right away. We’re going to compete for a championship right away, but I want to make sure we don’t skip steps. We’ve laid a good foundation, now we’ve got to continue to pour it.”
ALOT OF NEW PIECES, HOW DO YOU JELL THEM IN A SHORT AMOUNT OF TIME?
“It’s hard. We’re not completely there. You lay your foundation of who you want to be and you’ve got to hold them to that standard every day. I think they’re understanding that. We will probably be at more now that you’ve got your freshmen guys coming in, if there are any portal guys coming in. There’s more to do. It’s never-ending. What you hope happens is the ones that have bought into it, anybody new that is coming in they’ve got to say this is how you do things. We’re not where I want to be on that, but we’re a lot further along than I thought we would be.”
SEEMS LIKE KYLEN AUSTIN HAS HAD A GOOD SPRING.
“Kylen’s one of our guys that actually can really, really go and run. Kylen can really be a really good player for us in this league. Kylen’s got to get consistent with catching the ball when he has the opportunities there and just being consistent of running the right routes when he’s supposed to. He had a touchdown today, didn’t run a route. He did improve. If he will continue to buy into the things, he has the talent and tools to do that.”
THE PORTAL OPENS TODAY, WHAT ARE SOME POSITIONS YOU WILL BE LOOKING AT?
“We will see what happens the next few days with us. We’re obviously going to have some people go in, we know that. Maybe some that have already told us, maybe some surprises. From a defensive standpoint, we’ve got to get some D-Linemen and a linebacker from a depth standpoint. Then offensively, offensive line wise we’ve got to improve there. Like to get a couple receivers. We will probably still look for a quarterback, to be honest.”
WHAT HAVE YOU SEEN OUT OF JAYLON JIMMERSON?
“I thought he really had a good spring. When you come into a new place, you might say well this kid here, you might hear certain things. He’s done really well for us. I guess from what my expectations were, or at least what I was led to believe, he has really overcome those and did well. I think he’s solidified an opportunity to be a heavy contributor for us.”
WHAT DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE GROWTH OF YOUR OFFENSIVE LINE THIS SPRING?
“We’ve got a lot of older guys there. We had one of our returners, X’Zauvea, got hurt and missed all of spring. It allowed some young guys to get some quality reps. I think they are going to be the backbone of our offense right now. Regardless, they have so much more experience than anybody else, No matter it’s a new offense, it’s the offensive line. They are going to have to be our backbone. They’re going to help carry us early on until we get better confidence and better play out of the skill positions.”
