Liberty head coach Jamey Chadwell met with the media on Wednesday morning ahead of the team’s first official practice of August training camp. You can also watch the press conference on our YouTube channel, the video is also below. We will plan on live streaming each of Coach Chadwell’s press conferences this season.
Here is everything Coach Chadwell had to say, beginning with his opening statement.
“Thank y’all for being here. I felt like our summer went as expected as what we wanted it to be from a development standpoint. We did have almost 50% roster turnover, so everything that we did this spring there was a lot of re-teaching because of who we lost from that standpoint. I do like the group of people we brought in and added to our team that was already here. Felt like they have connected in a great way and they have helped us get closer and they are buying in to what we want to have as far as our culture and the way we want to do things.”
“Today, from here until the first game, we are trying to, one, build the identity of who we want to be, integrate those new guys and see how far they’ve come through the summer, can they help us this year or will they be able to help us at some point, that’s the plan. Then, we’re laying our foundation for wanting to be a Conference USA champion and ultimately be in the CFP, that’s our ultimate goal, that’s our big vision. That’s not something that is going to come easy, our team knows that. Our focus is doing what champions do every day not focusing on trying to win a championship but do what champions do every day. If we can do those things, then those championships will come.”
HOW DIFFERENT IS IT FOR YOU IN YEAR 1 HERE?
“Well, it’s a lot cooler than I’m used to. I think it’s like 60 degrees out here. Normally by now it would be about 90. You still get excited, you still get nervous, butterflies. I think that’s great. If I lose those, if your coaches lose those, you probably don’t need to be in it. There’s still some nervousness, a new team. This is the first time that 100 and whatever we have, they are going through the fall camp with us. It’s brand new for us, even though a lot of those guys have been through 3-4 fall camps, some of them have been through it some this is their first one. This is brand new for all of us. Our coaches are nervous and excited. We had a good day of meetings yesterday, laying out what we want, and we’re looking forward to seeing how we’ve developed.”
FROM A HEALTH STANDPOINT, WHERE IS THIS TEAM?
“Pretty good. We did have some injuries during the summer. We lost two receivers in the summer to knee injuries that will be out for the season. Reese Smith, lost him during the summer, and Victor Jones, so they are both out. We did lose them. So far, besides that, from a scholarship standpoint, that’s the guys that we have lost from that. The rest of the team is relatively healthy.”
WHEN YOU WOKE UP THIS MORNING WHAT WAS YOUR FEELING?
“I think it’s more so, we’ve put a lot of work in to have a plan. There is some nervousness. If you’re anxious, anxiety comes from not being prepared, I think we’re prepared. Nervousness comes from just wanting to see how the team responds because it is a lot of new players. More so, just wanting to see how they actually look in helmets and once we get to pads. Everybody looks good in shorts. I had a coach when I was in college say we have the best shorts player in America, but once you put pads on it’s a lot different. We’re excited about just being out there for the first time.”
WHAT POSITIONAL GROUP ARE YOU MOST CONFIDENT IN?
“Ugh, probably the offensive line on offense. I feel pretty good about that. Then, umm, yeah that’s about where we’re at right now.”
WITH THE INJURIES AT RECEIVER, DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU HAVE ENOUGH BODIES THERE GOING INTO THE SEASON?
“We’ve got, I think, some guys that have contributed, not a lot. I think just seeing how they improve throughout these next three weeks is going to be big. I think that’s going to be the biggest challenge. Right now, none of us on our staff know when it’s third down, who’s it got to go to. None of us know that. First and second down, that’s fine, but when it’s third down there needs to be a play made, who’s going to do it, that’s the biggest question mark I think we have right there at receiver. We definitely have some guys there. Will they be willing and able and have the mental fortitude to take that next step when the pressure is on, that is going to be the big challenge. That is what we’re going to try to put them through the next three weeks.”
DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU HAVE SOME GUYS IN THAT TIGHT END ROOM THAT CAN HELP FILL THE VOID?
“Yeah, I like our tight end group. I think there are some good solid players in there. We added a freshman that we are real excited about in Bo Burklow. We will see what he does in his first camp, but there’s some guys there that had a good spring and also that have played a lot of football.”
YOU MENTIONED THE EXCITEMENT OF CAMP, BUT I THINK EVERY TEAM HITS A POINT WHERE THE GRIND CATCHES UP, IS THERE ANYTHING YOU DO AS A STAFF TO PUSH PAST THAT GRIND FACTOR?
“Well, I think you are always trying to find ways. We talked about yesterday about let’s try to make it fun. This is the part that there’s fun in winning and there’s fun in getting ready to play games. The next three weeks all we’re going to do is be hitting each other. So there is a mundane to it. We will have different things that we will attempt, I will put attempt, to do throughout the next three weeks, next 25 practices, to connect our guys in a way that takes away some of the physical pain they are going through, the physical toil. A lot of things at night we will do. We will finish with a talent, skit show, and everybody that is new has to do that, including coaches. That might make social media, it might not, we will let y’all know if it does. There are some things we will try to do to still have some fun with, but also, and this is the time that you have to build with your team, you have to build that mental fortitude to push through challenging times so there is fine line with that.”
WHAT ARE SOME OF THE THINGS YOU LIKE DOING NOT ONLY DURING THE SEASON AWAY FROM FOOTBALL BUT ALSO DURING THE OFFSEASON?
“Truthfully, anything that my kids are a part of. I’m not much of a golfer. I can hit it but it won’t go straight, so I don’t like doing that. I’ve found out that I’m probably a pretty good pickleball player. I’m a great two on two water basketball player. I beat Joe at his house, beat him bad. I enjoy spending time with family, traveling, and I’m a food guy. I like to try different foods and things that I venture.”
FIRST YEAR IN A CONFERENCE, THIS PROGRAM HAS GONE TO BOWLS, BUT HOW BIG IS IT FOR THIS PROGRAM TO HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY TO COMPETE FOR A CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP AT THE FBS LEVEL?
“I think it’s arguably one of the biggest decisions that our university made to go into the thing. That’s allowed us to have a place at the table that we have an opportunity to earn. We’ve never had that before. No matter how great seasons, or bowl game wise, you don’t have access. Now that we do, I think that’s going to help this program grow exponentionally. The biggest challenge that our program will face is being FBS four years and not being in a conference, not understanding you are getting everybody’s best shot every week. There’s going to be a target on Liberty’s back and maybe we’ve never had that before except for probably in the Big South. None of these guys have ever experienced that. Being in a conference, you know the grind of that every week. That’s going to be something that our team has to grow through and understand. We’ve talked a lot about that as a staff with our team, is understanding what it takes each week to try to win a conference championship. That is a huge deal, thankful that we are in one.”
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE MIDWEEK GAMES IN OCTOBER? HOW DO YOU TRY TO HANDLE THAT?
“Zero games on Saturday (in October). The great thing about that is we are national television for that whole month. Everybody across this country that might not know about Liberty, they’re going to learn about Liberty. Now, we’ve got to do our job and try to win some games too. One, that is a great opportunity to brand this program and brand this university. Two, it is unique, but at the end of the day if you ask a player if you want to play at 11 am on a Wednesday morning on national television or play on Saturday and you’re not, they’re going to pick 11 am on Wednesday morning. That’s what they work for is to be able to have an opportunity to play on national television. We will work the schedule around to try and make our Tuesday feel like a Saturday and all those things. We will have to adjust that, but the opportunity to do those things and be able to put this conference out in the spotlight and obviously our university in the spotlight is tremendous for us.”
AS FOR THE QB BATTLE, WHEN DO YOU WANT TO MAKE THAT DECISION? WHAT ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTORS IN MAKING THAT DECISION?
“We want to make it going into the week before the first game. I’d like to have 8 practices with this is who we’ve established as the starter. Whoever earns that job, hopefully they will, they’ve got about 15-17 practices to do that. That will get us to August 23rd, 22nd, somewhere around there. That will give us 8 practices to prepare for our first opponent.”
“The person that wins that job will be the one that’s consistent day in and day out and then takes care of the football and doesn’t put us in bad plays. We might not be great, but if we can take care of the ball and keep it away from the other people we have a chance to win some games. We’re not going to ask them to do anything extravagant, just play within the system that we give them.”
“Then, who’s confident each day. What we’ve noticed the time we’ve been here, there are some guys that can make some good plays, then there’s a bad play and it’s like the world falls apart. We will continue to work on that, just being consistent. Who will win the job will be that.”
HOW MUCH OF AN IMPACT HAS THE TRANSFER PORTAL, THE PLAYERS WHO HAVE COME THROUGH THAT HAVE MADE DURING THE OFFSEASON AND WHERE DO YOU SEE THEM COMPETING FOR TIME?
“Through the summer there have been some good additions for that. I think you will see some depth from the offensive line standpoint, we got some guys there. Linebacker-wise, there’s going to be some young men that will have an opportunity to contribute there that we brought in from the portal. Then, running back-wise, that’s the three areas that I think you will see that people that we brought in will contribute in some form or fashion. There might be some starters in that group, but definitely some people that will play, at least through the summer. We will see what they get some pads on here. That’s the areas that we really tried to focus on to improve. I’m hoping that once we get to game one that those guys will have really taken that next step so they can produce on the field.”
AFTER BEING AT LIBERTY FROM YOUR DAYS AT CHARLESTON SOUTHERN, NOW YOU ARE ON THE LIBERTY SIDELINE, IS THE EXCITEMENT BUILDING AND WHAT HAS IT BEEN LIKE SEEING IT FROM THAT SIDE?
“Any time you are undefeated it’s great and we are undefeated right now. As we get closer to the game that anticipation will build. As a coach what you try to do is every thought that I have is about building a program. It’s not necessarily what’s best for this team this year it’s about what’s best for this program to make a solid foundation so it can build and be a consistent winner over the long term. I chose to come here not for a hey we will use this to jump here. I could have gone a lot of places, but I believe in the mission of this university and want to be part of building this at a conference level and ultimately trying to get to that CFP. Thankful for being here and excited about what we can build here.”
OUTSIDE OF QB, WHERE ARE THE OTHER MAIN POSITION BATTLES YOU ARE KEEPING AN EYE ON HERE?
“Wide receiver is a big one now with the losses that we had there. I think corner, corner, secondary there are some corner areas up for grabs. Who is going to be a starter there. We are going to play a lot of people but who is actually going to be the starter. Then, defensive line, we’ve got an opportunity there. You rotate a lot at DLine, but we’ve got some guys there that are talented and young. I’m anxious to see how they impact there. Are they pushing some people for more playing time? I think that will be the biggest three. Then, lastly, from that offensive line standpoint, what’s that depth chart going to end up looking like with some of the guys that we have brought in that have some experience.”
