7’2″ NEWTON COMMITS TO LIBERTY
Coach McKay and the Flames picked up their 4th commitment for the Class of 2017 this week when 7’2” center Brendan Newton pledged to Liberty. He is a 4-star rated prospect according to ESPN, 3-star according to Scout and Rivals. Newton also had offers from Appalachian State and Longwood. He finished his junior season as the VACA Player of the Year while helping lead his team to a 32-1 record. Faith Christian won the school’s first ever state title and also claimed a national championship. Newton averaged 21 points, 10.6 rebounds, and 4 blocks per game while shooting 65% from the field.
OLINGER & MANGINO PROMOTED
McKay has been busy this week as he also announced promotions for Matt Olinger and Chelsea Mangino. Olinger has been promoted to assistant coach to fill the vacancy left by Omar Mance when he recently left to join the coaching staff at Vanderbilt. Mangino has been promoted from graduate assistant to director of basketball operations.
ATENCIA TRANSFERS TO THE MASTER’S COLLEGE
Hansel Atencia announced on twitter this week that he is transferring to the Master’s College to continue his collegiate basketball career. As a freshman this past season, Atencia played in 19 games and averaged 1.5 points per game. The Master’s College is located in Santa Clarita, California and competes in the NAIA.
MATT ROSE COMMITS TO LIPSCOMB
Samford freshman transfer Matt Rose, who visited Liberty last month, committed to Lipscomb this week. Lipscomb had also offered Rose out of high school before he decided on Samford. As a freshman at Samford, he played in 33 games while averaging 25 minutes per game. He also averaged 9 points and 4.2 rebounds per game while shooting 41% from 3-point range.
3 SIGN WITH NFL TEAMS
The Flames’ NFL Draft hopefuls weren’t selected in the 2016 Draft, but John Lunsford, Josh Woodrum, and Darrin Peterson all signed with teams as undrafted free agents just hours after the draft. Lunsford signed with the 49ers, Woodrum signed with the Giants where he will join Rashad Jennings, and Petey signed with the Bears. They will work out with their respective teams this summer in hopes of making the final roster. Lunsford received calls from the Jaguars, Texas, and Redskins in addition to the 49ers. His kicking coach Brandon Kornblue said Lunsford has made adjustments to his stance and his follow-through to improve his accuracy.
FOOTBALL CAPTAINS ANNOUNCED
Coach Gill announced the 2016 football team captains. The 5 captains this season are senior Dexter Robbins, juniors Tanner Hartman and Stephon Masha, and sophomores Juwan Wells and Jeremy Peters.
POST-SPRING DEPTH CHART RELEASED
Gill also released the post-spring depth chart this week. We will have plenty of discussion on the depth chart in the coming days.
RECRUITING HEATS UP
Liberty’s football coaching staff all hit the road this week as they ramp up their recruiting for the class of 2017. In the coming days, we will begin our individual player profiles on who the Flames are targeting.
FLAMES FALL TO UVA, 7-3
Liberty set an attendance record of 4,024 on Tuesday night, but still fell to #11 Virginia, 7-3. With the loss, the Flames fell to 22-23 on the season and have now lost 6 of 8. The defending national champion Cavaliers used a 4 run 5th inning to catapult them to the win. Coach Toman’s squad hosts Coastal Carolina this weekend as part of a 3-game series.
SOFTBALL SETS PROGRAM MARK FOR CONFERENCE WINS
The Lady Flames finished the regular season with a program record 16 conference wins, finishing with a 16-8 mark. Liberty also finished with an overall record of 30-26, it’s first winning record since 2010. Dot Richardson’s squad has improved in season she has been at Liberty, beginning in 2014 when the Lady Flames were 11-46 overall and 4-20 in the Big South. Last season, Liberty finished 29-30 and 12-12. Rylee Reynolds made SportsCenter top 10 with a diving catch that helped preserve Julia DiMartino’s no-hitter last weekend. DiMartino has been named the Big South pitcher of the year each of the past 2 weeks.
GOLF IN NCAA TOURNAMENT IN ALBUQUERQUE
Big South champion Liberty learned this week it will be headed to the Albuquerque regional as the #11 seed for the 2016 men’s golf regionals. Regional play will be held May 16-18 with the top 5 teams in the 14 team regional advancing to the NCAA Men’s Golf Championship May 27-June 1.
