After taking a week of due to spring break, the Liberty football team returned to practice on Monday morning for spring practice. The spring period will conclude on Saturday, April 9 with the Football Spring Game held from 10 am – 12 noon. Following Monday’s practice, head football coach Hugh Freeze met with the media. Here is everything he had to say beginning with his opening statement.
“I’m pleased,” he said. “I think six practices in, the effort is unquestionably really, really good. So, obviously, a long way to go. Glad we are not in the season because we have a ton of injuries, but as far as the effort and the attitudes that we’re getting from our players right now, I think we’re six for six in that. I asked them to give us 15 days of that.”
“I teach our class on Monday mornings. This morning was really good about one of the worst feelings I think anyone could have is to get to the end of your life and have a bunch of woulda, coulda, shoulda, and never really invested yourself fully into something. Whether it’s academics or their nutrition or their life or football, you can’t be committed to everything. I think that’s a bad practice also, but you can be committed to something and right now I think we are seeing I think their commitment level is pretty solid for our team.”
“I’m pleased. Six practices in, still a lot of questions, but I love the effort.”
NOTICED A LOT OF GUYS MISSING, ESPECIALLY AT WR, INJURY BUG?
“The receiver room is the worst off right now, injury wise. CJ Daniels, obviously, tore his ACL, unfortunately, he had to have surgery. Hopefully he will be back around game one. Demario (Douglas) and (CJ) Yarbrough are both dealing with hamstrings and those can be you just don’t want to set them back further, so we are taking our time with that. Noah (Frith), he just has a stomach virus this morning, that’s the only reason he was out. That is that room, I believe that is everybody there.”
IT LOOKED LIKE AKIL WASHINGTON HAD A CAST ON?
“Yeah, we had our first live period the Friday before spring break, and he broke his thumb which required surgery. He’s going to be limited for a while.”
WHAT HAVE YOU SEEN OUT OF YOUR QUARTERBACKS SO FAR THIS SPRING?
“Very inconsistent. You see flashes of good things. You just hope that those good things start increasing in consistency. I’m optimistic, cautiously, really about several of them. I think we have a good room there with JB, Nate, Kaidon, and Charlie. I think all of those guys have potential to be good players, you know. Malik (Willis) was out there today and stood with me a lot during all the drills. I was curious to see, and he kinda said the same thing. ‘I don’t know how you are going to make that decision.’ I said, ‘well, it usually plays itself out by the time you play one or two games.’ But, I’m cautiously optimistic.”
BREWER HAS A LOT OF EXPERIENCE, BUT HE IS NEW HERE, HOW HAS HE ADJUSTED?
“It’s just verbiage. We run a similar system to what he did at Baylor. He understands the RPO game and the timing of those things. Obviously, it’s all new in how he sets the protections here and the verbiage. It’s definitely a learning curve, but he’s picking up fast. He threw some really good RPOs today.”
HOW ABOUT KAIDON AND NATE, HOW HAVE THEY MATURED?
“Both are inconsistent at times, but both showed flashes. I tell you, I am really proud of Kaidon. I think he’s just changed his approach, his attitude, his work ethic, he worked his tail off with our strength staff getting prepared for spring ball. He texted me over spring break, asking me questions about the last practice. It’s good to see that. Nate is really solid also. Again, I think all four have shown flashes that they could get the job done.”
COACH KLENAKIS BRINGS A LOT OF ENERGY TO PRACTICE, HOW GOOD IS IT TO HAVE HIM ON STAFF WITH THAT ENERGY?
“I’ve interviewed Coach Klenakis twice on my head coaching career. The one thing that I knew both times is the guy was passionate and had great energy. He’s working our OLine extremely hard. That’s what we need. They have to be the front line. They have to lead the way. I think he takes great pride and confidence that he builds in them I think is going to be big. I talked Ian into giving him a raise last week, so I am pleased with him.”
YOU GRADUATED A LOT OF SNAPS FROM OL, WHAT HAVE YOU NOTICED ABOUT THE GUYS COMPETING FOR JOBS THERE?
“Pretty excited. We’re without Cooper, we kinda know what he can do. He had shoulder surgery. Nassir, I thought, took a step today. Cam Reddy, I really liked. Of course, Brendan has played a lot of snaps for us, as has Bodden. Kourtis we’ve moved to guard, excited about that. Reggie just got cleared to go today, so it was his first practice, I look forward to seeing that on tape. I think Chase Mitchell and Brian Hannibal have probably taken two of the bigger steps forward, so far. Harrison, I think is going to be a really good player. Pleased to this point, they are blocking what I think is a really good defensive line, it’s going to make us better.”
WHAT WAS THE DECISION TO MOVE KOURTIS TO GUARD?
“He’s one of the tougher kids we have and stronger kids we have, but seemed to play a bit tentative and slow with the ball in his hand. I’m just trying to find him a position where he can contribute because he cares. I think taking the ball out of his hand, hopefully, will allow him to play a little faster.”
WHO WOULD BE AT CENTER?
“Cam and Adair. Adair will cross train too, but think Adair is going to be a really good center too.”
HOW IS DRE BUTLER TRANSITIONING TO LIBERTY?
“He shows flashes of being really, really talented. Don’t think he’s in the shape he needs to be yet, but once he gets there I think he’s going to be a heck of a player.”
ADDING BUTLER AT DL, HOW DEEP CAN THAT LINE GO?
“I don’t think you can have enough great DLinemen. If your DLine can control, at least, one phase of the game from an offensive standpoint it makes it offensive playcalling extremely hard. I’ve been on that side of it. It’s not much fun when you don’t think you can stay balanced at all. I said when I got here, I said we were going to build this team around the defensive line. Just from the leagues I’ve been in, I’ve just known if you could start it there and at quarterback then you have a fighting chance. That’s how we’ve tried to build it. We are excited about the new guys we’ve brought in. Got to get Jay Hardy well and healthy and Dre in shape. Henry Chibueze is leading, and, of course, those defensive ends we have are pretty special. Really, really, really excited about Bryce Dixon as a freshman. He is a handful. He’s going to be a heck of a player.”
YOU’VE GOT A BIG DAY TOMORROW WITH PRO DAY, HOW BIG CAN THAT BE FOR THIS PROGRAM?
“I don’t think we can quantify it really. I don’t know how I would in words nor outside of words. I just know that it is huge. It is big. We believe in what’s going on here. We believe in our administration. We believe in our people. We believe in our culture. We think the Mountain is a special place to be on and think that the future can be really, really bright. Obviously, for that to all happen it takes everything I just mentioned but it takes players. You’ve got to have players. For the eyes of everyone that will watch from the Pro Day to the interviews to the people that are coming here to represent ESPN or NFL Network, all the way through the draft, for their experience to be something to where they leave this place after tomorrow or Wednesday saying, ‘I sense something special going on there. I sense maybe a different culture than other places.’ To add to that the representation that we get from people like Malik Willis, I just think it’s invaluable that recognition.”
COMPARE THIS PRO DAY TO YOUR PREVIOUS PRO DAYS AT LIBERTY?
“I don’t even remember a Pro Day from last year. We’ve had one Pro Day since I’ve been here. I don’t remember it, so it’s going to be quite different. Even today, we had spring practice six this morning, there were a lot of people in there. It was great to see all of our players come back. I took a picture with them this morning. Not just Malik, but all the other guys, some of which I think are going to surprise some people and have a chance to get on rosters and do well. I think it speaks for the job that our recruiting office and our coaches have done to convince good players and kids to come and join us here.”
“There’s no question from the amount of texts that I’m getting and from phone calls, tomorrow will be…we had some good ones at Ole Miss. The one that was the craziest was the one that had three first rounders plus many more. I’m not sure this one won’t be as well attended as that one. We’re excited. We’re excited to host. Everyone has pitched in. Sometimes when you have these things if everybody is not on the same page it may can be not quite the level that it should be. I don’t think that will be the case here. We’ve had everybody from academics to our Flames Club to our Convo team to our administration with Ian and his staff. Everybody is just what can we do. I had the City Manager reach out to me – what can we do? Everybody is on the same page. I hope that the NFL Network and ESPN will bring a bunch of people here because I think we will blow you away with our hospitality.”
AT OTHER SCHOOLS, PRO DAY IS JUST AN ASSUMPTION, LIBERTY IS NOT USED TO THAT, WHAT’S THE BUZZ AROUND TOWN?
“I don’t get out on town much. I go to church, the golf course, and here, but I know just from my time at the golf course last week on spring break, it is being talked about. Then, obviously, for City Managers and others, I think it’s starting to spread. Certainly, we’ve said since we’ve been here, we like to do things that are first. This will be our first experience here at Liberty with a Pro Day that is like this and I hope there are many, many more to come. Just from the scouts that have been here during the season, all have been really impressed with ‘Wow, I didn’t know ya’ll had X, Y, and Z or these facilities, or this support.’ I can’t wait for all the General Managers, coaches, scouts that will be here tomorrow to hopefully get the same feeling.”
WHAT DOES THAT DO FOR YOU AND THE STAFF TO TELL A RECRUIT YOU HAD 132 HERE FOR PRO DAY?
“Jovon Hubbard is our NFL liaison. He has kept stats on the number of coaches that have been here throughout the season, at our games, and certainly tomorrow. I’m sure you will see a flier or whatever they call those that they send out on social media, I’m sure you will see one that says that so our recruits can see it clearly. More importantly than that to me is taking young men that for whatever reason, I don’t see this to say anything negatively about anyone because I think every situation is different, but for us to be able to take a couple kids here that maybe didn’t take any quality snaps at other places and now they are first round draft picks or second round draft picks or third round draft picks or whatever it is. Hopefully that speaks to a lot of kids, particularly in this transfer portal world that we are all in now, that the things that Liberty has done with helping to develop and help re-write a story or stories for people like a Storey Jackson or a Malik Willis or a Skyler Thomas or Duron Lowe, or some of those that I think are going to get chances to really surprise people, Elijah James, I think that hopefully that whole piece of it somehow we can tell it to where they are like man…and Malik has done better in the interviews he has, he is such a humble kid. He just says, look, I didn’t play any significant snaps and I believed in the staff at Liberty could help me change my story.”
HOW HAS MALIK HANDLED WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN WITH THE ATTENTION ON HIM?
“There’s a lot of kids and I’ve coached some really good ones that I worried about how the attention could hurt him if he’s not careful. Malik is not one that I worry about that with. He really could care less if he gets attention. It’s been that way since he’s been with us for the two years. He plays a game where he throws for 400 yards and counts for 6, 7 touchdowns and it was everybody else that did everything right. Then, play a game where we don’t play as well and we lose and it’s all his fault. That’s the way he’s approached it. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I’ve coached a lot of great players, he might be the most truly humble great player, but that doesn’t mean he’s not confident. He takes everything in stride. He prepares as hard as he can. He’s committed to the process and if that process brings him a first round draft pick and a starting position on an NFL team, great. If that commitment to the process brings to him a third round draft pick and a backup quarterback, great. Then, he will be committed to that process. When you take that approach, and you know that you poured everything into something and your commitment to it has been what it should be, you can handle the results. I don’t think he’s hung up on what people say about him. I admire him in a lot of ways, really.”
DO YOU THINK MALIK IS A TOP 10 PICK?
“If you’re giving me the chance to sell you on him, I would point out just a few things. I don’t watch much NFL, but I did watch the playoffs. I did not see a single team in the playoffs that could protect the quarterback. I didn’t. Go watch the films. The DLines are so good. You’re not going to always be able to protect your quarterback. The key to a lot of those games when you watch the Buffalo’s and Kansas City’s and Cincinnati’s and those, is do you have someone who can extend the play that allows you to stay on the field and convert drives? That’s what I saw with my own eyes. I don’t know another guy in the draft that has the ability to do that. That doesn’t mean they are not great players, but I don’t know of a guy who is any more suited for that than Malik is.”
“You are getting a guy who whether he is the starter right away or he is the backup right away, he is ok with that and he makes your locker room better. To me, in this draft, whether it’s weak, strong, that’s not for me to say. I’m just saying, what I’m seeing now in the NFL, one of the interviews that they did with me at the Senior Bowl – well, we wonder how he can do under center. My response was to them that I didn’t see anybody under center in the playoffs. Even at that, he doesn’t know what he doesn’t know. I’m quite confident he can do it, but he doesn’t know what he doesn’t know. Go look for yourself and look at the percentages. I didn’t see Josh Allen getting under center a whole lot, maybe 10% of the time or something like that, or Mahomes, or somebody like that.”
“If you can use me to sell you on Malik, now, I have no clue who is even taking a quarterback in the first round. I can’t keep up with it with all the free agency. I can’t keep up with that, but if you’re asking me who should be the first quarterback taken, I would take Malik Willis in a heartbeat.”
I THINK TOMORROW IS A BIG DAY FOR YOU GUYS
“I do too. I’ve said that to everybody. The great thing is I don’t have to go ask, beg, anything. Everybody is all what can we do, what can we do? Our kids will perform well. They will test well because I believe. My strength coach has done this before for me at Ole Miss and they crushed testing. I think our kids will do that tomorrow and then obviously the attention that will be on Malik and what happens with him. I think it’s going to be a big day for us, also.”
