On Thursday, Liberty head coach Hugh Freeze met with the media and, among other things, he provided an update on his quarterback room entering Saturday’s game against Akron. On Wednesday, ASOR reported that starting quarterback Kaidon Salter is expected to miss this week’s game due to a groin injury.
“There are several on our team that’s going to be game time decision,” Freeze said on Thursday when asked about Salter’s status. “That’s the typical week that we have, we’ve got several that will be game time decisions.”
Freeze would not confirm Salter’s injury or provide any timeline for his return. Salter’s family stated on social media the young quarterback will not play Saturday against Akron in a Facebook post late Wednesday night. Mistee Salter, Kaidon’s mom, posted, “Heads up family, Kaidon won’t be playing this week. To be continued. Pray for a speedy recovery. Gods delay is his protection. Rest up son… #goFLAMES”
The first four periods of Tuesday’s practice were open to the media. During that time, Salter was seen at the practice facility initially before exiting at some point and not returning during the open portion.
Salter has been Liberty’s starting quarterback the past two weeks after Charlie Brewer was sidelined for 5-8 weeks with a broken right hand suffered in the first quarter of Liberty’s season opener at Southern Miss. Salter entered that game during the fourth quarter, engineered two fourth quarter touchdown drives, and helped lead the Flames to victory in four overtimes.
So far this season, the redshirt-freshman Salter has completed 40 of 72 passes for 608 yards, 4 touchdowns, and 3 interceptions. He’s also carried the ball 38 times for a team-leading 221 yards and 2 touchdowns.
With Salter out, the Flames only have two scholarship quarterbacks healthy for Saturday’s game at Akron in Johnathan Bennett and Nate Hampton. Bennett entered the season as the second string quarterback behind Brewer and was the first guy off the bench after Brewer was injured. The offense struggled to find consistency behind Bennett in the season opener and head coach Hugh Freeze elected to turn to Salter. This season, Bennett is 7 of 21 passing for 37 yards and 3 touchdowns while rushing 12 times for 37 yards and 1 touchdown.
“Nate’s had a good week I think, a solid week, but it would still be that order,” Freeze said when asked if Bennett would be the next guy up after Salter. “I believe Kaidon today was feeling better. Will he be ready? I don’t know, but we have full confidence in JB and Nate. We just got to get them in the right plays, the things they can do.”
Liberty (2-1) opened as a 22-point favorite for Saturday’s game against Akron (1-2). That line quickly jumped, going as high as 29.5 points before the Salter news was reported. The Flames are currently listed as 26.5 point favorites.
“Everybody has players,” Freeze said of being a heavy favorite. “If you have a given week where you’re not at full strength, where you didn’t handle coming off a loss very well or whatever it is, you let momentum get going with players (like Akron has), you are in for a fist fight. All they need is a break or two to go their way. They have my full attention, I assure you.”
