It has been an eventful couple of weeks for Liberty football, but the Flames have begun to zero their focus and attention in on the team’s fourth straight bowl game. Liberty will compete in the Boca Raton Bowl, facing MAC Champion Toledo on Tuesday, Dec. 21 at 7:30 p.m. in a game that will be televised on ESPN. On Wednesday, Liberty interim head coach Josh Aldridge met with the media to kick off bowl week preparation. Here’s everything he had to say, including audio of his press conference:
“We had a run through on Saturday, first practice was Sunday, gave them off Monday for finals, then practice yesterday and today. We will practice again tomorrow and then we will take the day off the travel day, on Friday, then get three practices in at the bowl sight. This is how we’ve done it the last three years and I really like this format. Get plenty of work but at the same time keep the guys fresh.”
“We kinda transitioned to Toledo today. Last three practices were more on us, getting back to the speed of the game, and getting physical, getting our edge back. Tried to make it a little light in terms of having fun, getting them spiced up a little bit. I think that’s the point of this time of the year.”
“Somewhat of an emotional roller coaster this season, some of the biggest moments in school history and then your head coach leaves which is a part of this game. Just trying to make sure these guys enjoy this week and hopefully go get a win.”
HOW IMPORTANT HAS IT BEEN TO HAVE FUN TO GET THESE GUYS IN THE RIGHT FRAME OF MIND?
“Big. I like the competition part of it too. You can have fun and still compete. The GA’s doing stuff I like because the situation we are in, a lot of those GA’s are coaching those guys on their own. They are building those relationships. Being a young coach, when I was their age, you kind of have a special relationship with those players because you are not that far removed from the situation they are in. I like getting those GA’s involved in that stuff because it creates a lot of fun. Those players really love to see those players getting out there. It’s been great. We’re not just lolly-gagging though, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows, we’re working hard too, but that’s what I told them. Guys, we can have fun but still be disciplined and focused on winning a football game.”
WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR MAIN MESSAGE TO THE TEAM THE PAST FEW WEEKS?
“Probably about week five or six we were probably about as good as anybody in the country from a Group of Five standpoint. Whenever that was, when we got ranked and all that stuff, I felt like we were hitting on all cylinders, really on both sides of the ball. That was when we were in a little bit of a stride on offense too. At some point we just sort of lost that edge there at the end. Trying to get that edge back has been our emphasis. Our edge, our spirit, whatever you want to call it, our confidence. Just trying to get that back and kind of refocus and get to that point has been my focus.”
WHAT HAVE THE LAST FEW WEEKS BEEN LIKE FOR YOU?
“The first thing is it’s really special for me. I have a really intimate relationship with a lot of these players because I’ve been here since, I was the first coach, boots on the ground when Coach got hired. I’ve helped recruit every class the last four years and been involved with a ton of them. Just to be the guy standing at the front of the room and see that look in their eyes has been real special for me. Just the ability to create better relationships with these offensive players because I usually don’t get to interact with them like that. I’ve been trying to be really intentional to hang around the offense a lot this week. They don’t need my help by any means but just from a relationship standpoint, be around those guys. Those are probably the two most special things for me, just how much involved I was with the recruitment of these guys and then being involved with the offense a little bit.”
HOW DO YOU THINK THE PLAYERS HAVE HANDLED THIS TIME?
“I think preparing for a game helps with all that because that break we had from the end of the last game until we started practicing, there wasn’t a ton of workouts going on because it’s dead week getting ready for finals and things like that. I always worry about those guys being isolated. You could convince yourself of anything when you’re isolated in your thoughts. Now that we’re preparing for a game and practicing, I think creates routine. We’re back to doing what we always do.”
DEALING WITH THE TRANSFER PORTAL, HOW ARE YOU APPROACHING THE GUYS WHO HAVE ENTERED THE PORTAL?
“I won’t dive too far deep into that but it’s a case by case basis. What are the reasons they are leaving? How have they performed this year versus how have they handled their business? It will be a case by case basis. There will be some guys out there that are in the transfer portal that will play in the game, but there will be some that won’t. It’s just a case by case basis and totally a judgement call by me and Coach Chadwell. It will be 50-50. You will see a little bit of both out there.”
WHAT HAS YOUR COMMUNICATION WITH COACH CHADWELL BEEN LIKE?
“It’s kind of weird. It’s like I have one foot on the 2022 team and one foot on the ’23 team because I’m helping him with recruiting while I’m focusing on this team and winning the bowl game. My conversations with him has really just dealt with recruiting and the update of our roster – who we’re losing – any time you are a new head coach you are trying to figure out what are we losing, what do we need to go get, all that type of stuff. That’s really been my role is to update him – hey we are going to be short at this position, I feel like we need a few more of these guys A, B, and C versus where the bowl game is totally just a separate deal. He is kind of being hands off from that.”
WHAT CLARITY HAS HE GIVEN YOU FOR 2023?
“Those conversations will stay between us. Nothing to report yet, but those conversations will stay between us. We’ve been in constant contact.”
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT TOLEDO A LITTLE BIT, WHAT DO YOU SEE?
“They started off really hot. They easily could be a 10-win football team. They lost their last two going into the championship game. You’re talking about a team that could have easily had 10, 11 wins. Just really impressed with how they run their offense but they do a great job not allowing negative plays because of how athletic their quarterback is in trying to escape things. Then, defensively they are extremely sound and play extremely hard. A really well coached football team. Not your typical MAC school, per se. When you think of the MAC, you typically think of a Group of Five Big Ten, big, powerful, strong, not as much going to test you all blades of grass on the field. These guys are not that way. They’ve got a lot of speed on the outside especially and at quarterback. It will be based on a lot of the teams we’ve faced.”
THERE ARE OTHER CHANGES TO THE STAFF, WHAT CAN YOU SHARE ABOUT THOSE OTHER GUYS?
“Robert Bala has been elevated to help with the secondary. Jordan Cantrell has been elevated to linebackers, I mean I’m still coaching those guys but obviously I’ve got other things going. Malik Slater, our graduate assistant, is going to coach the D-Line, I’m assisting with that obviously. Then, on offense, Jesse Stone at quarterbacks and Zach Crisler with tight ends. That’s been the main elevations we’ve had. Logan Bradley, obviously, as a quality control is helping with the tight ends, as well. Really excited for those guys, what a great opportunity to coach a Division I football game at a young age like that. Really excited for them.”
WILL SOME GUYS BE AT DIFFERENT SPOTS LIKE BOOTH OR FIELD?
“That is actually something we are going to discuss today. We really wanted to wait until we felt comfortable with the game plan and then talk about whoever we felt like we needed the most eyes for adjustments and things like that because obviously when we’re on offense, I might be a little less involved in drawing up the adjustments for the defense. I’m still going to call the defense, but I’ve got to be out there to help manage the clock and things like that.”
WHO WILL HANDLE THE PLAY CALLING DUTIES ON OFFENSE?
“We will see when we show up.”
ARE YOU STILL PLANNING ON KEEPING THAT CLOSE TO THE VEST?
“Yes.”
HAVE YOU SEEN SOME OF THE VETERANS TAKE MORE OF A VOICE DURING THIS TIME?
“For sure. I view it as a second senior day. That was not the way we wanted our seniors to go out. That’s been an emphasis for me, it’s a second senior day. We get to take these guys down to Florida and try to send them out on a winning note. I’ve really noticed those seniors, they are chomping at the bit – the Scruggs, the Durrells, the people like that. Just sending them out on a high note, it’s been obvious.”
WHAT ROLE HAVE THE SENIORS PLAYED IN TRYING TO KEEP EVERYTHING TOGETHER?
“A lot. There’s been several player led meetings and things like that, holding the guys together. Obviously, you’ve got guys leaving or potentially leaving and things like that. They are trying to make sure everybody is on the same page and to finish strong. They’ve come to me a lot with things they’d like to see, to see us do or adjust the schedule. I’m trying to cater to that pretty well. I’m what I call an NFL head coach – not for long, while I’m doing it I’m going to help out, get these guys to have a great week. Maybe we will structure practice the way that they feel better about it. I’m not just sitting here taking all those requests in an information box, but I’m going to make sure that I structure practice or meetings, travel, all those things the way they see it.”
WHAT’S THE BIGGEST THING YOU ARE LOOKING FOR IN THE BOWL GAME?
“I just want to see us compete and have fun. I think if we do that, we will probably win. If we will go out there and play with high energy and effort, we’re talented enough to go out there and compete with a lot of people. We are playing a good football team, but I think we can be hungry and go out there and play with energy and effort, I think we will like what the scoreboard says at the end.”
WHAT’S IT LIKE TO SEE THE GROWTH OF THIS PROGRAM OVER THE PAST 4 YEARS?
“I was telling the story to somebody today, my first day here they were touring the facilities, I’m a D2 guy. I worked D2 ball for 7 years. I go to the Indoor and the weight room is in the goal line to the 20, then they’ve taken everything that was in this building – chairs, desks – is just sitting in the middle of the Indoor. So, you’re sitting there and going, man, this is D1 football? So, just to see the growth of our program, we’ve got a tremendous AD who contributes to that. I don’t know if he’s every said no to anything we’ve asked for. Just to see how we have grown, not from a facilities standpoint, just a culture standpoint, the games we’ve won, the level of player we’re able to recruit now is so much different than my first year here. We were just begging people to come on visits when we first got here. Now, we can be really selective. You’ve got kids from Power Five schools wanting to come here. It’s a tribute to all the coaches that have been here, not just Coach Freeze, and then our administration who contributes to that.”
DO YOU FEEL GOOD ABOUT THE DEPTH THAT YOU WILL HAVE IN THE GAME?
“I’d obviously like to be better. I think we have a plan for that. Normally in bowl week you are developing those young guys that haven’t played all year anyway. This is more, we’re developing them because they’re going to have to play in the game. It’s not just use them in practice. You will see some young guys out there probably, at different positions, I’m not going to reveal that because then you know who’s not playing. We will have some young guys out there at some different positions for sure. But, I think we’ve got a plan for who we know is coming to the game, how we can use the depth we have with personnel groupings and things like that.”
DO YOU ANTICIPATE A ROTATION FOR THEM AT QB?
“I anticipate (Finn) playing a lot. The other guy is really good, as well. He’s definitely has a strong arm. They obviously feel strong about both of them because they keep playing them. I do anticipate (Finn) being out there.”
WHAT HAS JAVON SCRUGGS AND DURRELL JOHNSON MEANT TO THIS TEAM DURING THEIR CAREER?
“The special thing about Scruggs is how resilient he is and how many position coaches he has had. He had a position coach before we got here, then it was Scott Symons, then it was Corey Batoon, then it was Jack (Curtis). Three out of those four were different defenses too. Just how resilient he is and intelligent. To handle that the right way has been really impressive. Obviously everybody knows about his leadership and stuff like that, fighting through injuries, all those things.”
“Durrell, man what a great story for a guy who could have easily, had it not been for COVID, not probably been thrown to the wayside a little bit because of what happened in ’21 being injured. But being able to come back, prove to everyone that 2020 wasn’t a fluke. I think some people felt like it’s 2020, it’s COVID, it’s different, it might have just been a flash because of that. No, he proved this year that he is that guy. Just really impressed with how he’s handled that. I’m excited about him playing in the game. I think a lot of people were questioning if he would be playing in the game with his draft status and stuff like that, he is one I will tell you will be out there so you can get ready. I’m excited to see him play in the game.”
MITCHELL AT CORNER, IS HE A GUY THAT CAN CUT THE FIELD IN HALF?
“Yeah, I think they are really good in the back end. They are much faster at the skill position than you would expect most MAC teams. Really impressed with how they’ve recruited. We’ll have to make sure we play really fundamentally sound at wide receiver if we want to get off any press look by that guy.”
HOW IS YOUR QUARTERBACK SITUATION DEVELOPING?
“I think it’s a good chance you will see all of them. We will play to their strengths and things like that. I think those guys have had a really good attitude in the first four practices with what we’re doing. I’m eager to see them go out there. When you talk about an edge and a spirit and confidence, that’s probably the first position group I think of that we’re trying to get that back. Really excited to see those guys go out there and perform.”
