CHARLIE BREWER STARTING NEW ERA FOR FLAMES
The Malik Willis era is over as he the former Liberty quarterback is now on an NFL roster with the Tennessee Titans. Liberty head coach Hugh Freeze tabbed a veteran but newcomer in Charlie Brewer to be Liberty’s starter at quarterback to begin the season in Hattiesburg, Mississippi on Saturday night.
Brewer, who transferred to Liberty prior to the spring semester, has 42 career starts from his time at Baylor and Utah. He ranks third among active FBS quarterbacks with 10,184 passing yards. He will be making his third straight season opener, albeit doing it for three different teams.
“Inconsistent (Wednesday), which was a little frustrating to me,” Freeze said when asked of Brewer’s week of practice. “I challenged our coaches last night that we either got to coach it better or get it out of the game plan to make me feel better. (Thursday), I think they scripted for success. He looked good (Thursday), hopefully that will carry over. Some of it was us, truthfully, trying to throw something on him new. We hadn’t repped it a lot. Hopefully we’ve got a plan that he gets comfortable with, but he looked good (Thursday).”
NICK BROWN WINS NOD AT KICKER
After a strong competition between four kickers during camp, Coach Freeze named Nick Brown the starter for Saturday’s game at Southern Miss. The redshirt-freshman from Frisco, Texas did not have many game reps last season as the Flames went with Alex Barbir and Brayden Beck primarily at kicker. Beck is dealing with an injury right now, and the Flames are hoping to hold him out until he returns to full strength. Brown will have the opportunity beginning Saturday night to claim his stake to the job kicking extra points and field goals for the season. Freeze said that Brown hit two field goals from 52-yards in the mock game and he would be comfortable to try him from that far out.
“He kicked really well (Thursday),” said Freeze. “We tried to make it as distractive as possible, and I thought he handled it well, hopefully that will carryover.”
SUCCESS WINNING ON THE ROAD
Prior to Hugh Freeze taking over at Liberty, the Flames struggled to win away from home. In the three years prior to Freeze’s arrival, Liberty was 5-11 on the road. Over the past two seasons, Liberty is 8-4 in games played away from Lynchburg, including two bowl wins. Liberty and Freeze will try to keep that trend going on Saturday night at Southern Miss.
“I think our approach is consistent,” Freeze said of the team’s success on the road. “There is something special about playing at home, for sure, you’ve got to defend your home. There’s also something special feeling like it’s us against them on the road mentality. I think at the end of the day it’s just they don’t see a big difference, we just want to embrace both. Each has a different feel. Some hotels you stay in are great, some are not so great. I have no idea what this one will be like, and it really doesn’t matter. I preach that to our kids, it doesn’t matter. That stuff has nothing to do with the outcome of the game. We can’t control the weather, we can’t control the hotels, we can’t control how far the flights are, or what time’s the kickoffs are. If we had my preference we would kick everything off at 11 o’clock or 12, or whatever, but we don’t have control over any of that so don’t give it any power. What we do have control over is when they put that ball down, us executing well and playing with purpose and passion. We have control over that.”
FREEZE CLOSE WITH HALL FAMILY
Second year Southern Miss head coach Will Hall has deep ties to the state of Mississippi. His dad, Bobby Hall, is one of the most successful high school football coaches in Mississippi history. He was inducted into the Mississippi Association of Coaches Hall of Fame in 2017 with more than 300 career wins and four state championships. Liberty head coach Hugh Freeze got to know Bobby when he was an assistant at Ole Miss and through that relationship got to know his son Will and the rest of the family, as well.
“It started when I was an assistant at Ole Miss,” Freeze said of his relationship with the Hall of Fame high school coach. “Then, coming back as the head coach. The guy has won, I can’t tell you how many games in the state of Mississippi. Always had great respect for him, then we became friends. He was always a great supporter to me, encourager, loyal, understood coaching. He’s been a good friend and raised a good son in Will also.”
INJURY UPDATE
There were a number of players who were banged up and held out of portions of training camp towards the end of August, but it appears that most of them are now cleared and able to play this weekend at Southern Miss. Tight end Jerome Jackson, safety Maurice Freeman and defensive back Preston Hodge returned to practice this week. All the wide receivers appear to be healthy and ready to play this weekend. At running back, Shedro Louis and Malik Caper both returned to practice this week and should be able to play this weekend. TJ Green is out this week and Coach Freeze says he’s hopeful to have him back by week three against Wake Forest.
“I think we are in a pretty good spot,” Freeze said on Monday. “I wish it was everyone. I think there’s a couple kids that are doubtful that will be with ankles and hamstrings and things like that. I don’t think it’s anything long term, but we won’t be at full strength. I don’t know that anybody is after a fall camp, but I think that we’re going to be close enough that I don’t know, I mean I’d like to have everybody but I don’t know that it would be something that I would say, currently, is a game changer. Hopefully we have enough depth. I think, just looking at everybody this morning, I believe we are in a pretty good spot.”
Following Thursday’s practice, Freeze said that Shedro Louis would be fine to go as he was slowed by a hamstring for a few days but is now fine. Malik Caper is close to 80% but will travel and be ready to play Saturday, according to Freeze.
Wide receiver CJ Daniels tore his ACL on the first day of spring practice in early March and he has yet to return to practice. Freeze said on Thursday that week three is a “realistic expectation” for him to possibly get some snaps against Wake Forest.
