Liberty head coach Jamey Chadwell met with the media on Friday morning as he recapped the Flames win over FIU and looked ahead to Thursday’s game against Sam Houston. You can also watch the press conference on our YouTube channel, the video is also below. We will plan on live streaming each of Coach Chadwell’s press conferences this season.
Here is everything Coach Chadwell had to say, beginning with his opening statement.
“First of all, actually excited about (midweek games). Obviously, it is unique to play on Thursdays and Tuesdays, but to have that opportunity to be able to be on television, get your brand out, showcase your players, showcase your university, I think is a positive. If you have to play it any day, I think it’s great to be on TV because players want to do that.”
“The way we are treating that, obviously, we are in an open date right now. Obviously, we play Thursday so we started yesterday with our prep for our next opponent, trying to get ready for them. Also, trying to balance getting guys healthy and not banged up and some of those things. So, we’ve tried to balance that as much as possible while still keeping momentum and also keeping the edge that you want to have. I think it’s a fine line. We love open dates but sometimes you wish you didn’t if you have good momentum going, you don’t want to interrupt you. We’ve tried to balance that out the best we can while keeping our guys healthy and focused on what’s coming next.”
THAT MUST HELP WITH HAVING AN EARLY GAME ON THURSDAY?
“Honestly, I think I would probably prefer it be on Saturday just to get the mindset back a little more. The time we wanted to give them off to get their minds and bodies right. All the time when you give players days off, the next day at practice it is never what you want it to be, that’s how it is. It’s like when you go on a vacation and you don’t want to go back to work on Monday but a Tuesday, everybody knows that. We will have to navigate through that, but I think our team understands where we’re at and what we need to do to continue to play at a high level. We will trust that with the time away they will handle that properly and will come back hungry.”
DID YOU AND THE COACHES WATCH THE GAME TOGETHER YESTERDAY?
“No. I saw a little bit of the score and I’m sure some guys watched every bit of it. We are going to watch it all the time anyway because you’ve got the video. More for me by that time, whatever time it started, if you get tired, you need to go to bed, because if you get emotionally attached to it then you want to stay up. I got emotionally attached to it and I was up until 1 o’clock and I couldn’t sleep. I tried not to because we’re going to watch it but the thing that I love is our conference is on TV which is awesome and our turn is coming. That’s the exciting thing about playing midweek.”
HAVE YOU HAD A CHANCE TO DO A SELF SCOUT DURING THE BYE WEEK?
“You do look at what your tendencies are. If we are in this formation are we 80% run or whatever? And then defensively you look at different things as far as what are we calling on key situations, are we calling on too much? Does the opponent understand what we are trying to do and can take advantage of it? You look at that as far as what you’re calling and how you’re calling. More importantly than that I think you go back and look at what are we getting by with. We won but what are we getting by with and not doing well. Our biggest focus after watching that is the details of why we do something and the fundamentals of it have been lacking in certain areas. The first two days of this week were heavy fundamental stuff as far as techniques on special teams or techniques on certain types of plays or coverages we’re trying to execute. That’s what we’ve noticed through four games is when we’ve played well, great, but there’s so much more out there and why are we not getting it. That’s where our focus was, so we did that, and then you have to also prepare for two opponents, as well, because it is such a quick turnaround. You try to get that done and then also prepare for the next two.”
DO YOU DO ANYTHING DIFFERENTLY WITH THE GUYS IN THE LEADUP TO THURSDAY KNOWING YOU HAVE THE QUICK TURNAROUND?
“You have to get ready for Thursday game. Whatever it takes to get ready for that Thursday game, that’s the most important game we’ve played. It’s the biggest one we’ve ever played, that’s the mindset. Going after that one, you change up a lot of stuff because it is a four day deal. Players are used to a routine, coaches don’t have a routine, that to me will be the biggest challenge, hey this is what we have to do. Like playing on a Thursday night now because you have an open date is fine because they get it. It’s that turnaround and next Tuesday that will be a challenge, I think, getting our guys used to that. We are going to prepare. We have prepared like normal. We did have a couple light days where we didn’t hit and all those things that help. Since Wednesday everything has been like it’s a weekend game and we will continue to do that. The challenge is we are giving a couple of days to rest, when you come back, three days out from a normal game you are almost finished up. We are going to have to treat it almost like it is the first of the week because we’ve had a couple days away. So, we will try to get that rest out of them.”
AFTER THE GAME NEXT WEEK, YOU’VE GOT TRAVEL ON TOP OF THAT, HOW MUCH DOES THAT AFFECT THINGS?
“Your Friday will turn into basically, you will clean up stuff in the morning meeting wise, and then you really have to bring your team back that night to at least have an introduction to your next opponent. You really have to have like a Monday/Tuesday that first day. Saturday is same thing and then Sunday. Your Monday, what I am trying to do now is as much as I can here and get, really, a practice out of them, and then leave later in that day just to try to maximize that day since it is only a four day deal. In the past at previous institutions, we have played Saturday-Thursday, so we have schedules based on how we sort of did that. We will compare and try to fit it with what we’re doing here. I don’t know if anybody has a magic formula that says this is what you should do. We are going to do what we think is best, Friday will be a quick turnaround. Coaches know that, we’ve been prepping for that. It will be the players. Normally after a game they get the day off. You don’t get the day off. They will not have a day off between those days, as far as some sort of football. For me, that will be the biggest change they will have to adjust to. I don’t know if in their time frame they have ever had a four day turnaround. So, it might be brand new for everybody except the coaches, just the mental piece of that. I’m sore, well you still got to lock in on this because we’ve got a short game and the travel.”
WHAT HAS BENTLEY HANSHAW DONE TO TAKE THE NEXT STEP FORWARD AS A LEADER?
“Obviously, you can see the catches he makes. He does a nice job there. In the time that we’ve been here, I feel like he’s really committed himself to being a true tight end. A tight end is an O-Lineman and he’s a pass catcher. Sometimes you get all pass catcher and sometimes you get some guys that can run and can’t catch a cold. He is very well rounded, but he’s committed himself to being a good blocker. When you have that commitment to doing that and it shows from the way he plays. He plays physical, he plays aggressive, and then, obviously, when he gets fed in the passing game it makes him happy. They all want to catch it, but we are very pleased with the way he’s blocking and what he does there because that opens up his passing opportunities.”
SAM HOUSTON HAS STRUGGLED OFFENSIVELY, BUT THEY USED MULTIPLE QUARTERBACKS, I THINK THEY ARE DOWN A COUPLE GUYS AT RECEIVER, BUT YOUR THOUGHTS ON WHAT THEY PRESENT CHALLENGE WISE?
“I think you’ve got to look at who they’ve played first. Houston is a Big 12 team. BYU is a Big 12 team. Air Force is arguably one of the top G5 teams, right. My point of that is, yeah they have maybe not scored as many points but they’re also playing pretty good people. Last night was really, in my opinion, the first time they’ve played somebody that was probably equal talent wise and some of those things, so they scored a lot of points. Now, they have had some injuries. I think you watch that game and they should have won that game, had it won. They are very talented. You can see on special teams they have a lot of good players. Special teams tells you if you have good players or not, if you can run or what not. So, they’ve got good players. They obviously won a national championship in 2020. They’ve played at a high level for a long time. We’re not going to underestimate them. We know who they’ve played. Players see schedules and records and think this team is not good, and that’s far from the truth. Are they finding themselves? Sure, but I think what you saw last night is closer to what they really are than the previous three weeks because of who they’ve been playing.”
THEY’VE HELD TEAMS TO LOW SCORES ON DEFENSE, WHAT HAVE YOU SEEN FROM THEM ON THAT SIDE OF THE BALL?
“I think where they’re really good is they don’t do a lot of stuff. Some team, like Jax State, they do everything. They don’t do a lot of stuff but what they do they are really good at. What I mean by that is they’ve got two really good linebackers that can get to the football. Up front, they cause a lot of havoc with twisting and movements and stuff. They never end up where they line up. They have a lot of different stunts and things. They are good at what they do. They are sound at it. They play confident. Last night was really the most points they’ve given up. Obviously, Houston scored a lot but it was based off turnovers there at the end. We think, from a defensive standpoint overall, it’s the best defense that we’ve seen. They’re very sound. They are very experienced. There’s not anybody on that team that’s not been there 3-5 years that’s on that defensive side of the ball, so they have a lot of experience. In experience, you go back, they are playing 13-15 games a year. Look at our defense and how many games people have played on our defense, compared to how many games those people have played there. Experience is experience no matter what level you play at. They’ve got guys who have played 40+ games. We’ve got guys going on 4. That’s a big difference from an experience standpoint.”
YOU WERE PART OF A TEAM THAT MADE THE TRANSITION FROM FCS TO FBS, HOW MUCH OF A TRANSITION IS THAT?
“I don’t think the talent level is that much different especially if you are Sam Houston or somebody that has played for a national title and all that. Some of those FCS programs have a lot of money. Sometimes more money than some of the FBS programs based off state help and all that. My point of that is, when we transitioned there at my previous place, we weren’t ready for it. We weren’t ready for it from a facilities stand point and we weren’t ready for it from a financial stand point. We weren’t ready for any of that. If you’re not a top, top program in the FCS, meaning you are national champion semifinals, those guys are the top of the top every year. North Dakota States…they’ve been invested in it for a long time. The biggest challenge I thought that we faced there was trying to get good up front – OL/DL. You can get skill guys, it was just hard to get OL/DL guys. I think that’s the biggest challenge that you face when you move up because it’s more physical. I’ve actually been impressed with how they have played and how they’ve held up with the schedule they’ve had, physically up front. That shows you they are heading in a good direction.”
THEIR NOSE GUARD, MEATBALL SMITH, I THINK HE IS A GEORGIA STATE TRANSFER, HOW DOES HE AFFECT GAMES?
“Is he over there with linguine? Really their whole DLine, anytime you are named Meatball you know you are pretty good. If you got a nickname Meatball you’ve got something special going on. The special sauce. You ever watched Saved By the Bell? Screech…it’s in the sauce! He’s hard to move. Anytime you are hard to move, causes issues. Can you single block him? If you can’t single block him you’ve got to put two on him. Now that leaves someone free. So, that’s where they do a nice job of they demand double teams at a lot of positions. Then, when that happens, it frees up those linebackers to make a lot of plays.”
DO YOU THINK TAYLOR SWIFT HAS PUT TRAVIS KELCE ON THE MAP?
“You know what, it must be because everybody knows who he is. There’s going to be a lot of young girls asking for Travis Kelce jerseys. 400% increase there. Last night I was thinking how can I get Taylor Swift to a Liberty game? If that’s going to be the case, maybe for Midweek on the Mountain, have her come up here and sing Why are You being so Mean? That would probably fit. Taylor, if you are out there, drop the zero and come get with the heroes.”
