Liberty head coach Jamey Chadwell met with the media on Friday as he recapped the Flames win over Middle Tennessee and looked ahead to Tuesday’s game at Western Kentucky. Check out the full video from his press conference below.
“After watching the video, in all three phases there was some things we did well. Obviously, there were some things we didn’t do very well especially in the first half defensively. We really struggled to tackle, get them off the field, that carried over to third quarter. I thought the turning point in the game was Brylan Green’s fumble recover – or whoever recovered it – I thought our defense played lights out since then.”
“Offensively, I thought we left some things out there from the standpoint of the turnovers, the penalties really cost us. The area that we’ve got to improve in is special teams, we had a bad day. You can’t have bad days when you are playing for a conference championship and trying to get a birth in a conference championship game. We’ve got to improve that, that’s showed up the last couple of weeks. That’s the biggest takeaway.”
“We are thankful for a win. This time of the year, you take them any way you can get them. Our team, we are growing as we’re going through this and learning every week. You’ve got to be ready to go. Something we’ve been preaching for a long time. It’s slowly taking course for our guys. Our guys are certainly understanding that.”
“This week is big for us because we know we’ve got a great opponent. We know it’s an opportunity, again on television, we know how talented they are, but it’s more about Liberty and the things we need to do.”
THOSE 2 PUNTS, WERE THEY BAD LUCK OR DID HE MISS STRIKE THE BALL?
“The one that was at midfield, if you get it to roll the other way, that ends up being a pretty solid punt. The other one, it rolled backward 15 yards maybe, that means it was only like a 30 yard punt anyway, so that was not very good. I don’t think he struck the ball very well on three of those. We had one where we could have pinned them back inside the 20. He’s supposed to kick it left, it went right. Didn’t have a good game. He’s got to get better. He knows that. He’s got to own that, but sometimes I guess it’s like your golf game and you’re just not hitting it well. Unfortunately, we don’t get mulligans in our game so we have to get better there.”
WILLIAM BYRON WAS AT THE GAME LAST WEEK, ARE YOU A BIG NASCAR FAN?
“I wouldn’t say I’m a big NASCAR fan, I understand NASCAR, I watch NASCAR. If Coach Queen, our Chief of Staff, if NFL is on Sunday and NASCAR is on Sunday, he’s watching NASCAR. He watches all that stuff. When I was in college, part of our deal, we got to work with Bristol Motor Speedway, so I got involved with that. I enjoy it.”
“It was awesome meeting him and knowing he’s 2nd place in the Chase, see I know a little bit about it, but he was just down to earth. I was very interested in learning what they do and how they prepare to go race. It was pretty cool to see him and how awesome he’s doing. It’s amazing that students, graduates of Liberty are being able to have success in so many different areas. It’s pretty cool to see him and on the national stage how he is improving.”
HOW IS PRACTICE GOING SO FAR THIS WEEK?
“Yesterday was good. For us it was a Monday. So, Monday is a lighter day as far as it’s an introduction to your opponent, it’s cleaning up the previous game, but there was good juice, there was good energy. Today is the key day. Today is our Tombstone Day, it’s our Tuesday practice. The main thing is what’s the attitude we’re going to come out with? I think our guys are starting to realize that we do play how we practice. We got away with one, what I mean by that is we didn’t practice as well and it showed up in the way we started the game and the points we gave up and some of the sloppiness we had. We’re not a team where you can roll the ball out and say we’re just better than people. That’s not who we are. We’ve got to have a chip on our shoulder. We always assume that people are better than us. We’ve got to practice that way. Each week we are getting closer to understanding that, but we were very close to touching that hot stove too and learning it the hard way. Today will be big and I expect that we will have a good practice.”
IS SOMEONE IN CHARGE OF KEEPING TRACK OF KAIDON’S HELMET?
“From now on there will be. As a coach, you are trying to figure out do I take a timeout? I’d look like an idiot. I’ve had to do that before, I’ll tell you a story. My first head job at North Greenville University, 2009, probably the worst team in America. We run out, God bless the quarterback, love him, he’s a great young man, he’s coaching high school ball now. He forgot the play. So I had to take a timeout on the very first play as a head coach in our first game. I was like, do I take a timeout? We had a good play on, we felt we had a good play on. Really, the guy was open, he didn’t throw a great ball, he lobbed it up. We would have been fine. Yeah, that was a first. We will put that in Chapter 7 of the book.”
DO YOU THINK YOUR TEAM IS GETTING THE PROPER NATIONAL RECOGNITION IT DESERVES?
“We’re one of 11 undefeated. We’re going to get knocked on – new conference, you’re going to always get knocked on because your conference is this or that. We are a good team that is working towards being a great team. You control what you can. So far, 7 up, 7 down. That’s all we can control. We don’t get caught up in any of that stuff because I think once you start worrying about those things – outside noise, outside influence – then, you are focused on things that don’t matter. We can only control those things. Our focus is on every week, are we maximizing what we have to be our very best? Does that give us a chance to get to the conference championship game to play for that? That’s important to our team. Do we have players that deserve recognition? 100%. I could care less about coaches or whatever, care less about that piece, I’m thankful for that but that’s a staff award, the Bear Bryant is a player deal. If they’re doing well then the coach is doing well. Our players, we have a lot of players that are playing at a high level. I do think they individually do deserve recognition in the way they are playing. If we will handle our business, at the end of the year you will get what you need to get anyway?”
THE OFFENSE HAS BEEN TURNING THE BALL OVER MORE RECENTLY, WHAT DO YOU THINK IS CAUSING THAT?
“From a detail stand point, we work the ball security every week. As coaches, we’re not doing a good enough job of making sure it’s done the way we want to. The turnovers that we’ve had, the helmet gate on the interception was that one, we will take that for what it’s worth, but the other one, and there was really another one that could have been overturned, we are carrying the ball low, we’re not doing the things we’re supposed to do. It’s not that we’re not practicing it, we’re just not doing a good enough job as mandating it and then the players making sure they are handling those things. Jacksonville State did we have a turnover there, I can’t remember (the Kaidon Salter fumble before halftime), the last 4 or 5 games, the ball has been on the ground, whether we’ve got it or lost it, that’s going to cost you. If you look at our opponent this week, they lead the country in turnovers – 18, 9 fumble recoveries. They do an unbelievable job of gang tackling and getting the ball out. If we don’t get it fixed, it’s going to cost us dearly. It hasn’t cost us dearly yet, but it’s coming if we don’t get it fixed.”
2 OF THE BETTER QBs IN THE LEAGUE, COULD THIS GAME BE ANOTHER HIGH SCORING AFFAIR?
“I hope not. I’ve got confidence in our defense. I think we’ve got to do a better job of coming out of the gate and playing well. If you look from halfway of the third quarter on, we shut them down. We’ve put them in a couple of bad positions in turning the ball over. I think if you ask our defensive guys they will say we didn’t prepare the way we needed to to play our best. I think those guys understand that. We are playing great receivers and the quarterback is the Preseason Player of the Year and all of those things. They’re good. They’re going to make plays. They’ve got a good offense. They’re going to make plays. I expect us to play better. I hope it’s not a high scoring game out there. I hope we score a lot and they score a little, that’s what I hope it is.”
HOW GOOD HAS THIS OFFENSIVE LINE BEEN SO FAR THIS YEAR?
“They’ve obviously handled their business each week. Twofold, you want to be able to control the line of scrimmage. You want to be able to run the ball when nobody expects you to run it and then when everybody in the stadium knows you need to run it you need to be able to run it. Two, they need to be able to protect the quarterback, and, on top of that, be able to protect the quarterback that likes to run around a lot. That’s a challenge. I think they’ve done a nice job of jelling. We had the injury to Brendan early on. Now everybody had to adjust to these things. That group has done a really good job chemistry wise.”
“X’Zauvea and Jon have played a lot of football. Jordan has really solidified doing a center. He’s been a great addition for us. Chase Mitchell is playing, Jack Tucker, Xavior Gray, those guys have been able to connect and communicate, build some good chemistry. They take a lot of personal pride in what they do. We’ve developed from Week 1 to now. We thought that could be a strength and it has been. I’m proud of those guys and how they’ve competed.”
YOUR TEAM HAS PLAYED REALLY WELL ON THE ROAD THIS YEAR, IS THERE A REASON FOR THAT AND IS THAT ENCOURAGING FOR THIS WEEK?
“I would say, one, when you go to the road it’s you and your group. 70 something we travel with and there’s not a ton of fans coming with you and the opponent is all against you. I think two, anytime you go into enemy territory, there is something specially unique about it. We get to bring our identity in who we are there. I love going on the road and going in and being able to come out with a big victory. There is nothing better than that. I think our guys enjoy that, enjoy the time together when we are on the road and when we travel and all those things. Our expectation is that we will play well in somebody elses places. We don’t view that as oh man we’ve got to go to XYZ. We’ve got to bring our A game. I think our guys like that. We have played well on the road and we’ve played well at home too. I expect us to play well.”
VATTIATO PLAYED WELL THE OTHER NIGHT NOW YOU FACE AUSTIN REED, WHAT TYPES OF CHALLENGES DOES HE PRESENT?
“They get the ball out quick. He is very accurate. When you get it out quick and you are accurate, you don’t have a lot of room for error. We’ve got to find ways to pressure him and knock the receivers off their routes, off their timing, so we can get some pressure on him and force him into maybe making some bad decisions. If he has time to throw, he’s going to put it where he’s supposed to be. He’s been able to do that. It’s a big challenge for us and our secondary because of the skill they have. We’ve got to do a great job of handling him in the pocket and pressuring him and allow our DBs to do what we do well. I think they lead the team in turnovers, we’re right there right behind them. Our guys have confidence when that bill is in the air, if there is a tip or a miss throw, we have a chance to make catch an INT. Our guys know the challenge, but I know they will rise to the occasion as well.”
WAS THE TACKLING AS BAD AS YOU THOUGHT IT WAS THERE IN THE FIRST HALF?
“It was pretty bad. Just some missed tackles and eye discipline. You have to have eye discipline. Eye discipline leads to tackling. We didn’t tackle well. I think we’re a good tackling team, but your mentality that you bring to the table matters. You have to have the mindset that we’re ready to go. We’re not waiting around and circumstances this or that. Nobody cares about how you’re feeling, you’ve got to show up and produce. We didn’t do a good job of tackling early on, for whatever reason. They had good players, so they can make you miss, I’m not knocking that. Also, I think our group and the way we were needing to play wasn’t there out of the gate. It took us a while to get going, but once we did I think we showed what we’re capable of. We’ve got to have that mentality early and we have to carry that for four quarters. Not wait around, get punched in the face a few times and lay on the ropes, and then alright, let’s come back. All three phases, not just defense, all three phases.”
