Entering the third year under head coach Jamey Chadwell and his defensive staff, Liberty is looking to take the next step as a defense. With as many question marks and new pieces as there are on the offensive side of the ball, the defense could be relied upon to keep the team in games in 2025, especially early in the season.
“We want to swarm to the ball, run to the ball relentlessly,” said Liberty Co-Defensive Coordinator and Outside Linebackers Coach Kyle Krantz. “We want to be the most physical unit in the country and want to get turnovers.”
The Flames return several key pieces to the defense that have played a ton of snaps over the past couple of years. This group includes TJ Bush, CJ Bazile, Joe Carter, Amarian Williams, A’Khori Jones, and Brylan Green. They will be working together with a group of 13 newcomers that joined the defense this spring.
“We got to get them acclimated to what we do, schematically, but more importantly, what we do culturally, defensively and the red smoke,” Krantz said. “What that means and the standard that entails. Integrating the new guys with the group that we already have, it’s been fun to watch. They’ve had a great attitude and a great approach every day.”
Krantz says that under Coach Chadwell’s direction, the coaching staff wants to empower the leaders of the team, including the defense, to take ownership of the team. That’s been one of the main areas of focus this spring.
“The great teams, players lead,” said Krantz. “That’s been the challenge to our group. We have a bunch of veteran players coming back on defense. (We want) to get them to take that challenge. It’s hard. It’s difficult. It’s lonely to be a leader when you got to call your peers out. Coach Chadwell’s done a great job with it, empowering our veterans to say this is your team and we’ll back you up with whatever decisions you decide we need to make.”
The coaching staff has been able to see several of the veterans on the team coaching up the younger players during practice. It leads to having coaches on the field who know the scheme and the standard that the team is trying to chase. Liberty has also brought in a lot of competition as this defense should be as deep as it has been in the three years under this coaching staff.
“The best way to challenge them is to bring in competition,” Krantz explained. “There’s a bunch of guys that are playing and competing. They know that nothing is given and everything’s earned. They have to approach it that way.”
A’Khori Jones has been a player that has stood out for the coaching staff with his play on the field this spring and also his leadership ability. Entering his fourth year in the program, Jones has played in 35 games in Liberty’s defensive backfield, recording 87 tackles and 8 tackles for a loss. In 2025, the Flames are hoping Jones can take that next step into being an all-conference type performer.”
“The one guy that stood out to me int he secondary consistently this spring is A’Khori Jones,” Chadwell said following the team’s spring game. “I think he’s done a good job for us. He’s obviously played quite a bit, but he’s done a really nice job of really standing up and showing it every single day in the secondary, from the safety position.”
The spring laid the foundation for the Liberty defense to take the next step, but consistency will be needed for this group to reach its ceiling.
“The consistent mindset we have to have overall, we don’t have that all the time,” said Chadwell of his defense. “That is something that those guys have to mature and go to because I think we can have a really, really good defense. I think our defense knows that, but I think just the work that goes into that, the effort that goes into that, the mentality that goes into that, we have to get to that consistently. I think we have the pieces there to be a really good defense. There’s flashes there where we can show we can be a dominant defense.”
