Liberty is hopeful to get Charlie Brewer back at quarterback this week. He was sidelined after just two series in the season opener at Southern Miss as he broke his right hand. The injury required surgery and had pins placed in his hand, just below his thumb. He had his cast and the pins removed two weeks ago, returned to practice last week, but was on the sidelines and not in uniform against Gardner-Webb.

Brewer was back at practice again this week, and seemed to have fewer restrictions on his reps during the open period of practice Tuesday.

“I don’t think he was near close enough for (last) Saturday,” Liberty head coach Hugh Freeze said on Monday of Brewer. “I do think there was drastic improvement over the weekend. Obviously, Monday’s for us is a very light day. We do red zone work, and he looked fine doing that, but that’s throwing it from here to that wall there. He hasn’t had to turn it loose and throw a 40 yard, 50 yard ball yet. So, I really don’t know. We will have to see how the week progresses.”

If Brewer is able to play Saturday, it will be a rematch against BYU for the quarterback. While with Utah last season, Brewer completed 15 of 26 passes for 147 yards, 1 touchdown, and 1 interception and also ran four times for 20 yards in Utah’s, 26-17, loss to BYU on Sept. 11, 2021.

“The thing that you see is they are well coached,” BYU head coach Kalani Sitake said when asked about not knowing who Liberty’s quarterback will be Saturday. “They put points on the board. This is what Coach Freeze does with his offense. They are a high powered offense. Their running backs can run the ball. They have a big O-Line. They are 6-1 for a reason. They are already bowl eligible. I think they’ve been bowl eligible pretty much every year for the last four years since Hugh’s been there. They are used to success on offense, and they are used to doing things a certain way, they have a certain standard. We’ve got to disrupt that somehow. I don’t know which quarterback will show up, but I can tell you one thing, he will be well coached. He will know where to go with the football, and he’s going to get that offense doing what they have been doing all year. Not a lot of people have been able to stop them. Look forward to the matchup and getting our defense ready to roll.”

On Thursday, Freeze provided an update on his quarterback’s status this week.

“Charlie wants to play badly,” said Freeze on Thursday. “He’s not ready today, in my opinion, but he wants to play badly. It wouldn’t shock me for us to try him if things aren’t going well. I’ve just got to see how he improves. He doesn’t have enough flexibility in his hand to make me feel confident he can make every throw he needs to make for us to win this game, but I’m hopeful that it gets better before Saturday.”

While Kaidon Salter remains out after having surgery on his groin just ahead of the UMass game, Liberty and Freeze will turn to Johnathan Bennett if Brewer is unable to go. Bennett, who has started the past two games and three games total this season, has completed 53 of 105 passes for 692 yards, 6 touchdowns, and 6 interceptions this season. Last week against Gardner-Webb, Bennett was 17 of 30 passing for 222 yards, 1 touchdown, and 2 interceptions.