Liberty football will honor 17 players for Senior Day on Saturday, Nov. 30 before the Flames take on New Mexico State in Williams Stadium. The game kicks off at 2 pm.
The 2019 senior class has seen the program rise from its FCS and are the first class to take the program all the way through the FBS transition. The fifth-year seniors arrived in 2015 and watched (as redshirts) as the Flames went 6-5 highlighted by wins over #7 Montana and #4 Coastal Carolina. Ultimately, Big South conference losses to Gardner-Webb and Monmouth derailed hopes of returning to the FCS Playoffs for a second consecutive season.
As a true freshman in 2016, Buckshot Calvert took over as starter and led the team to five straight victories before sputtering to finish the year at 6-5 with losses to Charleston Southern and Coastal Carolina. This senior class has won 6 games in each and every season they have been on campus, but with a win Saturday will push the win total this year to 7 and become bowl eligible for the first time in program history.
September 2, 2017 will forever be a memory attached to this group of seniors as Liberty defeated Baylor, 48-45, in Waco behind breakout performances by Calvert and Antonio Gandy-Golden.
Below are the Liberty players that will be recognized on Saturday afternoon…
LB SOLOMON AJAYI
The younger brother of former Boise State star and current NFL veteran Jay Ajayi, Solomon transferred to Liberty from Bakersfield College in Bakersfield, California prior to the 2017 season. After redshirting in 2017, he has been an anchor for the defense starting all 23 games at linebacker that he has played in. Last season, he tied for the team lead with 76 tackles and leads the team this season with 82 tackles so far.
S ELIJAH BENTON
Benton entered the program as a walk-on from local LCA and quickly worked his way up the depth chart. He’s played in 42 games in his Liberty career and is the active leader in career tackles with 192 as he’s currently second on the team this season with 72 tackles. He has started 25 games at safety.
Benton has already graduated and has been named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District team.
QB STEPHEN BUCKSHOT CALVERT
A Plantation, Florida native, Buckshot entered the program much hyped as a 3-star recruit. When he signed with the Flames, it was thought he would immediately fight for the starting position to replace Josh Woodrum, and by the 5th game of his true freshman season he had supplanted Stephon Masha as the Flames’ signal caller.
Buckshot has led the team to the FBS ranks and his career is highlighted by the Baylor win in which he set program marks for completions, attempts, and yards. Of course, he has surpassed the single game mark for yards this year against UMass.
A case could be made that he is the best quarterback to ever play for Liberty and his stats certainly back that up. He owns the single-season and career marks for passing yards and touchdowns.
OL ETHAN CRAWFORD
Crawford joined the program from Aquinas High School in Augusta, Georgia. He started 13 games in his first two seasons on the field before injuries began to take a toll. He was able to recover and start 5 games last season. The 6’4″, 300 pound lineman has had difficulty cracking the rotation during his senior campaign.
S RION DAVIS
Davis is just 10 tackles shy of 100 for his Liberty career as the A.C. Flora High School product out of South Carolina has seen playing time in 42 games, tied with Benton for the most amongst defensive players. He started the first 9 games of the 2017 season, and has been a vital member of the special teams units while also getting snaps in the secondary the past two years.
OL DONTAE DUFF
Duff redshirted the 2015 season, but has started every single game since then, a span of 46 games. His redshirt-freshman season he started at three different positions – center and both guard spots – but has started the past 36 games at right guard. Following his junior campaign, Duff was named to the VaSID All-State second team and the Phil Steele Postseason All-Independent second team. The Mesquite, Texas native has become famous in the press box this year during the opening coin toss with his deep voice calmly stating, “We want the ball,” when the Flames win the toss.
DT VINCENT ELEFANTE
From Upland, California, Elefante was a JUCO transfer from Chaffey College prior to the 2018 season. He was a backup defensive tackle in 2018, but this season has become an anchor on the defensive line and one of the team leaders. In his 22 career games, Elefante has totaled 36 tackles and 2.5 tackles for loss.
TE ZAC FOUTZ
The Cave Spring High School and Roanoke, Virginia product, Foutz has battled through injuries his entire career. Still, he’s been able to make his way onto the field for 38 career games and is having his best season as a senior. In an offense that targets the tight end much more than under the previous coaching staff, Foutz has 8 receptions for 146 yards and 3 touchdowns this year.
WR ANTONIO GANDY-GOLDEN
We could write epistles, and have during his career, about the impact AGG has had on the Liberty football program. Like Buckshot, Gandy-Golden could be considered the greatest to ever do it at his position in a Liberty uniform, and maybe of all positions. A Biletnikoff Award semifinalist, AGG is currently second in the nation with 1,304 receiving yards. He’s the only Liberty wide receiver to ever record three consecutive 1,000 yard seasons.
AGG is closing in on Darrin Peterson’s single season receiving yardage mark of 1,379, it’s about the only receiving record he doesn’t have. Armed with a Senior Bowl invite, Gandy-Golden is poised to become the first Liberty player drafted by the NFL since Walt Aikens in 2014.
RB FRANKIE HICKSON
Hickson was never expected to have the career that he has had, but he has made his case for the explosive player that he is. First making his mark as a kick returner, then at running back, Hickson is 3rd on Liberty’s career list in all-purpose yards. He’s just 42 yards behind Stacy Nobles’ 4,220 yards for second place. With a solid senior day and a big bowl game (provided the Flames make it), Hickson could catch Dre Barnes’ mark of 4,461 yards.
He’s also closing in on the top 5 of Liberty’s career rushing leaders, just 35 yards behind Chip Smith who is currently in 5th place. He could finish his career 4th, behind Dre Barnes, Stacy Nobles, and Rashad Jennings.
OL SAM ISAACSON
Out of local LCA, Isaacson joined the program as a walk-on, but he has become the every day starter this season at right tackle. The 6’7″, 315 pound tackle has played in 41 games in his Liberty career, making 21 starts.
WR DAMIAN KING
Damian King came in the year before AGG, and his career started out exceptionally well before injuries have derailed his final two seasons in a Liberty uniform. Still, his career marks of 123 receptions for 1,290 yards and 6 touchdowns are nothing to scoff at.
In 2017, he was second on the team with 66 receptions for 669 yards. This year, he’s played in 9 games and hauled in 21 passes for 189 yards.
DE JESSIE LEMONIER
A JUCO transfer, Lemonier has made a huge impact in just his two seasons at Liberty. Coach Freeze and his staff will have a hard time finding someone to fill in for Lemonier next season. He has started all 23 games of his career with the Flames at defensive end, and he was named to the Phil Steele Postseason All-Independent second team after a season where he finished with 55 tackles, 13.5 tackles for a loss, and 10 sacks.
He became just the third player in program history to record 10 or more sacks in a season, and, with 1.5 more sacks this year, he will become the first ever Liberty player to have two consecutive seasons with double digit sack totals.
NG DEVIN PEARSON
Another JUCO transfer, Devin Pearson has made an impact on Liberty’s defensive line during his two seasons at nose guard. Originally from Ohio, Pearson attended Mt. San Jacinto College before coming to Liberty. He started 9 games last season where he finished the year with 36 tackles. This year, Pearson has played behind the much improved Ralfs Rusins, and he has 7 tackles in 7 games played.
K AARON PEART
Peart joined the program prior to the 2018 season after transferring in from Sierra College in Rocklin, California. With Alex Probert missing numerous games due to injury last season, Peart was Liberty’s starting kicker for 9 games. He finished the season ranked 4th on the team in scoring with 40 points as he connected on 3-of-6 field goals and 31-of-32 extra points. This year, he’s 2-for-2 on extra points.
LB BRANDON TILLMON
Tillmon entered the program from River Bluff High School in Lexington, South Carolina, and he originally flirted with the idea of being a two-sport athlete while also trying his hand at baseball. Eventually, he settled on focusing on football, beginning his career at safety before switching to linebacker for Liberty’s FBS move. He’s played in 40 career games and has 161 career tackles, 9.5 TFLs, 3.5 sacks, 3 interceptions and 4 pass breakups.
In just 9 games, he has 36 tackles this season. He is doubtful to play this weekend as he suffered an injury against Virginia.
CB BEJOUR WILSON
Wilson is a JUCO transfer who came in from City College of San Francisco, and he has started 16 games at corner for the Flames. He has dealt with several injuries this season, but Coach Freeze has called him one of the best corners he has ever coached. Wilson finished last year with 58 tackles and 3 interceptions, and he has added three more picks this year despite only playing in 8 games.
