Liberty (0-0) and Campbell (0-0) will meet Saturday at 6 p.m. to open the 2024 season. Kickoff from Williams Stadium in Lynchburg, Virginia will be televised on ESPN+.
Campbell finished last season at 5-6 and 4-4 in CAA play, their first season playing in the league. The Camels faced one FBS member, losing at North Carolina, 59-7, on Nov. 4. They also met future FBS and CUSA member Delaware, falling 45-7 on Nov. 11.
After the season, long time head coach and former Liberty assistant Mike Minter resigned. Braxton Harris was then named the new head coach of the Camels. Harris spent the 2021 and 2022 seasons on staff at Campbell when he was associate head coach, linebackers coach, and recruiting coordinator.
In 2023, Harris was the head coach at FCS Southland Conference member Houston Christian. He guided the Huskies to their first winning season in program history, going 6-5 overall after inheriting a program that had won more than two games once in the previous six years.
Harris and the Camels were picked to finish 11th in the preseason CAA media poll. Villanova was the preseason favorite in the 16-member league.
“I think the challenge for us is, you know, new staff there (at Campbell) and a lot of new players,” said Liberty head coach Jamey Chadwell. “We still don’t know exactly what they’re going to be yet. I think anytime there’s a new coach, even though you’ve been somewhere else completely different. Trying to find out who’s on the team in this era, it’s hard to do that. I think there is so little unknown for us about exactly what you’re going to see, from a coaching standpoint.”
Questions linger for the Camels at several key positions entering the year, including at quarterback. Hajj-Malik Williams has departed after starting for four years at quarterback, leading the Campbell offense. He got the start when the Camels visited Liberty to open the 2021 season, throwing for 183 yards while also leading the ream in rushing in the 48-7 loss.
Chad Mascoe played in 5 games at quarterback over the past two seasons, completing 51 of 87 passes for 699 yards, 4 touchdowns, and 3 interceptions. Mascoe is expected to be the team’s starter at the position to begin the season. He has been joined at the position by Lamar transfer redshirt-senior Mike Chandler II. Chandler played in 24 games, starting 10, over four seasons at Lamar. He played in two games in 2023, while appearing in 11 contests with 8 starts in 2022 when he completed 87 of 205 passes for 1,244 yards and 8 touchdowns. He also rushed 65 times for 3 scores.
It’s a similar story at running back where the top five rushers from last year are all gone. Transfers Sammy Malignaggi and Mark Biggins are likely in the mix at the position. Malignaggi comes from James Madison where he played in 44 games over four seasons, rushing for 162 yards and a touchdown. Biggins is a Cal Poly transfer who rushed for 270 yards and 2 touchdowns on 60 carries in 2023.
Freshman All-American VJ Wilkins and Chaney Fitzgerald are the top two pass catchers who return. They combined for 101 receptions for 1,010 yards, and 7 touchdowns.
6’5” redshirt-senior Sincere Brown is also expected to make an impact at receiver. He played his first three years at South Florida where he played in 10 games. He then transferred to Campbell but did not see the field in 2023. He had two touchdown catches in the Campbell spring game.
CJ Tillman returns at linebacker. He’s coming off a season with 98 tackles, 5.5 TFLs, 1.5 sacks and 2 forced fumbles.
The Campbell roster features 23 FBS transfers, nine of which have come from Power Conference teams including Florida, Penn State, LSU, Florida State, and Virginia Tech.
“The head coach came from Houston Christian,” Chadwell said of preparing for all the unknowns from their week 1 opponent. “You check that out. And then where did their DC come from? Where’d their OC come from? You look at all those different things to give you an idea of who they are, but I think also not knowing a lot about their players, and they brought in a lot of different ones, what do they do well? They might have done something at their previous place because that’s what they’re good at. You don’t know what they’re doing well where they’re at currently, and what they’re capable of. So, I do think there’s a challenge there, anytime it’s a new year, and they brought a staff together, and you’re trying to figure out which direction they’re going to go. Our coaches have done a good job of evaluating all those things. Felt like we put a good plan together for that to go play well. At the end of the day, it’s about us, and can we go play our best? Can Liberty play their best?”
PREDICTION
Liberty 42, Campbell 10
Line: Liberty -35.5
Picks results this year:
Straight-up: 0-0
ATS: 0-0
