Woodrum is BACK!
At the selection show on Sunday, Josh said he would be back 100% for the JMU game. On Tuesday, Coach Gill said he was probable and he only needed to practice one day this week. Well, Josh practiced on Tuesday. While Masha performed very admirably in Woodrum’s absence, he struggled with the deep ball. Josh has shown the ability throughout the season to find Darrin Peterson and Dante Shells deep on regular occasion. The Flames will need that firepower to knock off one of the best offenses and hottest teams in the country on Saturday.
Shells injury update
Speaking of Dante Shells, he saw very limited playing time at Coastal, but Gill lists him as probable for the JMU game. Having Shells healthy, will take a lot of pressure off Peterson, especially with the game Gabe Henderson had against Coastal.
Vad Lee: the tale of 2 seasons
When Liberty faces James Madison Saturday, it will be against one of the top quarterbacks in the country in Vad Lee. Lee is in his first season with the Dukes after transferring from Georgia Tech in the offseason. He ranks #5 in FCS in passing yards and #6 in passing touchdowns. As good as he’s been this season, he’s really turned it on during the Dukes current 7 game win streak. In the last 7 games, Lee has thrown for 299 yards per game, 20 touchdowns, and 1 interception. In the first 5 games of the season, Lee threw for 246 yards per game, 9 touchdowns, and 5 interceptions. He hasn’t thrown an interception in the last 5 games. He’s also a very capable runner with 792 rushing yards and 8 rushing touchdowns on the season.
LU’s struggles against CAA teams, including JMU
Liberty has really struggled against CAA teams losing 11 straight. The Flames are also 0-7 all-time against ranked CAA teams. Against James Madison, Liberty hasn’t beaten the Dukes since 1992. LU has never beaten a CAA opponent on the road. They will try to overcome all these streaks on Saturday when they face #15 James Madison.
Lunsford was named Big South Special Teams POY
Big South honorees
The Big South announced their end of year football honorees earlier this week. John Lunsford was named the Special Teams Player of the Year, and Mitch Hanson was named the Scholar Athlete of the Year. The Flames had 9 first team honorees in D.J. Abnar, Darrin Peterson, Jonathan Burgess, Mitch Hanson, Chima Uzowihe, Dominique Davis, Jacob Hagen, John Lunsford, and Trey Turner. Another 6 Flames were selected to the 2nd team in Josh Woodrum, Dexter Herman, Greg Ray, Toby Onyechi, Mick Sigmon, and Nick Newman.
Men’s hoops update
The men’s basketball team just completed the Cancun Challenge with 4 straight losses. Hopefully it was just a poor performance in an odd situation with very few fans in attendance at the games being played in a ballroom. Liberty is now 2-4 on the season, and returns to action Monday night in the Vines Center against Furman.
Women’s hoops update
The Lady Flames split their 2 games this week, beating Saint Joseph’s in overtime and falling to Elon. Liberty is 2-2 on the season, and heads to Georgia State this weekend to take part in the GSU Thanksgiving Tournament. LU faces Penn State Friday afternoon and then either Georgia State or Samford on Sunday.
FlameFans thread of the week
This week’s FlameFans thread of the week is Big South Championship Postmortem! I don’t think I’ve enjoyed a thread more!
