Retic finished with a season-high 9 points

Men’s hoops update
It keeps getting worse. Just when you think it’s hit rock bottom Joe Retic gets hurt. Then no one scores in double figures as you lose by 15 at home. Then you drop your 5th straight game to open conference play. The Flames have yet to score 60 points in a game since Big South play started. When will it end? One of the few remaining games on the calendar you might circle thinking Liberty has a realistic chance at winning is Saturday at Longwood, but then you remember the Flames have NEVER won at Willett Hall.

Women’s hoops update
Following their busy week with 3 games last week, the Lady Flames played just one game this week. Liberty beat Longwood 70-48 behind 11 made 3-pointers. 6 players scored between 9 and 12 points led by Simone Brown who led Liberty with 12 points. The Lady Flames also outrebounded Longwood 62-23. LU is now 7-0 in Big South play and stands alone in first place. The 7-0 conference start is their best since the 2008-09 season when the Lady Flames started conference play 15-0.

Big football recruiting weekend
This is a big football recruiting weekend for the Flames. We  have been able to identify 4 recruits who will be on campus for their official visit – TE Zac Foutz, DB Jeremy Peters, WR Damian King, and ATH Denvre Daniels. Foutz committed to Liberty back in October and has been rated as one of the top 50 prospects out of the state of Virginia. Peters has offers from Kent State, Akron, Marshall, and Middle Tennessee State. King is a 3-star prospect with several FBS offers including West Virginia, Missouri, and Kansas State. Daniels has offers from Colorado State and New Mexico State; Liberty is looking at him as either a running back or wide receiver.

In other recruiting news, DB prospect Nate Dalton has named his top 6. The 3-star and top prospect from Houston, Texas, lists Liberty with Army, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Arkansas, and Michigan. It’s huge for Liberty to mentioned along these schools, but will be that much bigger if Coach Gill & Coach Singletary can land him on the mountain. The big offensive lineman from Norway, Ernst Anderson, has enrolled at Liberty for the Spring semester.

Flames finish #17 in final FCS polls
With North Dakota State winning its 4th straight FCS championship this past Saturday, the 2014 FCS season concluded. On Monday, both the Sports Network and the Coaches released their final FCS Top 25 poll. Liberty moved up to #17 in each poll with Coastal ranked #5 in each. The Sports Network also issued “An Early Look to FCS 2015” with a top 17 preseason ranking. The Flames checked in at #13. 2015 opponents also ranked are #14 James Madison and #6 Coastal Carolina.

VaSID All-State Football Teams announced
The Virginia Sports Information Directors named their 2014 All-State Football teams earlier this week. Coach Gill was named the VaSID Coach of the Year and Jacob Hagen shared Defensive Player of the Year honors with Virginia Tech cornerback Kendall Fuller. Liberty led the state with 11 total all-state honorees. The 7 first-team honorees were DJ Abnar, Jonathan Burgess, Jacob Hagen, Mitch Hanson, John Lunsford, Darrin Peterson, and Trey Turner. The 4 second-team honorees were Dexter Herman, Greg Ray, Nick Sigmon and Chima Uzowihe.

Mike Brown signed by the Panthers
The Carolina Panthers announced on Thursday that they have signed former Liberty quarterback and wide receiver Mike brown to a futures contract. Don’t know what a futures contract is? Don’t worry, here’s a nice breakdown. In 3 seasons with the Jaguars, Brown told 39 receptions, 534 yards, and 2 touchdowns.

Kevin Fogg has also signed a futures contract with the Steelers.

 



FlameFans thread of the week
“One Lunatic Standing” discusses one painted-face fan who stands and screams all game and why are there not more like him.