2016 Schedule Officially Released
The 2016 football schedule was officially released earlier this week. If you have been keeping up to date with our updates on the schedule, the only surprise was that the Coastal Carolina game will be played on Thursday night. The Flames will open the 2016 season with their first ever meeting against Virginia Tech. The game will be played September 3rd in Blacksburg. Liberty’s home opener is the following weekend, September 10th, against Jacksonville. The home slate is highlighted by a September 24th game against 2015 FCS National Runner-up Jacksonville State. Defending Big South champion and FCS quarterfinal participant Charleston Southern pays a visit to Williams Stadium on November 12th. You can see the full 2016 schedule here.
Spring game
Liberty’s Annual Spring Game will be held on Saturday, April 16th at 2pm. It will be your first chance to see freshman quarterback Rudiger Yearick as he battles Stephon Masha for the starting quarterback spot.
NFL Combine List Offically Released
The NFL Scouting Combine particpant list was officially released on Thursday, featuring Liberty kicker John Lunsford and quarterback Josh Woodrum, as previously reported. On their NFL Combine profile, Woodrum was graded a 4.8 which is described as “should be in NFL Training Camp,” while Lunsford was graded a 4.7 which is described as “chance to be in an NFL Training Camp.” Josh is 1 of 18 quarterbacks who will workout at the Combine. Quarterbacks conduct media interviews at the Combine on Thursday, February 25th and workout on Saturday, February 27th. Lunsford is 1 of 6 kickers who will workout at the Combine. Special teamers will conduct media interviews on Wednesday, February 24th and workout on Friday, February 26th.
Pro Day dates set
The Flames’ Pro Day events have been scheduled. Rising Senior day is on March 3rd while Draft Eligible Seniors Pro Day will be March 23rd. We plan on bringing you plenty of coverage on these events as today’s Liberty stars hope to become tomorrow’s NFL stars.
Football roster changes
We have heard rumblings of some notable roster changes for last week or two, and have been working on verifying the information. Well, the online football roster was updated this week, and it confirmed what we have been told. A total of 16 names have been removed from the roster, the most notable names being safety Avery James, fullback Buddy Edwards, kicker Avery Echols, defensive tackle Javon Majors, and offensive lineman Will Smith.
Flames win streak extends to 6
Liberty extended their win streak to 6 games with a win at High Point last Saturday. The 6 game win streak is the longest since November-December 2006 when the Flames won 6 straight including 3 over non-Division I teams. It’s the longest win streak over all Division I teams since 2004 when Liberty won 7 straight during their Big South Championship season. This win streak is getting very close to setting Liberty’s all-time marks. The program’s longest win streak since moving to Division I in 1988 is 9 games, set in 1993. The longest win streak in school history is 11, set in 1980 when Liberty closed the season with 11 straight wins on the way to the NCCAA national championship.
Big South Tourney
If the tournament started today, Liberty would be seeded 4th and would play 5 seed High Point at 2pm on Friday, March 4th. The winner would advance to face the winner between the #1, 8, and 9 seed, who is currently UNC-Asheville, Charleston Southern, and Longwood, respectively. It’s important to note the top 5 teams receive a first round bye, and the current standings are pretty tight at the top. The top 7 teams in the league standings are separated by just 2.5 games. Teams 2-5 are all separated by 1 game.
Cabbil named Big South FOW
Lovell Cabbil was named the Big South freshman of the week following his performance against Winthrop and High Point. He averaged 14 points per game in the two wins and made all 10 of his free throws. He’s made 15 straight free throws. Cabbil is shooting 86.7% from the free throw line this season. If he had attempted enough free throws to qualify, he would be 1st in the Big South in free throw shooting and 29th nationally.
Basketball commits update
- Brock Gardner is nearing the end of his high school career where his senior class is 78-7 overall with 4 conference titles, 2 state championships, and 1 state runner-up to their credit thus far. We’ll see if he’s able to claim a 3rd state championship.
- Signee Xzavier Barmore recently surpassed the 2,000 career points plateau. He scored in a season-high 33 points in a win last Friday night. Barmore has 4 30-point games this season and is averaging 23 points per game.
- Josiah Talbert scored 20 points and grabbed 7 rebounds in a game last Friday night. He also added 4 blocks.
Women’s basketball update
The Lady Flames increase their win streak to 8 with wins over Radford and Campbell this week. Liberty is 12-2 in Big South play, tied with UNC-Asheville for 1st place. Liberty and Asheville square off on Saturday in Asheville. The Lady Flames won the previous meeting, 71-53, on January 4th in Lynchburg.
Softball season begins
Dot Richardson began her 3rd season at Liberty on Thursday, losing to #17 UCF, 7-2. The Flames open the season with their first 6 games in Florida, all of which are played from February 11th through the 14th.
FlameFans thread of the week
This week’s FlameFans thread of the week is Game #27: @ Longwood, as the Flames hope to extend their win streak to 7 by beating the Lancers in Willett Hall for the first time in school history.
