Marshall not having fun
Not long after Liberty’s loss Tuesday night to Winthrop, guard Davon Marshall had this to say on twitter:

Have the fans checked out?
Reported attendance from the game against Winthrop was 1,615 though it looked much less than that. This is down from the season opener that saw more than 7,000 fans for Randolph College. Have the fans checked out?

Drew Smith beast mode
One bright spot for the Flames during this most recent losing streak, has been Drew Smith. During conference play, Smith is averaging 12.11 points, 7.11 rebounds, and 1.22 blocks per game. He is shooting 46-of-72 which is an impressive 64% from the field. He has scored in double figures in 7 out of the 9 conference games, and has recorded his first career double-doubles in the last 2 games. His minutes have increased from averaging 15 per game in the first 15 games of the season to 26 in the past 9.

Stavian Allen invited to All-star game
Liberty signee Stavian Allen has been invited to the North Carolina Triad All-Star game on March 23rd. He will also compete in the dunk contest. Speaking of Allen, that gives me a chance to post this photo of him from a couple of weeks ago:


Flames pick up tight end transfer
As we mentioned during our Signing Day coverage, the Flames picked up a mid-year transfer in Tight End Will Johnson from West Virginia. He was a 3 star recruit coming out of Osseo High School in Osseo, Minnesota according to Rivals, ESPN, and Scout. He had a number of offers when he was recruited out of high school including West Virginia, Minnesota, Auburn, Boston College, Iowa, Iowa State, and Kansas. Coach Gill was Kansas’ head coach at the time of his recruitment. Johnson redshirted in 2012, his freshman year, and notified the Mountaineers in August 2013 that he intended to transfer. The 6’6″, 245-pounder will have 3 seasons of eligibility remaining.

Gill inks 12
We’ve covered Signing Day in other posts this week, but here’s a few quick bullet point notes on the class as a whole:

  • State breakdown for Liberty’s 12 signees –  Florida 3, North Carolina 3, Virginia 2, Texas 2, South Carolina 2
  • 5 of the 12 signees were 2 star prospects – Avery James, James Passmore, J.T. Bradwell, Lucas Irons and Tolen Avery
  • Liberty signed 5 offensive players (1 QB, 1 WR, 1 FB, 2 OL) and 7 defensive (4 DB, 2 DL, 1 LB). Gill noted that defensive back was a priority with the graduation of Aikens and Fogg.
  • Several of these guys have only played 1 or 2 years of high school football. Likely meaning they will redshirt, and have a year or two to adjust to college football. These guys could have high ceilings.
  • Gill specifically mentioned B.J. Farrow, Avery James, and Javon Majors will have “a chance” to play as true freshman, for what it’s worth.

Signing Day Map
Here’s a map of where all 12 signees came from:

SigningDayMap

John Lunsford suspended
Liberty kicker John Lunsford has been suspended for the first two games of next season according to an article out of Michigan discussing walk-on kicker Avery Echols. The true freshman Echols will have an opportunity to start his first collegiate game in front of over 60,000 fans in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Lunsford was suspended for the 1st half of last season’s matchup against Brevard due to a violation of team policy.

Update: Lunsford is suspended for the first 2 games of next season, according to a source.

Women’s hoops update
The Lady Flames lost their 2nd consecutive game when they fell to Campbell in overtime 61-55 this past Saturday. Coach Carey Green’s squad responded with a 64-46 win over Coastal Carolina Thursday night. The win was Liberty’s 42nd straight over the Chanticleers and moves Liberty to 9-4 in league play. Winthrop leads the conference at 11-3 followed by High Point at 10-3 and then the Lady Flames in 3rd place.

Golf wins tournament
Liberty’s golf team finished in a tie for first place at the Sea Best Invitational earlier this week. The Flames finished tied for first with North Florida at +22. Niklas Lindstrom finished 3rd place individually. The Flames are also ranked 24th in the GolfStat top 25.

New poll each month
Every month we will have an updated poll on the site, and we have updated February’s poll by asking you what Liberty’s 2014 record will be in football. The 2014 schedule was announced recently, so give it your best shot! You can find the poll on the right hand side of the site.

FlameFans thread of the week
We’ve been talking for some time on FlameFans about all the expanding of facilities on Liberty’s campus in our Falwell: Major LU expansion in the works thread. This thread currently has over 1,200 posts discussing all of the expansion going on in Lynchburg including the most recent announcement by Jonathan Falwell about the possibility of Thomas Road Baptist Church being moved to a new location.