Ryan Seiz has been impressive for the Flames this season
Flames 15-1 in conference
Liberty started their weekend series a day earlier this weekend due to Easter, and promptly defeated Gardner-Webb 5-1 Thursday night. The win is the Flames’ 13th consecutive conference win dating back to March 15th. Liberty is 4 games ahead of North Division 2nd place Campbell who is 11-5. Liberty checks in at #22 in the latest WarrenNolan RPI update. For more on the team, be sure to read our weekly baseball roundups.
Realignment Update
In the continued roller coaster ride of conference realignment, it now appears both James Madison and Missouri State are out of the Sun Belt’s immediate plans for realignment. This should serve as great news for the Flames’ chances at securing that 12th membership spot. Of course, we’re not likely to get any official news until the conference’s meetings in May.
Speaking of realignment, I had the opportunity earlier this week to be a guest on Two Cents Radio as we discussed Liberty and it what it offered the Sun Belt. If you were unable to listen live, the show will be archived shortly. When it is, we will provide a link.
Talbert
Talbert shines in all-star game
Liberty signee Ezra Talbert concluded his high school career in stellar fashion, as the Olathe, Kansas product dropped 20 points in the Kansas-Missouri All-Star game. Talbert led the Kansas All-Stars with his 20 points en route to a 114-90 victory.
Basketball signing period begins
The spring signing period for basketball began earlier this week, and the Flames have announced 1 signing so far in guard Peter Moller from Denmark. The period lasts until May 21, so, Coach Layer and company has plenty of time to finalize the class. Liberty has 2 open scholarships. Keep tabs with how the basketball roster looks by paying attention to our Scholarship Grid which you can find linked under the basketball section at the top of the page.
James Johnson’s status
As we mentioned earlier this week, San Diego State transfer James Johnson has received interest from Georgia Tech, Northwestern, San Francisco, UC Riverside, and Portland State. But his dad said he is focusing on Christian schools and called both Liberty and Grand Canyon University “serious contenders.” Johnson visited Liberty last week.
Spring game underwhelms
Many fans were disappointed in last Saturday’s spring game which was more of a glorified practice than a game. There was no tackling as the defense was resorted to two-hand touch to avoid injuries, and it did not start until 2:45 when it was initially scheduled to start at 2pm. It’s easy to understand both sides as the coaches want to avoid further injuries while the fans are hoping for more entertainment to justify spending an entire afternoon at the event.
Mack is projected to be the top linebacker taken in the 2014 NFL Draft
Possible NFL #1 overall pick with LU ties
Khalil Mack, who could end up the #1 overall pick in next month’s NFL Draft, could have very easily attended Liberty for his college football. Mack, who starred at Buffalo, had verbally committed to the Flames and then assistant coach Robert Wimberly. Mack had no other offers at the time after suffering a serious injury during his junior year of high school. Wimberly ended up as an assistant under current Liberty head coach Turner Gill at Buffalo, and Mack followed him there. Wimberly is now Liberty’s defensive coordinator. You can read more on this story from Yahoo Sports’ Eric Adelson here.
FlameFans thread of the week
This week Liberty announced that Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal would be the 2014 Commencement speaker as discussed in the Commencement 2014 thread. Maybe Jindal being the governor in a state with 2 Sun Belt schools could help Liberty’s chances at joining the conference.
