You may have noticed our weekly News & Notes post took a break last week as I was on a short vacation. So, this week’s post is full of information from the last two weeks.

91 student-athletes graduate
On May 10th, 91 Division I athletes graduated from Liberty as part of the annual commencement festivities. Among the graduates were Alex Close, Jordan Lyons, Ashton Perritt, Tomasz Gielo, Andrew Smith, Jacob Hagen, Dominique Davis, Gabe Henderson, Des Rice, Kenny Scott, Nick Sigmon, and Josh Woodrum. Congratulations to all of Liberty’s graduates, especially the student-athletes! A full list of the 91 graduates can be found here.

gielo2Gielo transfers to Ole Miss
Tomasz Gielo made his decision public on Monday, by announcing via twitter that he will transfer from Liberty to Ole Miss for his final season of eligibility. Since he graduated from Liberty, he will be immediately eligible. The 6’9″ forward played in just 7 games during the 2014-15 season before suffering a stress reaction in his foot. He averaged 12 points and 6.3 boards per game while shooting over 40% from 3 in those 7 games. Gielo started 73 games during his Liberty career.

With the assumption that Jakub Karwowski and Robin Jorch do not make their way to Liberty, Coach McKay’s current 2015-16 roster has been whittled down to just 9 scholarship players (Theo Johnson, John Dawson, Ryan Kemrite, Evan Maxwell, AC Reid, Ezra Talbert, Caleb Homesley, Lovell Cabbil, Hansel Atencia). We are still awaiting word on if Myo Baxter will be academically eligible for this season. The NCAA annual scholarship limit is 13.

Baseball update Thursday
It’s been a bumpy couple of weeks for the Liberty Flames’ baseball team. Going back to the weekend of May 8th, the Flames dropped 2 of 3 to Coastal Carolina, including a 12-1 blowout loss on Monday. Liberty did rebound with a 7-6 win over Maryland in College Park the following day, but they lost the season finale series at home to High Point. That dropped Liberty to the #4 seed in this week’s Big South Tournament where they faced #5 seed High Point in their first game. It was more of the same against the Panthers as Liberty fell 8-3. Facing #8 seed Longwood wouldn’t help matters, as the Flames lost to the Lancers 4-3 to be eliminated from the tournament. It’s just the 2nd time in school history Liberty has lost their first 2 games of the Big South Tournament with the only other occurrence happening in 1992.

lyonsClose and Lyons receive honors
Senior pitcher Jared Lyons and first baseman/pitcher Alex Close were each named to the Big South All-Conference first team. Lyons also received the nod as the Big South Pitcher of the Year while Close was named the Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Lyons finished the 2015 regular season with an 8-1 record and 1.87 ERA. He also recorded 3 complete games and 2 shutouts. Close finished the regular season with a .341 batting average, 45 RBIs, 40 runs, and 7 home runs.

Football roster changes
It was announced last week that safety Gary Sampson and fullback Nicky Fualaau have been removed from the football program due to a violation of team rules. According to online court records, Sampson was arrested on April 4th and charged with sale, distribution of marijuana which is a class 5 felony. He has a hearing date set for August 13th.

Earlier this week, we revealed that quarterback J.T. Bradwell, offensive lineman Trey Caso, and defensive lineman Leo Hunt have also been removed from the football roster.

Sporting News FCS preseason poll
The Sporting News released their 2015 preseason top 25 with their recent magazine release. In it, the Flames were ranked #16. 3 Big South members were ranked with Coastal Carolina checking in at #6 and Charleston Southern #24. Montana, who the Flames will play at Williams Stadium on September 19th, is ranked #15.

woodrumFootball captains named
Coach Gill named his four football captains earlier this week as rising seniors Jonathan Burgess, Jimmy O’Grady, Chima Uzowihe, and Josh Woodrum all get the nod. Woodrum is a captain for the 3rd straight season while Burgess was also a captain in 2014.

Construction underway at Williams stadium
Construction began this week on renovations at Williams Stadium that will be ready for the 2015 season. As we mentioned in March, these upgrades will include new turf and a much larger video board. The project calls for a video board in the 2,200 square foot range which would make it the 3rd largest in FCS.

NCAA proposes 30 second shot clock, other rule changes
The NCAA rules committee has proposed several rule changes including a 30-second shot clock, down from the 35 second shot clock which has been around since 1993. There are also changes related to timeouts: number of timeouts reduced from 5 to 4 with no more than 3 being carried into 2nd half, team timeouts 30 seconds within a media timeout will become media timeouts, and stricter enforcement of resumption of play coming out of timeouts and after a player has fouled out. These are just a few of several proposed rule changes which must be approved by the Playing Rules Oversight Panel on June 8 before coming official.

Flames sweep Big South Men’s, Women’s track titles
Liberty won both the men and women Big South Outdoor Track & Field Championships last weekend. It was the 20th such title for the men and 9th consecutive. The ladies captured their 2nd title in the past 3 years and 14th overall. Coach Brant Tolsma was named the Big South Coach of the Year, he now has a remarkable 85 Big South team championships and 59 Big South Coach of the Year awards in his 29 seasons at Liberty.

FlameFans thread of the week
Discuss all the week’s happenings in Boiling Springs in this week’s FlameFans thread of the week, Big South Tournament!