It has been a challenging year for the Liberty Flames at the quarterback position. Just as it seemed like the No. 23 ranked team in the country this week was starting to get closer to full strength, the Flames suffered another setback with quarterback Johnathan Bennett missing extensive practice time with the flu.
Bennett began the season as the team’s second string quarterback, entering the season opener at Southern Miss after the starter, Charlie Brewer, suffered a broken right hand. Bennett was inconsistent at times and head coach Hugh Freeze called on redshirt-freshman Kaidon Salter in the fourth quarter. Salter would lead the team to the comeback win in four overtimes.
After starting the next two games, Salter succumbed to a groin injury, causing him to miss four out of the last five games and three straight.
Bennett struggled to find consistency as he started three games that both Brewer and Salter missed. Then, he had a career day during Liberty’s win over BYU with a career best 24 completions on his 29 pass attempts to go along with a career high 247 passing yards and a touchdown.
Earlier this week, it looked like Bennett would be the team’s starter going into this week’s game at Arkansas, but his status is now in jeopardy.
“I wish Charlie (Brewer) was ready but he’s struggling to get the mobility in his hand back,” Freeze said on Thursday. “Kaidon (Salter) is still a ways away. We will see how JB feels, obviously, but he hasn’t been able to practice the last two days or so.”
Brewer played in three plays on the first drive of Liberty’s game against BYU before the team’s open date this past week. He was unable to grip the ball comfortably that afternoon as he continues to recover from his broken hand. The team was hopeful he would be closer to 100% this week but he still appears to be having issues with swelling.
“He tried it and said, ‘I don’t feel like I can hold the ball sufficiently to function,'” Freeze said Thursday of Brewer. “He had a pretty good Tuesday, and it seemed like it swole back up on him and tightened up and just really hasn’t been able to. He’s going to travel. Will it go down between now and Saturday enough for him to feel like he could not hurt us if he’s in the game? We’ll see.”
With Bennett, Brewer, and Salter all struggling to get to 100%, Freeze and the Liberty offense has turned to fourth string quarterback Nate Hampton. The redshirt-freshman has gotten most of the reps in practice this week and could be in line to start the game Saturday. Hampton has played in five games this season, completing 3 of 8 passes for 76 yards while also rushing the ball 13 times for 19 yards.
“Nate has gotten most of the snaps the last two days obviously with JB being out sick,” said Freeze. “Certainly not ruling JB out yet, hope he has the energy from being sickly this week.”
Arkansas is around a two touchdown favorite despite being the unranked team playing a ranked team this week. The Razorbacks are 5-3 on the season, having won two straight and looking to clinch bowl eligibility on Saturday.
“That quarterback room has been beat up, it presents some challenges, for sure,” said Freeze. “I hope JB feels better. Provided he has some energy from the flu and stuff, I think we will be able to catch him up on understanding, but it’s nothing like getting the live reps.”
