Talking Defense

After giving up nearly 800 yards of offense and 62 points, as you can imagine, there was plenty of discussion about the defense in Tuesday afternoon’s press conference.

“It starts with me,” Coach Gill said. “I’ve got to coach my coaches better. I’ve got to make some calls better, assist my coaches better during the game. It all starts with me. We will continue to evaluate, continue to look at things from a defensive perspective, what you can do, what you can’t do, personnel schemes. Every week we always look into those types of things, and try to give the best chance for your players to be in position. Obviously, they’ve got to go out and make the tackles. They’ve got to go out and make the plays and all those different things. I have confidence in Coach Wimberly. I have confidence in my whole defensive staff. I have confidence in my whole staff. This is a transition year, there’s going to be a lot of ups and there’s going to be a lot of downs and that’s kind of what has happened this football season.”

Defensive coordinator Robert Wimberly shared the same sentiment.

“One thing Gill told me during the summer, he said, ‘Son’ (because I look at him as a mentor). He said, ‘this is going to be some growing pains transitioning from FCS to FBS. I want to see you guys compete. Compete, compete, compete. Make sure we’re in the game. Compete.’ That’s been the message and, our defensive staff, we know we’re competing. We’ve got to address some things personnel wise – but that comes with recruiting – but our guys are playing hard. They’re competing. Our job is to continue to get them to execute.”

Excited to be playing in-state Power 5 opponent

Liberty is playing its first ever Power 5 in-state opponent since moving to the FBS ranks. This weekend’s game at Virginia also marks the 2nd ever game against an in-state P5 opponent, having also played Virginia Tech just a few seasons ago. This will be Liberty’s first ever meeting against the Cavaliers.

“I’m excited about it because it’s right here in the state of Virginia,” Gill said. “It’s our first opportunity to play Virginia. Playing in-state and obviously they’re a formidable opponent and very talented in a lot of ways, so it’s going to be one of our greatest challenges we’re going to face this year.”

“Our young men are going to be excited,” Wimberly said. “This is what you dream about – an opportunity that we’ve been telling these young men since we’ve been recruiting – that one day we will get that opportunity to play at the highest level, to play a Virginia Tech, to play the UVAs of the world and it’s here. We’ve got to compete. We’ve got to show that we belong at the FBS level. It’s all about our young men believing and having confidence in that. They know this is the opportunity that everyone has been waiting for – an opportunity to compete year in, year out against in-state FBS programs.”

Offensive coordinator Joe Dailey – “This is going to be huge, just because it’s the first time in a while that you’re going to get this kind of rivalry here. We recruit against these guys a great deal, we’ve gotten beat on some guys in years past, but now that we’re FBS it’s going to be huge for us going forward that we compete with anyone in-state FBS. It’s going to be very important for us to put on a good show.”

Building the brand

Building the Liberty football brand is something coach Gill and his staff have discussed occasionally since making the FBS move. It was a big topic of discussion at this week’s press conference.

“We see ourselves as a national brand,” Gill said. “So, wherever we play a football game, it’s all very important. (Being Independent) we can go national with our recruiting, get our brand out all over the place.”

With the FBS move and playing P5 opponents each of the next two weeks, it should continue to help build the Liberty brand which will only help on the recruiting trail.

“It’s been a joy to see the interest we’ve had with young men that have power 5 offers that are coming and visiting our campus on unofficial visits because Liberty fits them,” Wimberly said. “It’s just a matter of time – I’m telling you – before this program just takes off through the recruiting process.”

Injury report

Damian King continues to be out while Zac Foutz is doubtful and B.J. Farrow is questionable, according to Coach Gill.