Liberty’s offense was stagnant. The Flames had only picked up 27 yards of offense on four drives in the third quarter. Southern Miss had taken the lead and seized all the momentum, scoring 14 straight points including an interception that was returned for a touchdown to begin the fourth quarter.
The Flames trailed, 17-10, and was searching for answers on offense. Starting quarterback Charlie Brewer went down due to a broken hand in the first quarter. Backup Johnathan Bennett kept things on track and the team in the game in the second quarter, but things stalled after halftime.
On the road in the season opener and feeling like the game was slipping out of control, Liberty head coach Hugh Freeze decided to try something drastic. He turned to a redshirt-freshman, who was third string entering the week, to try and provide a jump start to the offense.
“I didn’t think we had any juice at that moment,” Freeze said earlier this week. “I just thought maybe, let’s see if Kaidon Salt can give us a little spark.”
Kaidon Salter did just that. On his first play, the highly rated prospect out of Cedar Hill, Texas, attempted a deep pass down the right sideline to Noah Frith. The pass, about 40 yards downfield, was just out of the reach of Frith, going off his fingertips and falling incomplete. Two plays later, facing a 3rd and 8, Salter easily scrambled for 15 yards and the first down. Spark provided.
“I live for moments like this,” Salter stated of being inserted into the game with the outcome seriously in jeopardy. “Growing up in Dallas, Texas, playing Texas High School football, it’s a big competition. It has always been big with me being competitive.”
His first drive would last 10 plays for 79 yards and ended with a game-tying touchdown pass to Demario Douglas. That wouldn’t be the end of the heroics for Salter on the opening night of the 2022 football season for the Flames though. With 1:47 left on the clock in the 4th quarter, he would engineer another touchdown drive to tie the game and ultimately send it into overtime where Liberty would eek out a 29-27 contest in 4 overtimes.
Salter finished the game, his first with meaningful snaps at the college level, completing 8 of 13 passes for 148 yards, 2 touchdowns, and an interception. He led the Flames in rushing with 65 yards on 9 carries.
“I was very excited about it, just went out there and played football,” Salter said of his performance. “That’s what I do, just went out there, had fun with it, enjoy the moments.”
It wasn’t just himself and his family that Salter impressed. It was also everyone watching the game, his head coach included.
“I couldn’t be prouder,” Freeze said of how Salter responded when called up in the 4th quarter. “I thought he elevated the whole team, all the players around him. There’s been no secret, we’ve felt like he is extremely talented.”
Case settled. Liberty has their starting quarterback moving forward with Brewer expected to miss at least 5-8 weeks. Right? Not so fast, my friend. Hugh Freeze has been hesitant to name his starting quarterback for this week’s game against UAB. “Let’s see how the week goes,” was his answer on Monday when asked about his plan, stating that he believes in all three healthy quarterbacks – Bennett, Salter, and redshirt-freshman Nate Hampton. All three of those quarterbacks got reps with the first team offense during the portion of Tuesday’s practice that was open to the media.
“Every day is a competition,” Salter said of his mindset this week. “Every day I want to get better. Get better at making reads, get better at reading defenses, get better at everything, I just want to keep getting better.”
One of the biggest things he will work on this week in his pursuit of getting better is in mastering the playbook. Freeze stated after the game Saturday and during his press conference on Monday, that the head coach needs to feel confident that Salter is fully prepared and ready to execute the entire game plan to earn the starting job this weekend.
“It’s just a matter of him handling everything that comes with playing that position,” Freeze said of Salter. “Hopefully, this motivates him to try and make sure that the details of his life, the details of preparation, the details of studying the game like it needs to be studied, and the offense like it needs to be studied, hopefully that motivates him because there’s no question, I mean everyone saw and witnessed what his potential is, obviously we’ve got to eliminate the disaster plays.”
Salter signed with the Tennessee Volunteers out of high school where he was a top 50 national prospect and was ranked as the No. 6 quarterback nationally and No. 5 prospect out of Texas in the class of 2021, according to 247Sports. He is the highest rated quarterback out of high school to play at Liberty. He had over 20 offers including Liberty, Arizona State, Arkansas, Auburn, Baylor, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Michigan State, Ole Miss, South Carolina, and Syracuse. Liberty and head coach Hugh Freeze were the first reported offer to Salter in April 2019.
His reputation at the high school level was very strong. Now, Salter and Liberty hopes that success carries over to the college level perhaps a little bit sooner than originally expected.
“I just go out there and play and have fun,” said Salter. “I just go out there and do what I do. A lot of people saw me play in high school, now it’s time to start my reputation at college football.”
