Liberty successfully signed 5 athletes as part of the 2016 class in Xzavier Barmore, Brock Gardner, Josiah Talbert, Brody Hicks, and Hayden Koval. With this class, Coach McKay addresses several area of needs, most notably depth and size. This class chose the Flames over offers from Air Force, Winthrop, Stephen F Austin, Lehigh, Dartmouth, Central Arkansas, UC Davis, and Columbia.
This season, McKay has just 9 scholarship players at his disposal leaving the Flames with very little depth. Since Anthony Fields is the only senior on the roster, 8 scholarship players will return next season. With the addition of Barmore, Gardner, and Talbert, Liberty adds 3 rotation pieces ready to step in and contribute immediately.
The 2015-16 basketball roster features just 2 players over 6’5”; however, this signing class features 3 players 6’7” or taller in Gardner, Talbert, and Koval. Gardner comes in as the highest rated prospect in the class as he is a 3-star prospect according to ESPN. He should fit into McKay’s system on the wing perfectly.
Both Hicks and Koval will enter the program as recruited walk-ons leaving the Flames with 12 scholarship commitments (including Myo Baxter-Bell) for 2016-17. With the NCAA scholarship limit of 13, McKay has one more scholarship at his disposal to use during the spring signing period or even hold on to for the class of 2017.
