The Flames are firmly entrenched in a quarterback battle this week between redshirt-junior Stephon Masha and true freshman Stephen Calvert. Calvert, who has been nicknamed Buckshot, was one of over 350 quarterbacks Liberty’s coaching staff looked at as part of the 2016 recruiting class. Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Joe Dailey tells the story of how he, and the rest of LU’s staff, whittled that list down until Calvert was selected.
The coaching staff reviewed about 350 quarterbacks on film before ever hitting the road in April and May 2015. Their initial cut was to about 120 who the coaching staff felt “could play some football.” Being able to personally visit 120 quarterbacks in a short period of time is impossible. So, Dailey and the coaches narrowed the list to about 35 guys who they could realistically see during that spring recruiting period.
Before ever seeing any of these quarterbacks in person, Calvert was in the top 10 of the quarterbacks Liberty was recruiting. “On tape you could see he had a very strong arm,” Dailey said. “I went down and watched him in (his high school) spring game. By far, he had the strongest arm of any kid I had seen in my 2 weeks on the road. I saw between 20-25 guys during those 2 weeks, and there were some guys that were going with some pretty established organizations. He was very, very impressive.”
The next step was to get him on campus so Coach Gill could see him in person. Calvert made the trip to Lynchburg during the summer of 2015 for one of the Flames’ summer camps. He made his presence known immediately.
Calvert
“He was lights out, from the very first throw to the very end,” Dailey said. “He took one warm-up throw, and Coach Gill was like, ‘he can spin it.’ He concluded his camp with a deep throw, on a go route, from the opposite hash, hit the guy in stride. Everyone was sold in the organization. From there, it was just about courting him and showing him we’re going to give him an opportunity to play a really good brand of football, and he’s going to have an opportunity to play 3, 4 years as a starter. The rest is history.”
Just over a year later, and the 6’2″ prospect from Plantation, Florida is getting plenty of playing time.
“He’s a very talented young man, very intelligent young man,” Dailey said. “He’s played a lot of good football. For him, because he’s a gun-slinger, he loves to throw the football. There aren’t very many throws he can’t make, to be honest with you. With that being said, you kind of got to wheel him back a little bit just because he will cut it loose. If he sees it, 45 yards down the field on the opposite side, he’s going to try to cut it loose.”
Through his first 3 collegiate games, Calvert is 16-for-32 passing for 188 yards, 1 touchdown, and 2 interceptions. He had just 3 snaps at Virginia Tech, but has seen increased reps in each of the past two games. This week, he may get his first chance as a starter.
“It feels good just knowing that I’m getting the opportunity and executing my job that I’m getting asked to do,” Calvert said. “I’m just going to do what I have to do mentally and physically to prepare myself to get in as much time as they need me to get in.”
So, about that nickname, what should we call you, Mr. Calvert?
“I really don’t care, but Buckshot, Buck are pretty much my football names that I go by.”
