Scholarship update
As we reported at the beginning of training camp, Liberty will be operating around the 74, 75 scholarship mark for the 2017 season. Of course, this is an increase from the FCS limit of 63 scholarships as the team continues to prepare for the FBS transition. The FBS maximum is 85 scholarships, and Coach Gill says that he will look to increase that number to near 80 by next semester.
“We’re going to shoot for 79 (scholarships), it depends on mid-year (enrollees),” Gill stated. “We’re going to end up trying to add 4-5 more guys in January, and that adds into the account for the 2017-18 season. So, we should hopefully be somewhere around 78-79 for the ’17-’18 season for our total number of scholarships.”
Injury update
Coach Gill announced this morning that reserve quarterback Rud Yearick will miss the 2017 season due to a labrum tear in his right throwing shoulder. Yearick, who enrolled at Liberty for the spring 2016 semester, redshirted during 2016 as he was behind both Stephon Masha and Buckshot Calvert. Because of his “voluntary” redshirt in 2016, Yearick will not be eligible to receive a medical redshirt for 2017. As for the rest of the quarterbacks, obviously Calvert is the starter, and Gill officially named Mason Cunningham his backup with Landon Brown being the third team QB.
As we have reported previously, Yearick joins Ernst Andersen, who was forced to retire due to reoccurring knee injuries, as season-ending injuries for the 2017 season. Also, defensive lineman Mitchell Hurtado will miss the Baylor game, but Gill says he expects Hurtado to be ready for week 2.
