Liberty quarterback Malik Willis left Saturday’s game late in the 4th quarter with an injury to his left arm. He appeared to grab his elbow as he returned to the sideline and went immediately into the medical tent behind Liberty’s bench. When he emerged from the tent, he was sporting a sling on his left arm.
On Monday, Liberty head coach Hugh Freeze provided an update on Willis’ status saying he will be day to day this week.
“Malik looked good this morning,” Freeze said during a Monday press conference. “He’s in therapy. It was a left elbow issue. He’s getting fitted for his brace today. He will be anxious to play. We’ll see how the week goes and it will be kind of day to day with him. It’s not something that should keep him out for an extended period of time, if any at all. We will just have to see how the week goes. We are very blessed that that’s the case. Some of the time, you see some of those injuries, it can be a structural or a bone fragment or something that’s also involved and that takes a little bit longer, but it appears we are blessed that’s not the case. Hopefully he will be good to go very soon.”
In two games this season, Willis has completed 37 of 51 passes (72.5%) for 418 yards and 2 touchdowns. He also leads the team with 253 rushing yards and 3 rushing touchdowns. Perhaps most importantly, he has 0 turnovers.
If Willis misses any time, expect to see Chris Ferguson get the start and Johnathan Bennett is also like to get some reps this Saturday against North Alabama. The Flames opened as 30.5 point home favorites over the Big South football squad who will be playing their season opener against Liberty.
Ferguson is a grad transfer from Maine who came in for relief of Willis against Florida International. He completed 1 of 2 passes for 23 yards. In two seasons at Maine Ferguson completed 56.6% of his 576 pass attempts for 4,050 yards, 30 touchdowns, and 19 interceptions.
Bennett played in 2 games as a true freshman last season before suffering a season ending injury when he ruptured the patella tendon in his knee in Liberty’s win over Hampton.
