Football Team Prepares for First Season in FBS

With just a few months left before the start of fall camp, Liberty’s inaugural season in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) is now in sight.

 

College football is a year-long process. Fans only get to see a glimpse of what life is like for players and coaches. In reality, games are just the culmination of all the hard work put in throughout the offseason.

 

And one of the most crucial elements of the offseason is spring practice.

 

This year, Liberty head coach Turner Gill took a different approach to the spring program because of the team’s impending introduction to the FBS.

 

“We started about four to five weeks sooner,” Gill said. “On the back end, by us finishing early, it helped our student-athletes with their studies (and) their academics.”

 

Starting earlier also gave Liberty other benefits, namely in regard to injuries and recruiting. Finishing a month sooner than normal is an attempt by Gill and his staff to hedge themselves in the event that the injury bug bites. It also means less competition in spring recruiting.

 

“We were one of the only three to five schools across the country that started that early. So, therefore, we can invite recruits to come and watch us practice,” Gill said.

 

Spring is a time for lesser-known players to make their mark. Coaches already know what they have in key players from the year before, but they are really looking for the roster, in general, to improve. This strategy looms even larger for Liberty now that it is competing at the highest level of college football.

 

“Depth is the number one thing that comes to your mind that you need to have,” Gill said. “You only have 63 scholarships at the FCS level; at the FBS level, you have 85 scholarships, so we’re gaining 22 more people.”

 

One of the main reasons why Gill is not sweating the acclimation period, though, is because of his staff’s prior experience at the FBS level.

 

“We have a great coaching staff here,” Gill said. “We’ve all been involved in the FBS. Everyone on the staff has coached at the FBS level, and that’s great for our fans to know that we have experienced people here that have been here and done that, and we understand what we need to do and how we need to do it. Now, we’re just going to transfer it over to our players.”

 

As far as the key players that stood out to the coaching staff during spring practice, Gill mentioned running back Frank Boyd in particular, who won the team’s award for most improved offensive player.

 

“He ran the ball well, he did a good job there catching the football. (We’ve) still got a ways to go on some things, but he was the most impressive guy that we had,” Gill said.

 

On the defensive side of the ball, defensive lineman Mitchell Hurtado and linebacker Remington Green put themselves on the radar.

 

“(Hurtado) has really improved. He is definitely going to be a very, very impactful guy,” Gill said. “And Green ran very well, as far as to the football. He’s very physical, he’s going to help us on defense, he’s going to help us on special teams.”

 

An ancillary benefit of Liberty making the transition to the FBS is the exposure the university, and its overlying message, will receive nationwide – a vision once held by the late Dr. Falwell.

 

But it is Dr. Falwell’s son who has gone to great lengths in order to help make the transition happen, according to Gill.

 

“President Falwell, man, he’s doing some things that a lot of presidents across the country haven’t done,” Gill said. “His support, obvious financially, but also the quality of people that he’s hiring – Ian McCaw, all of the other different people here in the athletic department – he’s providing us with the staff that we need so that we could do the things that we need to do.”

Ian McCaw, the athletic director, has been very involved with the football program since he was hired, meeting with Gill face-to-face on a weekly basis – something Gill said he had not experienced in his time as head coach at Kansas or Buffalo.

 

“We have a fantastic relationship. This is the first time that I’ve had the opportunity, really, weekly – again, sometimes it’s a 10-minute meeting; sometimes it might be a 30-minute meeting – but we’re just coming in and chatting about what’s going on. I appreciate his leadership,” Gill said.

Because Liberty is entering its first season in the FBS, it is up in the air just how effective it will be in 2018, but Gill has a message for Flames fans he wants them to hear.

 

“Our football team is going to play hard, they’re going to represent the Lord Jesus Christ very, very well,” Gill said. “We just ask the players to do that: you play hard, and you prepare hard, leave the results up to God. It’s going to be an exciting situation, we’re going to be fast-paced on the offensive side of the ball, our defense is going to be sound and they’re going to fly around and hit some people.”

 

Liberty will open up its 2018 season with the first ever FBS game played at Williams Stadium on Sept. 1 against Old Dominion.

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