Palsgrove’s Points: Previewing the Flames’ Football Season

We are less than six days away from seeing the Liberty University Flames take the field, and I am so excited to watch those brand-new baby blues fly across the turf. Before we get to the gridiron, I thought it would be wise to discuss what this season might be and set some expectations going in.

For those of you who are reading my jaw-dropping analyses and irreverent humor for the first time, welcome to Palsgrove’s Points. This column will be a weekly discussion of Liberty and professional sports. It’s going to be a fun fall; let’s talk football.

 

Previewing the Liberty Flames 2024 Football season

 

Last season could not have been better for the Flames, and that’s not an exaggeration. In their first season as a member of an FBS conference, the first full season of now junior QB Kaidon Salter and the first season with Head Coach Jamey Chadwell at the helm, the Flames went a perfect 13-0 in non-bowl games. They swept their new conference mates on their way to the CUSA Championship crown and did it with an average margin of victory of over 18 points in their 13 wins.

It was all perfect. The running game was brutal. The passing game was precise and electric. The defensive line was disruptive and forcing bad passes, and the secondary made the most of those bad passes. And then Arizona happened. Playing its way into a New Year’s Six bowl game was possibly the most significant achievement in Liberty’s short history with the FBS. But it also showed that the Flames have a long way to go before they can truly compete with the cream of the crop in college football.

So, how did the Flames react after getting properly walloped in the Fiesta Bowl? They hit the transfer portal and also got hit by it.

 

The portal giveth, and it taketh away

 

The curse of being an overperforming Group of Five program is the inevitable loss of your most talented players. For the Flames, that meant they would lose starters Chase Mitchell (Vanderbilt), Kobe Singleton (Oregon State), and Preston Hodge (Colorado), as well as superstars Kendy Charles (Duke) and CJ Daniels (LSU). The Flames almost got hamstrung at quarterback, but thankfully, Salter chose to return to the Mountain instead of searching for greener pastures.

Losing good players to larger schools will be the curse of the Flames’ success if they continue to win as they did last season. They won’t leave transfer portal season empty-handed, however. Joining the Flames is a platoon of former three-star athletes and one former four-star (all rankings per On3 and ESPN).

 

The Flames transfer portal acquisition summary
Name	Position	Class	High school Ranking	Former school
Julian Grey	WR	R Junior	Four-star	NC State
Aidan Vaughan	LB	R Sophomore	Four-star	Wisconsin
Ryan Burger	QB	R Sophomore	Three-star	Appalachian State
Elijah Canion	WR	R Junior	Three-star	Purdue
DJ Geth	IOL	R Freshman	Three-star	UNC
Jordan Hall	OL	Senior	Three-star	Monmouth
Brenton Williams	DL	R Freshman	Three-star	Auburn
Eli Hall	DL	Junior	Three-star	Wake Forest
Mike Jarvis	EDGE	R Junior	Three-star	Wisconsin
Jahmar Brown	LB	R Senior	Three-star	Coastal Carolina
Teylor Jackson	LB	Senior	Three-star	ECU
Ethan Crisp	LB	Sophomore	Three-star	Vanderbilt
Dominick Hill	CB	Senior	Three-star	Temple
Charles Yates	CB	Senior	Three-star	Arizona
Jason Duclona	CB	R Freshman	Three-star	UCF
Tyson Mobley	WR	Senior	Two-star	Coastal Carolina
John Paul Flores	IOL	Senior	Unranked	Louisville

 

That’s quite the haul of talented players, and many of them will likely see the field early this year. At wide receiver, Julian Grey and Tyson Mobley are projected to start at WR2 and WR3, with Elijah Canion slated to get a good number of snaps because of his prototypical build. Louisville transfer John Paul Flores has seemingly earned his place in the starting lineup on the offensive line, and the same can be said about Monmouth transfer Jordan Hall.

The two positions I will be watching the closest in week one are WR — for the reasons I mentioned above — and linebacker. At linebacker, there is a clear and obvious void behind the two projected starters, senior Jerome Jolly Jr. and junior Joseph Carter. In the midst of that void are four transfer linebackers trying to outplay the other three and earn those up-for-grabs snaps. Those linebackers include Aidan Vaughan, Jahmar Brown, Teylor Jackson and Ethan Crisp.

 

Who’s going to take that next jump?

 

The transfers aren’t the only good players for the Flames, who have created something of a Pokémon hotel. You know, the place where you drop off your Pokémon and come back to later, and they’ve leveled up? The Flames have figured out a way to do just that with football players. The best examples of that are current NFLers Malik Willis and DeMario Douglas, and current Flames studs Brylan Green and Jolly Jr.

So, my question is, who will be the next Flame to make that jump from starter to superstar? This season, I have my eye on two in particular: junior center Jordan White and sophomore edge rusher TJ Bush Jr.. White has solidified himself as one of the best players on this team, and I think he’s primed for an even larger leap if the Flames can continue their rushing dominance this season. Bush Jr. had a stellar freshman campaign, and he’s only getting better. The Flames struggled to create much pressure last season, but now, with junior CJ Bazile on one edge and Bush Jr. on the other, a high number of sacks could very well be in the cards for the Flames.

 

A look at the schedule

 

The Flames open their season Saturday evening against the Campbell Camels, which will be the first of their four out-of-conference games. This season, they’ll play Campbell (home), East Carolina (home), App State (away) and UMass (away) in out-of-conference games. Liberty should have a leg up and then some against all four of those teams, and the same could be said for its CUSA schedule.

The only real challengers to the Flames this year are Jacksonville State, which the Flames beat 31-13 last season; Western Kentucky, which the Flames beat 42-29; and New Mexico State, which the Flames beat twice (33-17 and 49-25), the second of which was the CUSA Championship game. Both Western Kentucky and Jacksonville State are primed to take a leap this season and could give the Flames a run for their money if the chips fall their way.

 

The big question

 

But even though the Flames have real challenges ahead, like Western Kentucky, Jacksonville State and Appalachian State, those three teams aren’t the most dangerous things that might plague the Flames this season. The biggest enemy the Flames will have to overcome this upcoming season is the inevitable pull of regression.

Was last year an outlier? Or was it the new norm? Probability makes me lean toward the former. There’s a saying I like in sports: “Nothing is ever as good or as bad as it seems.” It’s fairly simple, but it tells you to beware of regressing back to the mean. Bad teams will get better, and good teams will get worse. It may take years, but it will always happen. So, can the Flames continue their run of utter dominance or will Icarus and his lovely triple-option be brought back to earth after a crushing Fiesta Bowl loss and some key departures?

 

Palsgrove is the sports editor for the Liberty Champion. Find him on X.