For the second straight year, we have a December signing period for football prospects, and Liberty cashed in with a total of 13 signees on Wednesday. This class is likely to continue to grow over the next couple of days and as we move towards the February signing period. Here are a few notes/thoughts on the class:

  1. The Flames entered the day with 14 known verbal commitments. Of those 14, 10 inked on the dotted line. The only 4 we haven’t heard from are JUCO DBs Jeremiah Houston and Nakota Shepard-Creer, Malik Caper, and DeMario Douglas. Coach Freeze did mention that three had signed, but had elected to wait to announce their signings in February. This is likely due to the kids wanting to have signing day ceremonies with other classmates. The most likely candidates for those are Shepard-Creer, Caper, and Douglas.
  2. Most of these early signees had committed to the program under Coach Gill as Coach Freeze did a tremendous job shoring those commitments up since his hiring less than two weeks ago. The names that were new since Freeze took over were Aubrey Williams, Treon Sibley, Shedro Louis, and Isaiah Avery. Interesting to note that all 4 of these will be mid-year enrollees. With a few scholarship spots still available, the February signing period is when Coach Freeze should have the ability to bring in a couple more of his own guys.
  3. The signees came from 9 different states – Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia all had 2 representatives, while the Flames also inked one each from Alabama, Ohio, Georgia, Mississippi, and California.
  4. Of the prospects who signed Wednesday, three were rated as 3 star prospects and six are 2 star prospects.
  5. The Flames made defense a priority, signing 8 on that side of the ball. The position breakdown was four defensive linemen, three wide receivers, two safeties, two defensive backs, a kicker/punter, and a quarterback.
  6. 3-star QB Johnathan Bennett is the toast of the class. While their are other 3-stars in this class, Bennett comes at a position of need with Buckshot being a senior, and he clearly fits into Freeze’s offensive style of being a mobile QB.
  7. JUCO DB Jeremiah Houston was an early commit to Liberty and Coach Gill. He did not sign and announced on twitter today that he had picked up an offer from UNLV. Coach Freeze was confident he could reel Houston in by the February signing period.
  8. The Flames signed two JUCO players and will have a total of 5 early enrollees. Defensive back Isaiah Avery and defensive tackle Devonte Lloyd are the two junior college signees. In addition to Avery, Bennett, Shedro Louis, Treon Sibley, and Aubrey Williams will also enroll early.
  9. Freeze specifically mentioned Aubrey Williams and Tre’Shaun Clark as guys that will compete for playing time immediately.
  10. Looking ahead to the February signing period, Freeze said offensive and defensive line will be the main priority moving forward. This class is likely to grow to somewhere around 20 when it’s complete.
  11. Liberty freshman safety Ricky Lester is transferring to Northern Colorado. The FCS program announced his signing as part of their signing day coverage. Lester originally committed to UNC out of high school, but he got a late offer from Liberty and switched to the FBS program last February. Lester did not play this season.
  12. While he did mention Coach Josh Aldridge, as we’ve mentioned previously, Freeze did refrain from making any statements on his coaching staff pending finalization of all the paperwork. Freeze did mention that putting his coaching staff together is his next primary objective.