Part of Liberty football’s practice on Tuesday was open to the media as the Flames prepare to face UMass this coming Saturday. Kickoff against the Minutemen is scheduled for noon and will be televised on ESPN3. Here are a couple notes from today’s availability.

BARBIR NO LONGER ON THE TEAM

Liberty kicker Alex Barbir is no longer part of the football team. He posted this photo on his Instagram account on Monday with the caption, “One chapter ends and a new one starts. The author keeps writing.” Liberty Special Teams Coordinator Tanner Burns confirmed Barbir’s departure from the team during his Tuesday media availability.

Barbir made just 1 of his 4 field goals this season with all of his kicks coming between 30 and 49 yards in distance. That is the same range he struggled from last season when he made just 5 of 12 kicks from that distance. The Flames’ turned to true freshman kicker Brayden Beck following the team’s loss at Syracuse earlier this year. Barbir continued to handle the kickoff duties in recent weeks until this past Saturday at North Texas when the Flames turned to Jason Stricker after one of Barbir’s kicks went out of bounds.

“Alex Barbir has decided to move on from football,” Burns said. “I wish him the best, but we’re excited with the guys we have. We’ve got some young specialists in here, obviously Jason Stricker has come in, I think he’s hit five kickoffs, all of them have been touch backs. We want guys that want to be here. If you don’t want to be here and compete then it’s your obligation to leave. I’ve got no ill-will towards Barbir. He’s a great kid. I love him as a person. He felt like it was the best decision for him to move on from football, so we will support him however we can moving forward, but we are excited about the guys we have in the room and who want to be in the room.”

Barbir was a perfect 8/8 on kicks inside of 30 yards and outside of 50 yards in 2020, including his game winning kick at Virginia Tech which he will be long remembered for. The Flames will move forward with Beck handling the field goal duties and Stricker the kickoff specialist.

QUARTERBACK ROOM DEALING WITH INJURIES

Liberty star quarterback Malik Willis left this past Saturday’s game at North Texas in the second quarter with an injury to his left foot. After missing the remainder of the first half and the beginning of the second half, Willis returned to the field during the third quarter and helped pioneer a Liberty comeback victory in Denton, Texas. Following the game, Willis said his foot was fine, and, on Monday, Liberty head coach Hugh Freeze said Willis told him that he was good. Willis was at practice on Tuesday going through drills with no apparent limitations.

Backup quarterback, Johnathan Bennett, played in Willis’ absence during the middle part of the game Saturday at North Texas. Bennett was not practicing on Tuesday as he was seen on the sidelines with most of the fingers on his right throwing hand heavily taped. No official word from Liberty yet as to Bennett’s status this week.

If Bennett is unable to go and the Flames utilize another quarterback other than Malik Willis, look for true freshmen Kaidon Salter and Nate Hampton to have an opportunity. Both of the highly rated recruits saw increased reps during the open portion of practice on Tuesday. Neither of them have seen the field at the college level yet.

Salter was a late addition to Liberty’s roster this past summer as the 6’1″, 195 pound athlete joined the Flames after spending the spring semester at Tennessee. Salter signed with the Volunteers out of high school where he attended Cedar Hill High School in Cedar Hill, Texas. He was a top 50 national prospect and was ranked as the No. 6 quarterback nationally and No. 5 prospect out of Texas in the class of 2021, according to 247Sports.

Out of high school, Salter had over 20 offers including Liberty, Arizona State, Arkansas, Auburn, Baylor, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Michigan State, Ole Miss, South Carolina, and Syracuse. Liberty and head coach Hugh Freeze were the first reported offer to Salter in April 2019. Salter was dismissed from the Tennessee football program in late June following his second run-in with police in his first few months on campus, both drug related charges. In the most recent incident, he confessed to having four grams of marijuana.

Hampton is a 6’6″, 230 pound quarterback from Davie County High School in Mocksville, North Carolina. The 3-star quarterback had over 20 offers including Akron, Appalachian State, Coastal Carolina, FIU, Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Charlotte, UAB, West Virginia, FAU, Marshall, Kent State, Old Dominion, Western Kentucky, Toledo, UConn, Dartmouth, Princeton, Penn, and Yale. He committed to Liberty in June 2020 before signing with the program last December. He was a mid-year enrollee and took part in spring practice this past spring.