Liberty head football coach Jamey Chadwell held a press conference with the media to discuss the 2026 signing class. For more signing day coverage, check out our Signing Day Live Blog. Here’s everything Chadwell had to say about his signing class:
ON WHO MAY PLAY EARLY
“I’ll tell you who has to play, Michael Floyde, defensive end, Junior College. He has to be able to play, that’s why we signed him. Prince Cottonham, Elijah McKenzie, both of them need to be ready to come in and play. I would say this, there are a lot of opportunities in our running back room and in our secondary for young people to play.”
ON DE MICHAEL FLOYDE
“He’s an athletic pass rusher. He’s a five-technique that you can put on the edge that can get off the ball and put pressure on the quarterback. That’s an area we wanted to improve. He’s somebody that we targeted for a while. We felt like we won a good recruiting battle for him. He’s somebody that’s just really scratching the surface. He was a linebacker that transitioned to defensive end. He’s really taking off at defensive end. He’s just scratching the surface. I think after he is in here this spring and in our weight program, I can see him being that type of guy that (can be good off the edge). If he continues to show what he showed in Junior College, he can give us that guy that we now have both sides coming off the edges.”
ON QB JACHIN DAVIS
“Jachin, when I lived in Charleston, the pastor was John Davis, Jachin’s father. I actually led Jachin to know Jesus after I did a speaking engagement for the Super Bowl. Jachin gave his life to the Lord when he was 8. I’ve had a connection to Jachin for a long time. Jachin is highly competitive. He has a sister and two brothers, both brothers play a high level of baseball. Jachin is a tremendous baseball player too. He is highly competitive. He runs and throws, unbelievably smart and he has arguably the toughest mental toughness I’ve seen. Really excited about him. Somebody that I could see would have a bright future.”
ON THE OTHER DLINE SIGNEES
“I’m excited about both of them. Austin (Tremblay) here in our backyard. His family moved here two years ago. He was at our camp when he first got here, did some good things. He was a guy we followed. Obviously, having a really nice year at LCA. This past year, came back to camp, his improvement from summer of ’24 to summer of ’25 was tremendous. He has a relentless motor. He plays extremely hard, good size, he’s a physical guy.”
“Chris (Law) down the road here in Danville, I think Chris has got his best years ahead of him. He’s just scratching the surface. He’s a wrestler. I remember when I first met him. I met him in school in January. His coach was telling us about him. He literally said his dream was to play at Liberty. How many people say that? Being around this area, that was something he didn’t even think he could do. He was so taken back and so thankful, him and his family, for the opportunity. Love the young man. He has overcome a lot. Excited about him.”
“Both of those guys are great representatives of what we’re trying to do here.”
“Xavier Reid was the 7A Player of the Year in Florida as a D-Lineman. He’s a little undersized. He missed his senior year this year because of injury. If he played his senior year, he would have repeated. I think we have some good young players to build off.”
ON CB PRINCE COTTONHAM
“He can play multiple positions. The thing we needed to have is we need to be better at covering. We were able to watch him practice and play and see that he has the necessary skills to do that. The thing he has to do when he gets here, he has to get bigger. He’s got all the skill sets, but physically he has to get bigger. He has the skill set to be a cover corner for us. We have to get better at covering. We had to have some that we knew could play multiple positions, then also when it matters on third down, who do we feel like can cover somebody’s best. We think he has the ability to do that if he puts the work in.”
ON RB CAM WOOD
“If you watch him, he can really, really go. He’s a bigger back. One of the things that we wanted is we wanted to try and focus on a bigger type guy that was 200+. He’s done that. Really came out of nowhere. Was not necessarily on a lot of radars and has had an unbelievable season. Playing well, close to playing for a state championship. Great human. I think he’s somebody that might end up being the surprise of the class. None of y’all know about him. He’s a surprise, but I think he could end up being like woah in a couple years. I wish he was mid-year, but he has a chance to surprise a lot of people.”
ON THE OFFENSIVE LINEMEN
“It’s hard for a freshman O-Lineman to learn. Until they get here and see how they learn and all those things, we just have to see. From a physical standpoint, all those guys can fit the bill. We just have to see how they pick up everything. You’ve got to have some guys that after a year can they be the next set that develops. It would be nice to have some home-grown guys that are here for a little while. Hopefully with last year’s class and this year’s class, we have a group that can be a good nucleus. We have an older O-Line group coming back, hopefully these guys can be your O-Line of the future.”
ON LB ELLIS ALLOWAY
“Ellis was somebody that we’ve known about for a while. We had a couple there and things didn’t work out. He was somebody we were paying attention to. Could he make it to be a mid-year or not, that was the challenge. We really wanted somebody there that could come in at the mid-year at that position. He was somebody we were on but didn’t offer until late. He is a tremendous, athletic linebacker. He’s somebody that can run. He will fit the necessary athletic skills. With him coming in and learning the system that will be a big challenge for him. He is like a missile out there. He has a twin brother that signed with Jacksonville State. Really like him. I think he’s got a chip on his shoulder. He’s got the right makeup. I really like what he’s about.”
