One of, if not the, biggest weaknesses for the Flames in 2016 was on the offensive line. If Liberty and Coach Gill hopes to see any success in 2017, issues at the most important position on the football field must be addressed. In Gill’s first move to address the problems, he fired offensive line coach Dennis Wagner. Wagner had been the offensive line coach since Gill was named head coach at Liberty prior to the 2012 football season.

A lot of the issues can be blamed on injuries, as the Flames were ravaged by injuries throughout the season. “This is the first year we’ve really gotten into this circumstance (with so many injuries),” Gill said. “Coach Gillespie has done a good job, and (Senior Assistant Athletic Trainer) Barry Finke. We just had some unfortunate things happen. So, we’re just going to work hard and try to prevent injuries to the best of our ability, and try to make sure our guys can stay healthy throughout the whole year. Every team has injuries, we just kind of got the bulk of it at one position, and it was tough for us to overcome. We’ll bounce back, and be ready to go (next year).”

Lucas Holder has announced he will transfer from Liberty

Lucas Holder has announced he will transfer from Liberty

Lucas Holder, a rising redshirt-senior who was named to the Big South’s 2nd-team all-conference, announced on Thursday he will be transferring from Liberty. It’s a big blow for the Flames as Holder started 10 games at 3 different positions on the line in 2016. He graded out as Liberty’s second best offensive lineman this year and ranked second on the team in knockdowns. Holder completed his undergraduate degree in government in three years, finishing with a 3.69 GPA. He is currently pursuing a master’s degree in public policy: public administration and holds a 3.90 GPA. Based on his academic achievemements, he was named the Big South’s Football Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Holder also handled snaps on PATs and field goals for the special teams unit. Holder started 15 and played in 27 games in his time at Liberty.

The Flames will also have to replace veterans Aharown Campbell and Tanner Hartman. Campbell played in 42 career games while starting 23. Meanwhile, Hartman’s career was cut short due to concussions as he announced his retirement from the game of football during the 2016 season. Hartman, a transfer from Penn State, started 26 games in his career for the Flames.

Coach Gill used 8 different starting groups on the offensive line in the 11 games played in 2016. 9 different players started a game. 3 different players started a game at left tackle, 5 at left and right guard, and 2 at center at right tackle. With so many different combinations and players used, Liberty returns 7 lineman who have game experience including 6 that have started at least 3 games. Julio Lozano and Sam Issacson return at left and right tackle, respectively. Lozano started 5 of the last 6 games at left tackle in 2016 while Isaacson started 9 games as a redshirt-freshman at right tackle.

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#56 Dontae Duff

With the veteran losses, rising redshirt-sophomore Dontae Duff will be the offensive line’s anchor. Duff, who graded out as Liberty’s top lineman in 2016 and was named to the Big South’s 2nd team all-conference, started all 11 games at either center or one guard spot this past year. James Passmore started the final 6 games of the year at right guard. He saw playing time in all 11 games and also started a game at left guard. Ethan Crawford got valuable playing time in 8 games as a true freshman in 2016, including 3 starts at guard. Michael Henderman was projected to be the starting left guard prior to the 2016 season, but he was only able to see playing time in 2 games due to injuries. He’s started 11 games in his career at left guard.

Gill could also turn to 3 true freshmen that redshirted this past year, Damian Bounds, Aidan Burroughs, and Daniel Zapata. “We could have carried more people (on road trips), but we wanted to redshirt them,” Gill said. “So, that was the fine line part of it all was that we didn’t want to use somebody’s redshirt. You play only one game, and all of a sudden you lose your year.”

“I think we’re doing to have depth (in 2017),” Gill continued. “We’re going to have great experience, a lot of guys played a lot of football this last year, and we’re going to add some guys who redshirted, got stronger and bigger, and understanding the offense better. I think going into this season, we’ll have some more depth at the offensive line and all the way, hopefully, to 8, to 9, to 10 guys.”