Liberty football is entering the meat of training camp, with its season opener creeping ever closer. The Flames, who are coming off an 8-4 season, kick off this season against Maine on Aug. 30. See below for Jamey Chadwell’s full press conference as he provides an update on the during Week 2 of training camp…
OPENING COMMENT
“Day 6. Been pleased with 1-5, pleased with our effort and I’ve been really pleased with our focus. Practice, you have a couple days of helmets and then you have three days of shells. The intensity from day 1goo through day 5 has been consistent, that’s one of the areas that we’ve been harping on is just practicing consistently at a high level and focusing on things that don’t beat yourself. I think the staff and I are pleased with where we’re at from that standpoint, it’s not been perfect by any means, but the effort, the detail, the willingness to want to get better has been a pleasure to be around. Today, yes it’s full pads, but it shouldn’t be any different as far as the intensity and the mindset you have. We are working specific situations throughout camp, today is a big day from a situational standpoint. Not a lot to complain about except it’s probably not been hot enough for us to try and get used to the weather we’re going to be playing in.”
FIRST SCRIMMAGE SATURDAY, WHAT DO YOU HOPE TO GET ACCOMPLISHED THERE? DO YOU HOPE TO START BEING ABLE TO PENCIL IN DEPTH CHART STUFF AFTER THAT?
“I think, that will be practice nine for us. By that point, you have a lot of stuff installed. So what can people handle in a scrimmage like situation, not a practice where you’re doing certain situations. How can guys, when they’re on the field, the coaches aren’t out there, how do they show up with referees and all that? Two, I hope by that point some people have solidified their role, meaning, we have started determining some roles depth chart wise, saying these four are rotating or these two are rotating, these guys have earned the opportunity to have more reps. Right now, everyone is getting similar reps, not the same, but similar, to see where they’re at, what they can handle. By nine, you start narrowing it down that next week because you’ve only got 16 practices left. We will start making some decisions after that scrimmage as far as the direction of where guys are going to be, what their role’s going to be, and now focus on developing that.”
WHERE DO YOU ANTICIPATE THE TOUGHEST POSITION TO SAY THESE 2, 3, 4 GUYS ARE GOING TO BE ROTATING?
“Who’s going to solidify themselves at offensive line because, I think, there’s some guys there that can contribute, what does that rotation look like? At defensive line, people rotate pretty regularly, so not that big of a deal. In the secondary, I think you will have a rotation of some guys. I think at linebacker, who are the 3-4 there that you can count on that are going to quite a bit of football. I think that’s the next one, offensive line and then linebacker. I think we’ve got some other pieces at wide receiver, not necessarily who’s playing but what position will they be in that can maximize the best of them, if that makes sense. I think we have some receivers who can play multiple positions, but where can we put them where they will be able to maximize their ability and also maximize our offense.”
DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU’RE ANY CLOSER IN THE KICKING GAME?
“You know, it’s a good competition, right now. I think we’ve had a good battle so far, through five. Every opportunity that we’ve had, as far as a live, I don’t think we’ve missed one kick out of all of them. That battle is ongoing. I’m pleased so far with the way we’re kicking the ball. Brayden Beck is doing a good job kicking the ball. He’s been here. He’s done a nice job. Billingsley’s come in and done a good job. Black’s done a good job. Pleased with it. I wished our punting was better. I think we’ve been inconsistent there. Max is obviously somebody who has been here and punted in games, I think we could be better there from a consistency standpoint. From an overall of special teams, I like the battle is where it’s at. You can’t make a decision now because they are all neck and neck, which is a good thing. Hopefully through the next few practices it will start laying itself out. Those guys have made some big kicks in some pretty good situations so far.”
WHAT WILL THE SCRIMMAGE FORMAT BE LIKE THIS SATURDAY?
“We will have a little bit of individual. We will work a specific, maybe a two-minute skeleton, some of that, and we will put the ball down and play quite a bit. Then, we will finish with a red zone deal. This will be a full, for us, it will be a full practice but a full scrimmage. It will be similar to a game as far as we will try to do everything that comes up in a game, from that stand point. It will be a lot of plays.”
YOU ARE KNOWN FOR A UNIQUE OFFENSE, HOW DID THAT GO WITH YOUR NEWCOMERS?
“Most of the guys that we brought in on offense, most, came in January. Being able to bring them in, you sell them on this is the offense, this is the opportunity, this is what we’ve done in the past with similar style play. Then, they are here in January, so they’ve had time to learn which has been really good. Those guys that came in January, they’ve done really well as far as acclimating to it. We did add some guys in the summer. So that is always a challenge there, when you are unique, how quickly can they pick things up. Some of those were offensive linemen, they are still in that process of making progress but also maybe you wish they were maybe a little further along because you need them to be. The ones in January that have come in, I wouldn’t say they’re masters of it, but you can tell they’ve done it for a while now. I think that’s been a benefit for them.”
WHAT DO YOU HOPE THIS TEAM’S IDENTITY WILL BE?
“You want to be connected. You want to be together. Any thing you do football teams or sports team in general talk about being a family all the time. We talk a lot about being a brotherhood and loving your brother, doing things for him because you love him as much as you love yourself. I hope through this time frame, through the hard practices, through the challenges is that we become so tight, so connected that when challenges do come, we don’t splinter. I’ve been a part of teams that we stayed strong together through challenging things. I’ve been a part of teams where the first sign of adversity we sort of split a bit. That’s been a huge focus. I want us to be tight and I want us to be connected. Secondly, from an identity standpoint, what you want to become is a team that is resilient. What I mean by that is good or bad, no matter what’s going on, this is who you are, this is how you play consistently. We’ve heavily focused the way our practices are laid out, the way our messaging is laid it is that we are going to be resilient. We are going to be a team that doesn’t put our identity in anything except this is who we are each and every day, not circumstantial based but this is who we are because of that brotherhood. We’ve worked hard with that. I think our players are embracing that. Our word for the year is earn, earn the opportunity to be a champion. It’s what champions do. They’ve taken that to heart so far. I believe that those things about being connected, about being tough, about being resilient, I think that is something that they are all embracing. I’m not saying we are there, but we are headed in a great direction with that. Now, more adversity will come. Today in practice and then when it gets hot again. We are going to have times to splinter, but I’m confident this group has that intangible that really good teams always have of being together.”
HOW IS THE QB ROOM GOING? HAS ANYONE SEPARATED THEMSELVES?
“No, I don’t think anybody has separated themselves. I think there’s been some consistent play. There are some things there that we’ve got to continue to value the ball and put ourselves in some good situations. Where we were heading into fall camp is probably where we’re at right now, coming out of the summer. Today through this weekend will be big. You will be nine practices in. You are almost 33%, almost 40% by Saturday. We will have the majority of the offense in. By then, we will have an idea of these guys need to get the majority of the reps going forward. If you ask me, ‘Hey, what do you think it’s going to be?’ I will probably tell it’s been what it’s been up to this point. There’s been good stuff. There hasn’t been terrible things. We’ve not been way up and down, but there are some things there we’ve got to improve. I think all the quarterbacks that are getting their opportunities are maximizing their opportunities. We just need somebody to continue to build off what they’re doing and just be consistent with what they’re doing every day. I like the direction we are heading there.”
NOW IN PADS, HOW MUCH TACKLING WILL YOU BE DOING?
“3 days of practice you are in shells, so you are hitting, you’re just not taking it to the ground. We are doing a lot of things to prepare to tackle. We will have some tackling at some point. As far as how much that is, we will keep determining that based on the health of our team. We know you have to do it. We know you have to practice physical. We will have certain segments where we do do those in, but also I think you have to be smart on the guys that have played a lot of football. How much do they need to tackle if they’ve played a lot of football? If there’s guys that haven’t played a lot, you need them to be ready, they need to tackle more. We need to have a balance there. I feel good about the plan that our coaches have put in place as far as getting our team ready to be a good tackling team and preparing for that.”
IT SEEMS THERE IS A POSITIVE VIBE AROUND THE TEAM, DO YOU GET THAT SENSE TOO?
“This has been a good team to be around since January. I think the sense is that everybody that is here wants to be here. They’re not necessarily looking ahead. I think that’s the fun thing about it is they’re bought into what we’re doing here for this season. It’s not where can I go next mentality. That’s been good. They are appreciative of being here. They are hungry to go out and have a tremendous season. I do believe we are going in the same direction, we’re pulling the rope in the same direction. Things can change, I know how stuff happens, especially when depth charts get set, but I think this team has the right leaders. It’s made up of the right type of people in key positions that care about teammates that I don’t think will allow that to happen. I feel really good. Our coaches, I think, feel really good about that vibe you are sensing. This team is a hungry team. We feel connected. I believe it’s not going to allow any thing or any circumstance what we think can be a really special season.”
LOOKING AT THE BIGGER PICTURE, FOR THIS UPCOMING SEASON, WHAT DO YOU FEEL LIKE THIS YEAR’S TEAM WILL BRING TO THE TABLE THAT WILL SEPARATE YOU ON A NATIONAL LEVEL?
“If you look at our schedule, obviously conference is what it is, but from an out of conference stand point we are playing two of the conferences in the G6, Group of Six, that are respected teams that have respected traditions. We have an opportunity from a national standpoint to represent not only our university and Conference USA but to beat some other teams that are in well respected conferences. If you do that, then that puts you in that tier of teams that maybe have a chance to, if they take care of business, to potentially be part of the playoff. Also, you want sustainability in a program. You want consistency. You want to win 13 every year. It’s hard to do, but you want to be a consistent winner. You want people to know that program is always going to be a tough team, they’re always going to be a tough team to beat. If we can come out, have another good year, whatever that looks like, then that continues to build our brand. It continues to build the national recognition – hey, every year this program has a chance to make a lot of noise nationally. I believe that. We just have to do that game by game.”
