For the first time in several years, there are far more questions than answers surrounding Liberty men’s basketball as the Flames begin preparations for the 2026-27 season.
Gone are all five starters from last year’s team, along with the top six players in minutes played. Colin Porter, Kaden Metheny, Brett Decker, Zach Cleveland and the rest of Liberty’s veteran core have moved on, leaving head coach Ritchie McKay with the challenge of building a team almost entirely from scratch.
Only Zander Carter and RJ Jones return with significant experience from last season. And rather than shy away from the uncertainty, McKay is embracing it.
“I’ve resigned to the fact that this is a brand new team,” McKay said. “Invigorated by the challenge of it, but I won’t put anything past our group especially because of the men that went before them and the reason they chose to be a part of it. To me, I think that wins the day.”
That makes the start of practice a particularly important time for the Flames. Liberty isn’t simply replacing a couple of starters or working a few new pieces into an established rotation. Nearly everything about this team will have to be developed.
“We have a lot of room for growth and improvement,” McKay said. “This group is incredibly coachable. We do have nine new ones. I like our group. I like the tenor of their approach. It’s fun to go into practice every day. I love this family. It’s really neat to be a part of.”
Liberty has nine newcomers on this year’s roster, creating plenty of competition for playing time and roles that have been occupied by proven veterans in recent seasons.
“We don’t have Metheny. We don’t have Porter. We don’t have Decker. We don’t have Cleveland,” McKay said. “But what we do have is a collection of really good guys that play the right way. I’m going to keep trying to find the best version of us.”
Among the most intriguing additions are brothers Cobi Campbell and Cooper Campbell, who join Liberty after playing at Troy. The Campbells were a priority for the Flames once they entered the transfer portal, in part because of Liberty’s familiarity with their family. Their father, Scott Campbell, has a longstanding connection to McKay having played at Seattle Pacific where McKay was an assistant in the early 1990s.
“The Campbells, when we heard that was coming (going into the portal), they were a definite pursuit,” McKay said. “My familiarity with their family because of their dad, Scott, that one was an easy one. We didn’t need to vet that one very hard because of the character of that family and the person their dad Scott is.”
McKay also sees the brothers bringing an element the Flames need as they replace so much production.
“You can watch them on film and easily find an affinity for their ability and desire to win the game,” McKay said. “They bring something different to our group that I think we need.”
Carter and Jones provide Liberty with two players who already know what it takes to play in the program, but much of the rest of the rotation will have to be determined during the coming weeks. That includes returning players such as TJ Drain and Drew Grimes, both of whom have an opportunity to take on much larger roles. McKay specifically pointed to Grimes as one player who made a strong impression during the offseason.
“Drew had a great summer,” McKay said. “If you would have asked me at the end of summer, Drew would have been starting five or top six or seven, at least.”
A minor leg strain interrupted his progress temporarily, but McKay emphasized that the competition remains wide open and rotation pieces have yet to be finalized.
“The floor is wide open,” he said. “I haven’t made any determinations.”
One player who was expected to be a significant part of Liberty’s new-look roster will instead miss the entire season. Sean Register Jr., a junior college All-American, suffered an injury that will keep him sidelined for the 2026-27 campaign. Register’s absence is particularly significant because of what Liberty expected him to bring to the roster.
“He comes from the same junior college as Owen Aquino,” McKay said. “He’s only the second junior college player I’ve recruited in 20 years. There’s a reason why we took him.”
McKay said his interest in Register grew the more he watched him play before ultimately bringing him to Liberty.
“I didn’t know he was going to be a first-team junior college All-American. The more I watched him, the more I wanted him. He’s a really good player.”
Now the Flames will have to replace that production before Register ever takes the court for Liberty.
“Injuries are part of it,” McKay said. “Somebody’s got to step up. Nobody is going to feel sorry for us.”
That mentality will likely define much of the early portion of Liberty’s season.
While Liberty’s roster is loaded with newcomers, not all of those players are transfers. The Flames also have a highly regarded freshman class that will have an opportunity to contribute immediately.
Eli Sancomb is among the names generating significant excitement inside the program. Entering the program as the highest rated recruit in school history, McKay said he intentionally avoids putting much stock into recruiting rankings, preferring to evaluate players based on what he sees.
“I don’t look at the rankings. I don’t care what other people say about guys, I want to know what our guys say about guys,” McKay said.
His assessment of Sancomb is clear.
“I think that kid’s got an unbelievable future. He’s really good.”
Like any freshman, Sancomb will have an adjustment period as he learns the speed and physicality of college basketball, along with Liberty’s defensive expectations. But McKay believes the long-term potential is significant.
“I think he’s going to be really good,” he said.
Eli Herbert is another freshman who has impressed the Liberty coaching staff with his preparation and ability to absorb information.
“Eli Herbert is as prepared as a young man that I think I’ve ever had as a coach,” McKay said. “If you tell him one thing, it’s almost like you’re putting it into AI because he’s spitting out the exact thing that you want him to do. It’s really uncanny.”
Reece Davidson is another freshman expected to have an opportunity to contribute immediately. Davidson entered the season with significant recognition coming out of Kentucky, where there had been preseason discussion about him potentially being Mr. Basketball in the state for his senior season.
“Although he didn’t achieve it, he’s a really good player,” McKay said. “All three of those guys will have a chance to play and play right away.”
Liberty will also look to several newcomers to provide frontcourt production, including Dillon Claussen, who arrives after earning Division II All-American recognition at Washburn. Claussen was part of a successful Washburn team, but McKay knows the transition to Liberty and Division I basketball will bring a different level of physicality.
“Dillon Claussen, he’s a terrific player,” McKay said. “Division II All-American at Washburn. They had a really good team.”
The question now is how quickly he can adjust.
“For him, it’s all about how physical can he embrace what’s coming for him,” McKay said.
Liberty has already had opportunities to test its new roster against higher-level competition, including scrimmages against Virginia Tech and James Madison.
“In those games, it will test him,” McKay said of Claussen. “We will see. He looks great right now, but we’re not as physical as some of the opponents we’re going to face.”
That evaluation process will be ongoing as McKay determines which combination of players can give the Flames the best chance to compete.
For much of McKay’s tenure at Liberty, the Flames have entered seasons with established veterans, continuity and clearly defined expectations. This year is different. There are no starters returning. There isn’t even a traditional core of returning players around which the entire roster can be built. Instead, Liberty enters the season with nine newcomers, two experienced returners and a wide-open competition for roles. That creates uncertainty, but it also gives the Flames an opportunity to establish a new identity.
“We have a lot of room for growth and improvement,” McKay said.
The standard, however, has not changed. Liberty has built one of the more consistent programs at the mid-major level under McKay, and the expectation inside the program remains to compete for championships. The path toward that goal will look different this season. Rather than relying on the experience of a veteran group, Liberty will have to develop its new roster, establish its rotation and discover which players are ready to step into much larger roles.
“I’ve resigned to the fact that this is a brand new team,” McKay said.
Now the Flames will begin finding out exactly what this new team can become.
