FORMER LIBERTY LB TO RETURN HOME

Manny Rojas played his college football at Liberty from 2003-2006, and he will return to Lynchburg this weekend when the Flames play host to Delaware where Rojas serves as defensive coordinator. Rojas was part of the 2006 Liberty football team that went 6-5 under first year head coach Danny Rocco, jumpstarting a still active streak of 19 straight seasons Liberty has won at least six games. Rojas was a key member of that team in 2006 when he led the team with 102 tackles. He finished his Liberty career with 348 career tackles and was a two-time Big South All-Conference performer.

Following his time on the field, Rojas began his coaching career at his alma mater, first on the strength and conditioning staff. He then transitioned to a defensive and special teams assistant for the 2010-11 seasons. Rojas joined his former head coach Danny Rocco when he moved to Richmond, where Rojas was the linebackers coach from 2012-16. Rojas and Rocco then went to Delaware where Manny was the linebackers coach and special teams co-coordinator in 2017 and 2018. After one year at Lafayette as defensive coordinator, Rojas has been with the Blue Hens as defensive coordinator since 2020.

He brings a Blue Hens defense to Williams Stadium this Saturday that is allowing 28.3 points per game and 391.6 yards of total offense to opponents this season. They are the fourth best passing defense in CUSA, holding opponents to 230 yards passing per game while ranking 9th in rushing defense, allowing 161.6 yards on the ground.

“He definitely wants to win, we can tell,” said Delaware senior defensive end Noah Matthews of Coach Rojas. “We’ve been responding to that very well at practice. He comes out there with his megaphone. He’s yelling. Definitely been a point of emphasis for us this week knowing that he’s coming from there and that he really wants to win.”

UNBEATEN OCTOBER LEADS TO MEANINGFUL NOVEMBER

Following a season opening win over Maine on August 30, Liberty had a very disappointing and underwhelming month of September where the Flames were winless, dropping all four contests to open the season at 1-4 for the first time at the FBS level. Despite that slow start and poor month of September, the Flames enter the month of October with meaningful football on the schedule. The Flames bounced back in October, winning its only two games in the month by beating UTEP and New Mexico State to improve to 3-4 and 2-1 in conference play so far this season. With those wins, Liberty enters the final month of the season with a path to the CUSA Championship still in play for the third straight season.

The Flames welcome Delaware to Williams Stadium on Saturday for the first of five games in the month of November, including three of them at home. Liberty enters at 7-1 under third-year head coach Jamey Chadwell in the month of November with the only prior loss coming in last year’s regular season finale at Sam Houston, 20-18. Liberty will also be looking to protect their home turf Saturday against the Blue Hens. The Flames are 15-2 at home under Chadwell, including an 8-1 mark at Williams Stadium against CUSA opponents with the only loss coming to the eventual conference champ last year, Jacksonville State, 31-21, on Oct. 30, 2024.

“We’ve got a stretch right here of five games left that can determine this season,” said Chadwell. “Our guys are aware of what’s at stake and the importance of winning games at home. We’ve got a huge homecoming game (this week against Delaware). They are looking forward to getting back out there.”

STRENGTH VS STRENGTH

Saturday’s game between Liberty and Delaware will feature a strength against a strength. The Flames enter this week as the top passing defense in Conference USA and 17th in the country, allowing 166.7 yards passing per game. Meanwhile, the Blue Hens are 13th nationally and tops in CUSA with 299.43 yards passing per game on offense. Whoever wins this matchup will go a long way in determining the outcome of the game at Williams Stadium Saturday.

“I think this team is pretty balanced on defense both ways,” said Delaware head coach Ryan Carty. “They are very solid up front in the front seven. I think they do their best to give looks that have a stacked box that have enough people in the box to handle the run game so that you kind of have to throw it on them. I think they are pretty sound in the back end. They do a decent chunk of disguising things pre-snap that can give you some different looks for a quarterback. It certainly is something, especially a team coming off a bye like they are, I don’t know 100 days off it seems, I think the last time they played was the 14th, a lot of days off before getting a chance to play us, it’s going to be something we have to be ready for, some more nuance in the back end.”

Nick Minicucci is leading the Delaware passing attack. In seven games played this season, the Blue Hens’ signal caller has completed 179 of 278 passes (64.39%) for 2,070 yards, 13 touchdowns and 3 interceptions. His 295.7 yards passing per game ranks 8th in the country. He will test this Liberty passing defense like no other team has done to this point in the season.

“Their quarterback’s playing really well, obviously they lead the conference in passing,” Chadwell said of Delaware. “He’s a big kid. He runs well. They run him a lot. I think they do a really good job offensively.”

Liberty’s passing defense stats could be a bit of a mirage as teams have had plenty of success running the ball against the LU defense. The Flames have also faced more run-centric offenses throughout the first half of the season. The only team the Flames have faced through the first seven games of 2025 that ranks in the top 75 of passing offense is Old Dominion. The Monarchs currently are 43rd nationally with 252.8 yards passing per game. In their 21-7 win over the Flames in a rainy night in Norfolk, ODU passed for 271 yards.

“I think the quarterback, obviously, he makes them go,” Chadwell continued. “The challenge we’re going to have to face is he’s really good throwing the ball, but can we avoid him getting out of the pocket and making extra plays. Then, when he does run the ball, and they are using him to run, we’ve got to get him down. He’s a big guy. It’s going to be a big challenge for our defense. Old Dominion is a really good quarterback too, that was a bad weather game. They are really going to come after us. We will see if our defense, especially the secondary is up to par with them.”

INJURY REPORT

Here’s an update on Liberty’s current injury situation:

  • RB Caden Williams did not play in the previous game against New Mexico State with an unknown injury.
  • WR Elijah Canion has been injured much of the season, dating back to training camp. He has played in five games this season, missing the Old Dominion game before returning against UTEP. He was listed as questionable for the New Mexico State game and did not play.
  • CB Elijah Hopkins and LB Deuce Spurlock were both listed as questionable for the New Mexico State game and did not play. With over two weeks since that game, they should have a chance to return to the field this week.
  • S Brylan Green missed both games in October after suffering a lower body injury in the loss at Old Dominion. After wearing a boot on his foot earlier in the month, Green was on the sidelines for the New Mexico State game without a boot. It was a positive sign as he points towards a possible return, but Chadwell said on Tuesday that Green remains out.
  • LB Joe Carter left the game against New Mexico State with an injury, and he will miss the rest of the season.
  • DL DJ Jackson has played in each of the first seven games, but he exited the game against NMSU with an injury that will force him to miss the rest of the season. “DJ Jackson was in a rotation as a D-Lineman, that hurts your depth there,” said Chadwell.
  • Defensive back and special teams’ player Tre Lawing will miss the rest of the season due to an injury suffered against NMSU. “Tre was a very big special teams’ contributor for us, that hurts in a lot of ways,” said Chadwell.
  • Backup QB Ryan Burger is done for the season as he is medically retiring due to repeated concussions.
  • Backup C Cal Grubbs suffered an injury late during training camp and is out for the season.