I was fortunate enough to be able to write the Liberty preview for the Athlon Sports’ annual college football preview magazine. Be sure to pick up a copy to get the best preseason college football coverage out there. There is also a projected depth chart I put together included. Here is what I submitted for Liberty’s portion of the preview magazine:

Liberty Flames

Offense

There’s another quarterback battle on the Mountain where Liberty will look to find a way to get back to his explosiveness of the 2023 season. After a disappointing 2025 season as the Flames’ starter, Ethan Vasko (151-of-266, 1,961, 10 TDs, 12 INTs) has been sidelined throughout the spring with off-season shoulder surgery, an injury that plagued him throughout much of his first season in Lynchburg. Liberty has brought in a pair of talented quarterbacks through the transfer portal in Deshawn Purdie (Wake Forest) and Jaylen Henderson (West Virginia) who are battling for that job.

Liberty’s offense is dominated by its rushing attack though, a unit that led the nation in rushing in 2023 and ranked fourth in 2024. The team’s production dipped below 200 rushing yards per game for the first time in Jamey Chadwell’s tenure at Liberty. Now, Chadwell and the Flames will have to sort through five incoming transfer running backs that will be running behind an offensive line that should be the early strength of the offense, returning four starters.

Defense

Shawn Quinn has arrived in Lynchburg as the team’s new Defensive Coordinator, coming to Liberty from Blacksburg and Virginia Tech where he was Brent Pry’s outside linebackers coach. Quinn will be looking to bring a toughness and physical mindset to a Flames’ defense that ranked 10th out of 12 CUSA teams in rushing defense last season. He gets to work with 5 returning starters in the front seven, led by linebacker Derrell Farrar who paced the team with 71 tackles a season ago. Will this group be able to pressure the opposing quarterback? That’s something that has plagued the Liberty defense the prior three seasons under head coach Jamey Chadwell.

Specialists

Jay Billingsley (kicker) and Max Morgan (punter) have exhausted their eligibility as Liberty finds itself looking for new specialists. Tyler Black was on the team last year after transferring from Wake Forest before he lost the job in training camp. He will have to compete with incoming transfer from Division II transfer Chase Reeves. Reeves will also be competing at punter with Sam Crossan.

Final Analysis

Coming off a 4-8 season, the program’s first losing season in 20 years, head coach Jamey Chadwell made several changes to his coaching staff for the first time in his four years at Liberty. In addition to Quinn, the Flames have also hired Cory Peoples from Georgia Tech to help lead the defensive secondary. Those changes to the defensive staff, coupled with some enthusiasm behind the incoming transfer quarterbacks, gives Liberty some optimism heading into 2026 where the Flames aim to compete for a CUSA championship once again.

And here is the depth chart I provided for Athlon to use:

Offense

WR 3 Jamari Person (Sr.) 8 Nas Newkirk (R-Fr.)

WR 2 Makai Jackson* (Sr.) 10 Jon Monteiro (So.)

WR 12 Rashawn Cunningham* (So.) 9 Bryce Randolph (R-Fr.)

LT 51 DJ Geth (Jr.) 52 Kevin Evehe* (So.)

LG 60 Joep Engbers (Jr.) 76 Gabe Smith (R-Fr.)

C 61 Aaron Fenimore (Jr.) 62 Blake Martin (R-Fr.)

RG 53 Alex Birchmeier* (Jr.) 66 Erwil Anthony (Sr.)

RT 70 Austin Anderson (Jr.) 56 Christian Williams (Sr.)

TE 48 Caleb Ryan (Sr.) 87 LaKelsey Johnson, Jr.* (Sr.)

QB 5 Deshawn Purdie* (Jr.) 13 Jaylen Henderson* (Sr.)

RB 7 Peyton Jones* (Jr.) 0 Jaylon Coleman (So.)

 

Defense

DE 18 Aaron Hester (Sr.) 91 Michael Floyde* (So.)

DT 97 Mike Jarvis (Sr.) 88 Kam Cullins (So.)

DT 15 Markus Clark (Sr.) 56 Sam Cohen (So.)

Joker 8 Brenton Williams (Jr.) 11 Lorenzo Payne* (Sr.)

LB 1 Derrell Farrar (Jr.)30 Ethan Crisp (Jr.)

LB 33 Aidan Vaughan (Sr.) 6 Dillano Glaud (So.)

LB 4 Micah Pollard (Sr.) 9 Deuce Spurlock (Sr.)

CB 5 Elijah Hopkins (Sr.) 21 Ashton McShane* (So.)

CB 28 Jamal Miles (Jr.) 2 Quavo Marshall (So.)

S 0 D-Icey Hopkins* (Sr.) 17 Jayden Davis* (Jr.)

S 3 Ashton Whitner* (Sr.) 7 Izaiah Guy* (Jr.)

 

Specialists

K 98 Tyler Black (So.)

P 49 Sam Crossan (So.)

KR 10 Jon Monteiro (So.)

PR 0 Jaylon Coleman (So.)