There may be more uncertainty and more question marks about the Liberty defensive line entering the summer than any other position. This is due in large part to the losses the Flames suffered in the transfer portal during the spring window. TJ Bush. Gone. Jay Hardy. Gone. Chris Boti. Gone. That’s three key members of the two-deep. Add in additional losses from depth pieces such as Larry Jones, III and Eliyt Nairne (from December portal window), and it is a lot of production to replace.

Liberty brought in transfers Markus Clark and DJ Jackson in the December portal window and added to them in the spring portal window with Aaron Hester and Joe Strickland.  Those four will certainly have opportunities to crack the two-deep depth chart this fall. Returners that will also be counted on include Bryce Dixon, CJ Bazile, Mike Jarvis, Eli Hall, and Brenton Williams.

Perhaps the only certain position of the front four is at Joker. Bazile was named the CUSA Preseason Defensive Player of the Year prior to the 2024 season, and he would go on to finish the year with 54 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss, and 2 sacks. He has three years of playing experience already under his belt, two of those as a starter, and he is a team leader that others look up to in the locker room.

Pushing Bazile hard for playing time is Brenton Williams. The former Auburn transfer developed into a solid backup to Bazile last season, playing in all 12 games with 15 tackles, 4 TFLs, and a sack. Williams had a very strong spring, and the Flames don’t expect to see much of a drop-off, if any, when Williams takes the field to give Bazile breaks at times.

Bryson Jennings, who began his career at North Carolina, has played in 20 games over the past two seasons for the Flames. He provides an additional option at the Joker position behind Bazile and Williams.

Maybe the only other known commodity is at one defensive tackle spot in Bryce Dixon. The rising senior has become a fixture on the interior of the Libert defensive line over the past three seasons where he has played in 33 games. Last year, Dixon finished the season with 33 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, and a sack. He also had two fumble recoveries, two pass deflections, and a forced fumble.

Mike Jarvis and Eli Hall should also factor into the mix alongside Dixon at defensive tackle. Jarvis, a transfer from Wisconsin who joined Liberty for the 2024 season, played in 11 games with 5 tackles, 1 tackle for loss and half a sack last season for the Flames. Meanwhile, Hall, a transfer from Wake Forest, played in all 12 games and had 9 tackles. Expect both Jarvis and Hall to see their roles expand this season.

Then steps in the four incoming transfers for the 2025 season as the next most likely to help fill out the two-deep depth chart – Markus Clark, DJ Jackson, Aaron Hester, Joe Strickland.

Clark, Jackson, and Strickland were primarily interior guys at their previous stops while Hester looks to be most likely to slide in at the defensive end spot Bush held down the last two years.

Clark is a 6’1″, 295-pound defensive lineman transfer from Appalachian State who joined the Flames for the spring semester. He played in two games in 2024 for the Mountaineers while battling injuries, recording five tackles, one tackle for loss, and one forced fumble. In 2023, Clark appeared in 11 games, starting the first eight at defensive tackle for App State. He had 21 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss and one sack on the season. In 2022, Clark appeared in nine games as a true freshman as he recorded five tackles, one tackle for loss, and one forced fumble.

Originally from Sumter, South Carolina, Jackson is a 6’1″, 272-pound defensive lineman who has spent his first three seasons at NC State. Jackson enrolled at NC State in January 2022 but missed the 2022 campaign as he continued to recover from an ACL injury suffered in high school. He also missed the 2023 season with an achilles injury. In 2024, Jackson recorded 9 tackles and 0.5 sacks in 8 games played and 131 snaps. He was the second-string nose tackle for the Wolfpack.

Strickland is a 6’4″, 290-pound defensive lineman who entered the portal on April 16 after spending three seasons with the Boilermakers, appearing in one game in 2022 and in one game in 2024. Originally from Indianapolis, Strickland was a consensus four-star rated prospect coming out of high school. He had numerous offers out of high school including Penn State, Indiana, Michigan, Stanford, Kentucky, Michigan State, Nebraska, Virginia, Virginia Tech, and others.

Hester played in eight games in 2024 for the Seminoles, finishing the year with 10 tackles, 1 tackle for loss, and one pass breakup. He was the highest graded returning EDGE for Florida State, per PFF, following the 2024 season before deciding to enter the portal. Over the course of his first two seasons in Tallahassee in 2022 and 2023, he played in four games and had two tackles. Hester has two seasons of eligibility remaining.

Previous Roster Reviews:

Quarterbacks
Running Backs
Wide Receivers
Tight Ends
Offensive Line
Linebackers
Corners
Safeties