1,481 days ago, Tom Sargeant made his debut for the Liberty Flames when he took the field as the team’s starting center, and the Flames made a splash during Sargeant’s debut as Liberty defeated Baylor, 48-45, on Sept. 2, 2017.
Every game since then, Liberty has had their starting center position solidified. Only one name has gone down as the team’s starter during that time – Tom Sargeant. This past Saturday night at Williams Stadium against Old Dominion, Sargeant started his 50th consecutive game for Liberty at center. If there was an Iron Man award for college football players, Sargeant would win it in a landslide.
This isn’t how his career was expected to go either. He joined the Liberty football program as a recruited preferred walk-on under former head coach Turner Gill prior to the 2016 season. There wasn’t any fanfare for him. He wasn’t mentioned in a press conference as part of that signing class. He wasn’t featured on a recruiting service website. The Atlee High School product from Mechanicsville, Virginia, was joining an FCS program as a walk-on center.
He had plenty of experience playing center coming into Liberty. It’s a position he began playing early in his high school career, and continued to play there throughout high school and now into college.
Former Liberty defensive coordinator Robert Wimberly recruited the Richmond area, and he made first contact with Sargeant while he was in high school. The 6’1″, 295 pound Sargeant redshirted during the 2016 season. At the end of his first year in the program, there was a coaching change at his position as Dennis Wagner was fired and Aaron Stamn took over the offensive line responsibilities.
Entering that 2017 season, Sargeant knew he would have a chance to win the starting center spot. Returning starter Lucas Holder transferred to Western Illinois, and Sargeant was able to beat out several guys including Ben Fiordelise and Ethan Crawford.
“When Lucas left, it kind of opened the door for me,” Sargeant said this week as he recalled back to the 2017 offseason. “I knew I had the shot to go in and play that second year, start as a redshirt-freshman. It was really important for me to make myself stand out to Coach Stamn and be pushed by the other guys, as well. It was important to make sure I knew what I was doing, learning the plays, knowing I could be able to run the offense.”
He would win the starting spot, and was put on a partial scholarship for the 2017 season. Following a full year as a starter, he finally got a call from Coach Gill and learned he had earned a full scholarship. Sargeant is the perfect example of the growth Liberty has made as a football program. He grew from a non-scholarship reserve offensive lineman for an FCS football team to starting 50 consecutive games for a fringe top 25 FBS team that has won consecutive bowl games.
“Starting out as a walk-on, you definitely have a chip on your shoulder,” Sargeant said. “You definitely have to prove yourself coming in, but when I came in I wasn’t treated any different than anybody else. Throughout my career, competition has gotten better, recruiting has gotten better, we’ve played better teams. I think it’s a testament to the past coaches and the coaches now, having us prepared for those games. With Coach Bill (Gillespie) and Coach Dom (Studzinski), they’ve done tremendous wonders in working out people, developing their bodies. Coach Dom has done a great job with us and that has helped against better teams.”
Due to the COVID pandemic, the NCAA did not count the 2020 season against player’s eligibility, and Sargeant took advantage of the extra year coming back as a super senior. He’s already received two degrees and working towards a graduate certificate now. He’s undergrad was in Criminal Justice and he earned his B.S. in May 2019. This past spring, he completed a masters in National Homeland Security.
“The goal is maybe work in some type of federal law enforcement up in the D.C. area, that’s what my goal is,” Sargeant said of his life after football. “I think the FBI would be cool. I know it is pretty hard and rigorous to get into that straight out of college, you need some experience with that. I’ve also looked at the Secret Service and some other agencies.”
For now, Sargeant is focused on his current job – protecting Liberty quarterback Malik Willis and helping this football program to continue to rise to another level of success.
“Tom is really what is really, really good about college athletics,” Liberty head coach Hugh Freeze said. “The kid had to earn everything that came to him. Now he’s a team captain and started (50) games in a row. You wouldn’t choose him out of a lineup to be your anchor in the middle, but that’s what’s great about the human spirit, and effort, and work, and development, and commitment, and discipline. Tom is a poster board for all of that. I’m real thrilled that he has experienced some success that came with all of his sacrifice and hard work.”
