woodrumWoodrum at NFLPA bowl
Josh Woodrum is in Carson, California this week for the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl. The game is Saturday at 6pm and will air live on ESPN2. Practices have also been aired live on ESPNU both Wednesday and Thursday. Woodrum is 1 of 3 quarterbacks on Team American, joining Travis Wilson from Utah and Stephen Rivers from Northwestern State.

Hagen signs with Steelers
Jacob Hagen, who spent the 2015 season on the practice squad with the Rams, signed with the Steelers this week to a future/reserve contract.

Flames beat Longwood, move to 3-5 in Big South
Liberty held on Tuesday night to knockoff the Lancers in the Vines Center. The Flames led by as many as 14 points, but had to hold off a late Longwood surge to pick up the victory. Liberty led 54-45 with 23 seconds left, but 3 missed free throws and 1 turnover in the final 23 seconds nearly cost the Flames the game. Longwood scored 8 points in 8 seconds to cut the game to 1, but Tra’vaughn White’s shot at the buzzer was no good. Of course, there was some controversy on the final play as it appeared the officials initially called a foul on Liberty’s Anthony Fields. After going to the monitor to review the play, they determined the foul happened after the final horn sounded.

Basketball player notes

  • John Dawson has clearly been a big boost to the Flames since he became eligible in late December. He is shooting 39% from 3, which is 4th best in the Big South in conference only games. His 5.8 defensive rebounds per game leads the Big South in conference only games. He’s averaging 13.7 points per game and 15 points per game in conference play, which is 7th best in the Big South.
  • talbertEvan Maxwell has certainly seen his production decline considerably in recent games. He bit through his tongue requiring stitches against Asheville a few weeks ago. Prior to the Asheville game, he was averaging 11.2 points, 5.6 rebounds, and attempting 7 shots per game. In the 6 games since his injury, his numbers have dropped to 4.8 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 2.8 field goal attempts.
  • Lovell Cabbil leads team with 31.0 minutes per game, but he is only shooting 36% from field and 33.7% from 3. He is 3rd in the Big South with an 82.6% mark from the free throw line. Cabbil also leads the team with 58 assists and 37 steals.
  • Caleb Homesley broke onto the scene at Notre Dame on December 29th. In the true freshman’s first 14 games of his career, he had only scored in double figures once and had 5 or more rebounds on just 2 occasions. Dating back to the Notre Dame game, Homesley and the Flames have played 7 games. In those 7 games, he’s reached double figures 4 times, and has had at least 5 rebounds each game.
  • Ezra Talbert is a team-best 44.2% shooting from 3. In his last 5 games, he’s made 7 of his 11 3-point field goal attempts.
  • C. Reid is shooting 28.9% from field and 26.5% from 3. He’s attempted the 2nd most 3’s on the team to Lovell Cabbil.
  • In the 10 games John Dawson became eligible, Hansel Atencia has 5 DNPs, 3 games where he has played less than 1 minute, and a total of 7 minutes played.

 Basketball commits update

  • Brock Gardner has scored 20 or more points in 3 consecutive games, bringing his scoring average to 24.8 points per game on the season. In his last 2 games, he’s combined for 32 rebounds bringing his average to 11.8 rebounds per game this year. Gardner is also averaging 4.3 assists per game and is shooting 58.5% from the field, 50% from 3, and 75% from the free throw line. He’s helped lead his team to a 10-0 record.
  • Signee Xzavier Barmore scored 32 points in the first half of a game this week. Yes, you read that correctly. His team is 14-2 on the season.
  • Josiah Talbert had his best game of the season scoring 33 points and grabbing 9 rebounds last Friday night. He was 13/16 from the field and 5/6 from 3.
  • Jay Barber led LCA with 17 points in a win against Miller School on Tuesday night. He followed that up with 10 points in LCA’s win at North Cross.

Football recruiting update
The Flames picked up a commitment Thursday night from running back Mitchell Lewis. Lewis is a 6’0″ 220 pound prospect from Auburn, Alabama. He had a breakout senior season where he rushed for 1,850 yards and 32 touchdowns, and was named to the Opelika-Auburn News All-Area first team for small schools and received All-State first team AISA honors from the Alabama Sports Writers Association. Less than 2 weeks from signing day, we will work on having another recruiting update by the early part of next week. In the meantime, a couple of updates on our current commitments:

  • DeCarlo Hamilton picked up an offer from UNC Charlotte.
  • David Harvey picked up an offer from Nevada.
  • Both Solomon McGinty and Rudiger Yearick are on campus for the spring semester.
  • This weekend was going to be a big official visit weekend, but with the snowstorm those plans have been pushed back to next weekend.

Women’s basketball update
The Lady Flames picked up 2 wins this week, over Winthrop and Coastal Carolina, to move to 6-2 in Big South play. The win over the Chanticleers was LU’s 45th straight in the series. Liberty is scheduled to play at Longwood on Saturday.

FlameFans thread of the week
This week’s FlameFans thread of the week is Run to Walmart as we discuss the snowpocalypse.