On Wednesday, Liberty added 13 players to its 2023 roster as part of the early signing period in December. It was the first time new head coach Jamey Chadwell has had the opportunity to begin to add his stamp to the Liberty roster.

Despite those additions, Chadwell is still looking to add to the roster in the coming days and weeks as he looks forward to the 2023 season when Liberty moves into Conference USA. The Flames will look to the transfer portal, junior colleges, and the high school ranks for additional talent to add depth to the team moving forward.

“We’re not done,” Chadwell said during his press conference as he discussed the 13 signees. “We’ve got some work to do, obviously, in the February signing period as well. We’ve got some work to do. Also, we will be looking to the portal to fill some needs that we might not meet in December.”

RUNNING BACK

The Flames added Vaughn Blue as part of the 2023 class, and have also picked up a commitment from Wake Forest transfer Quinton Cooley. Chadwell says he would like to add at least one more running back as part of this recruiting class to add depth to a room that includes an injured Dae Dae Hunter, Shedro Louis, and Malik Caper.

“That’s a big need for us,” Chadwell said of running back. “We don’t have a lot of depth there, Dae Dae coming off the injury, we’ve got to get him back. We’re working hard to fill that room up.”

TIGHT END

Bo Burklow followed Chadwell from Coastal Carolina, where he was committed prior to the coaching change, to Liberty. The Flames could still be looking to add another tight end to this class.

“We definitely need at least one more there, most likely, from that standpoint,” said Chadwell. “We will look to figure out what that is, whether that is someone in the portal, whether that is a Junior College guy, whether that’s eventually a high school kid, we’ll figure that out, but after we evaluate our guys through spring a little bit and see that. We know we need at least one more there, preferably a little older guy that can mix with the guys we have coming back.”

OFFENSIVE LINE

The Flames added three signees at offensive line on Wednesday and still have a fourth in Austin Anderson that remains committed. With a large group of super seniors set to be on the team in 2023, Coach Chadwell will continue to look to bolster the group’s depth as he prepares for the future.

“We will keep looking for more of those, I think we don’t have enough there,” he said. “We will be going after more offensive linemen here, as soon as we get off this call. We’re going to go after some more there.

“From an offensive line standpoint, I mention we have so many super seniors, I think there’s six or seven right now. That’s seven we’re going to lose in one recruiting class, that’s not really good. So, right now I’ve got to plan for that and try to help us not have such a drop off when those guys do finish their playing time. That’s why we’re putting a big emphasis to get enough guys, especially mid year guys that can help push up for some playing time and build some depth for us.”

WIDE RECEIVER

Liberty was unable to secure any additions to the team at wide receiver, but that won’t stop Chadwell and his new staff from looking to add some talent to the position in the coming weeks.

“We probably need a couple, two, maybe three, two for sure,” Chadwell said of receivers. “We will look into the high school ranks, try to sign somebody in February. There are still some good high school guys out there, I’d like to get a young guy. I do think we need, whether it’s a junior college transfer or if we can find a portal guy who is able to come in in January, I think that would be tremendous. We were on some kids and during the transition we had some kids committed that decided to go some other places which is fine, but we do need to bring somebody in if we can in January, at least one. Then, we will recruit a couple of high school kids for the February signing class if we can get one of them to jump on board. If there’s a junior college guy as well, we need a couple older players I think to help fill that. Then, I’d like to get a young one as well.”

CORNER

The Flames were able to add Jamal Miles to the class on Wednesday, a talented corner from Alabama. Liberty will continue to look to bolster this room as it is a position of need. Boston College transfer Jason Maitre could help there, but he is probably a more natural safety.

“You can never have enough,” said Chadwell. “We need more. We need some older guys to push some of our younger guys that are already in our program. We will be active trying to bring in a couple older guys to help with our depth at some of those needs we have. I think you are going to hopefully see us get after a couple, maybe two more corners if I had to guess.”

SUMMARY

Chadwell will also be looking for a quarterback, likely in the portal, to help solidify the depth and competition there. Other positions he will likely look at include on the defensive side of the ball with a linebacker and a safety.

“I hope we have a few join us here in January,” said Chadwell. “I hope that you will see here in January we will have two more running backs that will be joining us in January is the hope. I hope we will add a receiver too, at least one more offensive lineman, and then, if things continue to trend the way that they need to, if you will see a safety, a corner, come in in January and hopefully one or two linebackers. Hopefully we will have that there by January.”

“We are building for the long term. I’m not just going to rush and take players just to have guys. If we don’t have the right ones then we will hold them and we’ll figure it out. There will be more opportunities. If we don’t find the right guys then we won’t rush, I don’t want to take the wrong ones. There are great needs that we have to have and I’ve just got to figure out who the right fits are. Hopefully the right fits are going to come in January and get us through spring, and then we will plug and play after that.”