Portal-Heavy Liberty Leans on a Deep Backfield and a Veteran Front Seven to Climb Back Up Conference USA
Liberty is coming off a 4-8 season (3-5 Conference USA), the program's first losing campaign in two decades and a jarring drop for a team whose rushing attack led the nation as recently as 2023. That downturn pushed Jamey Chadwell, 25-13 in three years at the school and 123-70 across 16 seasons overall, to make the first significant staff changes of his Liberty tenure. Shawn Quinn arrives as defensive coordinator after coaching linebackers at Virginia Tech under Brent Pry, and Cory Peoples comes over from Georgia Tech to run the secondary. Newland Isaac stays on as offensive coordinator.
The bigger story is a roster remade through the transfer portal, headlined by an unsettled quarterback race and a backfield stocked with new arrivals. If the offense finds an identity again and Quinn's front seven delivers, the Flames have the pieces to push back toward the top of the league in Lynchburg.
Offense
The job is up for grabs on the Mountain. Ethan Vasko, last year's starter, threw for 1,961 yards with 10 touchdowns and 12 interceptions on 151-of-266 passing but was sidelined through the spring while recovering from offseason shoulder surgery, an injury that dogged him much of the season. That opened a long audition for Wake Forest transfer Deshawn Purdie, a big-framed passer with standout arm strength who projects as the front-runner. West Virginia transfer Jaylen Henderson was also brought in to compete. The annuals frame the pecking order differently, one pairing Vasko against Purdie as contrasting styles and another casting it as a battle between the incoming transfers, but they agree the competition runs into the fall with Purdie the likeliest Week 1 starter.
Whoever wins the job inherits a deep and rebuilt receiver corps. Jamari Person, a classic possession target, is the leading returning pass-catcher after 28 grabs for 315 yards and figures to be the go-to option. Makai Jackson adds a physical presence who wins contested, 50-50 balls; the 6-foot, 200-pounder caught 73 passes for 1,163 yards and seven scores over two years at Appalachian State before a brief stop at Indiana in 2025. Charleston Southern transfer Rashawn Cunningham is the group's most versatile piece, with the size and speed to make plays inside or out, and slot man Darius Copeland brings shiftiness in tight quarters. Veteran Caleb Ryan anchors the tight end spot.
This looks like the deepest position on the roster. Five transfers join returner Jaylon Coleman to give Chadwell a crowded, talented rotation. Coleman and Colorado State transfer Justin Marshall profile as speed backs on the perimeter, while Duke's Peyton Jones, Florida State's Kam Davis, Arizona State's Kanye Udoh and Wyoming's Terron Kellman line up for the power-run duties between the tackles. The challenge is less about talent than reassembling a ground game that fell below 200 yards per contest for the first time under Chadwell after ranking near the top of the country the two previous years.
The line should be an early strength, with a veteran interior back in place. Center Aaron Fenimore and guards Joep Engbers and D.J. Geth all return, and the group adds portal guard Alex Birchmeier, an experienced transfer who projects to start on the interior and gives the front the kind of proven body Chadwell went shopping for. The two views of this unit diverge at the edges: one sees a line returning four starters as a clear plus, while the other flags the tackle spots as the question mark to sort out in camp. Either way, the middle of the line is the reason for optimism.
Defense
Quinn brings a pro-style scheme built on multiple fronts, mixing odd and even looks with varied coverages and blitzes, and he plans to rotate a deep front heavily. The strength figures to be up front. Defensive end Aaron Hester and tackle Mike Jarvis are stout against the run and now need to grow as pass rushers, with Markus Clark adding more size inside. Off the edge, Brenton Williams turned in a strong spring as an outside rusher at the hybrid Jack spot. Generating pressure on the quarterback remains the central task; a shortage of it has undercut the Flames for several years, and the run defense finished near the bottom of the league last fall.
The middle looks solid. Derrell Farrar, who paced the team with 71 tackles, is back alongside fellow returning starter Aidan Vaughan, giving the defense an experienced, physical core. SMU transfer Deuce Spurlock, fellow SMU addition Kyle Ferm and Ellis Alloway, tabbed the program's most improved freshman this spring, are all pushing for snaps. The one open question in the second level is the versatile Star spot, where the staff will settle the competition in the fall.
The secondary is one of the defense's less certain areas, which is part of why Peoples was brought in to steady it. Elijah Hopkins is a likely starter at corner, and Georgia State transfer D-Icey Hopkins projects to open at safety. USF transfer Izaiah Guy is a versatile piece who could answer the need at the Star, and Ashton McShane and Jayden Davis are in the mix on the back end. Beyond the anchors, though, the group leaves spring with plenty of competition still to be resolved at corner and safety.
Liberty is replacing essentially its entire special teams operation, with kicker Jay Billingsley and punter Max Morgan out of eligibility and new hands needed at long snapper, holder and on returns. Tyler Black, who transferred in from Wake Forest last year but lost the job in camp, is battling Division II McKendree transfer Chase Reeves at placekicker, and Reeves also competes with Sam Crossan at punter. Black could still end up handling extra points and field goals. It is a rebuild across the board that the coaches will not settle until the fall.
Overview and Prediction
The preseason read on Liberty is bullish for a 4-8 team: the two forecasts here peg the Flames as either the outright favorite or a close second in Conference USA, a wide gap for a roster this dependent on newcomers. The optimism traces to a deep, transfer-loaded backfield, a veteran offensive interior and a front seven with real returning pieces in Farrar, Vaughan, Hester and Williams. The schedule front-loads the danger, with road trips to James Madison and Coastal Carolina among the first four games, so the Flames need to be sharp out of September before a more manageable stretch that closes at home against Western Kentucky and on the road at Missouri State.
The verdict comes down to two things Chadwell has not yet answered. First, the quarterback: the offense cannot reclaim its old explosiveness until Purdie or one of the challengers takes firm hold of the job. Second, the pass rush, a years-long weakness that Quinn was hired to fix. Settle those, and a bounce-back into league title contention is well within reach. Leave them open, and this becomes another season of talented-but-unproven pieces searching for cohesion.