Liberty Football: Flames burst onto FBS scene in 2018
Defense
The Liberty Flames have to improve their defense in order to hang against opponents like Army West Point, Virginia and Auburn who can grind out brutal touchdown drives. Liberty had strong play against the pass in 2017 but didn’t have enough of a pass rush up front and against the level of competition in 2018 that won’t suffice.
The Flames return some of their defense from a year ago which was quite young. Leading pass rusher Juwan Wells returns and the six-foot-two, 255-pound defensive end had 74 tackles, 11 tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks in 2017. The Flames lost 3.5 sacks from Dia’Vante Brown to graduation but have a number of large-bodied defensive tackles in a rotation that got pushed around against the run last season.
The linebacker position is shallow and losing Solomon McGinty doesn’t help Flames defensive coordinator Robert Wimberly. Wimberly also doubles as the safeties coach which is the strongest unit on the Liberty defense. The safety crew is deep and talented with Brandon Tillmon, Rion Davis, and Jeremy Peters all getting tons of playing time in 2017. With all of this safety depth, Tillmon was moved to linebacker this spring after logging 80 tackles a year ago. Davis and Peters combined for 87 tackles and Peters added three interceptions.
New Blood
The Flames recruiting class has bolstered the defense signing JUCO cornerback Bejour Wilson and three-star prospects Keith Best and Hunter Goetz. Six-foot-six defensive end Michael Lewis could get early rub as the three-star prospect is already 235 pounds. He’s joined by two-star defensive end Emmanuel Carter who weighs in at six-foot-two, 240 pounds as a freshman.