The Liberty Flames are getting ready for their second season as an FBS program, and they are hopeful having a coach with experience in the SEC is going to help them take some more steps forward as a program. That former SEC coach is Hugh Freeze, and he has just concluded his first spring game as a head coach since being fired by Ole Miss amid scandal. Liberty’s spring game on Saturday saw the defense handle their business for the first half, but the offense woke up in the second half to take the annual spring game.
Liberty safety Ceneca Espinoza Jr. scored the first touchdown of the game with a 41-yard interception returned for a touchdown early in the second quarter. The defense was given a 24-0 lead to start the game, so the pick-six helped give the defense a 31-9 cushion at the halftime break. In the second half, freshman running back Chandler Armstrong ripped off a 46-yard touchdown run and Class of 2019 early enrollee quarterback Johnathan Bennett connected on a 59-yard touchdown pass to Shedro Louis to add to the offensive fireworks for the Flames.
Although Bennett had a solid performance in the box score, so did the incumbant starter, Stephen Calvert. Calvert completed 18 of 27 pass attempts for 184 yards. Although Calvert will likely remain the starter for the Flames this fall, there should be reason to be optimistic about some of the future outlooks for some of the new players signed under Freeze, and there should be little reason to suspect Freeze may not wait long to make any roster changes in the fall if he feels a change will do the team some good.
Although the spring game is in the ebooks, Freeze will oversee two more spring practices for the Flames before the spring practice schedule concludes for the year.