When Mike Brown walked out of an afternoon meeting at Liberty’s football operations center Tuesday, he was flanked by quarterbacks Brock Smith and Spencer Landis.

For the first time in Liberty football history, the Flames have a player on the watch list for the Walter Payton Award, FCS football’s equivalent of the Heisman Trophy.

When Liberty safety Ryan Greiser passed Danny Rocco in the hallway in the football offices last week, the Flames head coach held up five fingers, signifying the coach’s hope that the senior would intercept five passes this season.

When Mike Brown walked out of an afternoon meeting at Liberty’s football operations center Tuesday, he was flanked by quarterbacks Brock Smith and Spencer Landis.
Though Landis, a junior, beat Brown out for the No. 2 quarterback position, Brown is still very much part of Liberty’s plans in 2008. But where?

“Unfinished business.” Eventually, those words became the official slogan for the 2008 Liberty football season. In 2007, Liberty wanted to prove to the Big South that it had arrived as a respected football program. In 2008, the Flames want to prove the same fact to the rest of the nation.

Liberty coach Danny Rocco has always valued Wes Cheek’s versatility. Cheek has spent two years as a backup tailback, but he’s also been one of the Flames’ best coverage options on kickoffs and punts.

Liberty will have more football games televised this season than anyone in the Big South Conference, and maybe more than any FCS team in the country.
That’s the net result of a deal that landed the Flames’ seven home games on multiple television platforms, the biggest being FamilyNet, which is available over the air and on cable in many spots nationwide.

Rashad Jennings arrived at Liberty in the winter of 2006 with a coating of baby fat and a bundle of expectations. The fat is gone, the product of Jennings’ strict adherence to a healthy diet. The expectations, however, have ballooned.

Liberty football coach Danny Rocco could only shake his head as he ticked off the list of players who missed Monday’s practice at Williams Stadium.
“I’ve never had so many guys hurt in my life,” Rocco said.

Rocco wants to split the kicking duties — field goals, extra points, punts and kickoffs — among several players.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Both of Rashad Jennings’ brothers — Butch and Bryan — made it to the NFL, so it’s natural that the thought of playing professional football has crept into Rashad’s mind over the summer. He ran a personal best in the 40-yard dash during Liberty’s pro timing day this past March. He’s even changed his number from 3 to 23 to conform to NFL standards.

Liberty University rising senior Megan Frazee is preparing for a two-week tour of Northern Africa with a women’s basketball team from Athletes in Action. Frazee and her teammates will depart AIA headquarters, located in her hometown of Xenia, Ohio, on Sunday and return to the U.S. on Aug. 5. While in Africa, the AIA team will play a number of games as well as conduct clinics and spread the gospel.

The Liberty University Flames hope a new assistant coach can bring his winning ways from Division II to the men’s basketball program.

Liberty’s women’s basketball season ended in March with a loss in a tournament to a state rival from the Colonial Athletic Association.

Former Redskins greats Art Monk and Darrell Green are kicking off a statewide charity tour in anticipation of their induction into the NFL Hall of Fame later this summer.

EUGENE, Ore. — Danielle McNaney, a 2005 Liberty graduate, finished 12th in the final heptathlon standings Saturday at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials.

Take a look at any NFL stadium on a Sunday afternoon, and you’ll see advertisements for players’ charitable organizations.

Clendon Henderson can now look back fondly on an extremely painful moment: The first play of the first football scrimmage during his senior year at Meadow High School in rural Texas.

For the second year in a row, the Flames football program received a preseason Top 25 nod in Lindy’s College Football Preview, as Liberty is ranked No. 19 in the 2008 edition of the magazine.

The Big South Conference announced Monday that Liberty women’s basketball player Allyson Fasnacht has been named the Big South Conference’s Woman of the Year for 2007-08.

DANVILLE — The moment the words “nice pitch” escaped Jim Toman’s mouth, a chain reaction started. Home-plate umpire Ted Miller didn’t like the tone in Toman’s voice and gave him a warning. Toman didn’t like the warning and stormed out of the Liberty dugout to confront Miller.

In February, Liberty baseball coach Jim Toman was convinced Clarence Nicely was the pitcher on his team most equipped to handle the pressure of being the Flames’ Friday starter.

Daryl Robertson just wants to play football, which is why the former Liberty High School standout has left Virginia Tech to play at Liberty University.

Steven Evans loves the rush of pitching in tight games, so he wasn’t exactly nervous Saturday when he was summoned from the Liberty bullpen in the seventh inning.

Liberty hasn’t finished as high as second place in the Big South baseball standings since 2000.

The last two Mays, Liberty’s pitching staff has staggered to the finish line. Arms were tired, the bullpen depleted. The Flames entered the postseason gauntlet—where a team could potentially play six games in four days—undermanned.

The NCAA has put Liberty University’s men’s basketball program on public notice for poor academic performance in the last half decade.

Liberty men’s basketball coach Ritchie McKay announced two high-profile departures from the Flames basketball program Friday, confirming that starting guard B.J. Jenkins will transfer and that assistant coach Dale Layer will leave to become an assistant at Marquette.

Vince Redd doesn’t want to hear about how much his draft stock has skyrocketed during the spring.

Each spring, Liberty polls its players to decide its team captains for the upcoming season.