Palsgrove’s Points: Getting some clarity after the Flames first win (2024)

The Flames are 1-0, but it wasn’t the cleanest start for the Guardians of the Mountain (no one calls them that, but it’s cool, so I will). Now it’s time to look at what happened last night and what is clear and unclear for the Flames going forward.

Clear — Treon Sibley is the new No. 1 wide receiver

Last night, the Flames’ senior wideout Treon Sibley set a new single-game high for himself in catches, yards, and yards in a single catch, and he tied his single-game high with a touchdown snag. It’s safe to say that in the Flames’ sole game this season, he seems to have cemented himself as the team’s No. 1 option at receiver, and that shouldn’t be all that surprising.

In all of the projections and guesses over the summer from me and just about everybody else covering this team, it was clear and obvious that Sibley would be one of the three receivers making the start for the Flames, mainly due to his experience and chemistry with junior flamethrower Kaidon Salter.

Flames WR Treon Sibley on his chemistry with QB Kaidon Salter pic.twitter.com/cg6SkbrhLq

— Liberty Champion Sports (@ChampionLiberty) September 1, 2024

Unclear — Who are the wideouts behind Sibley?

Now that we know who the No. 1 is at wide receiver, it’s time to discuss numbers 2 through 7. Saturday night, seven — yes, seven — different receivers saw the field for the Flames. Those would be (in the order they saw the field) Sibley, junior Elijah Canion, redshirt junior Tyson Mobley, juniors Reese Smith and Juju Gray, redshirt freshman Darius Copeland and junior Kylen Austin.

Flames WR Trevon Sibley on the competition at WR for the Flames pic.twitter.com/PgWlnHs4gB

— Liberty Champion Sports (@ChampionLiberty) September 1, 2024

What we have here is a camp battle that has bled into the regular season for the Flames. The coaching staff is letting game reps become the deciding factor for who’s going to make that 3-5 wide receiver rotation for the rest of the season and who’s going to be relegated to special teams.

If I was one of the Flames’ offensive coaches, this is how I would handle it. The best way to think about how to build out a receiving corps is to assemble it like a basketball starting five. You want someone with blazing speed to stretch the field? For that, we have Sibley. You want someone tall who can jump out of the hypothetical rafter for a ball? For that, I would insert the Purdue transfer Canion. That leaves just one starting position available for receiver, as well as the question of who you want to fill it. Last season, the Flames trotted out CJ Daniels, Noah Frith and Aaron Bedgood in many of their three-receiver sets. You can swap out Daniels and Frith with Sibley and Canion, not in one-for-one talent but in general archetypes, and that leaves the Bedgood role.

I would slide Copeland in as the third wide receiver and the successor to Bedgood. He’s quick, and he’s listed as both a running back and a wide receiver on the depth chart, which seems to indicate that the coaches agree with me; they just want to see more. As a fan, though, make sure to keep an eye on who’s on the field at receiver going forward.

Clear — This rushing attack will continue to be the Flames’ best weapon

We knew this going in, but it’s still fun to see live. Senior running back Quinton Cooley looked like a superstar on Saturday with his ability to rip off runs of 7 to 10 yards at will. Senior Billy Lucas also got his snaps and took one more carry than Cooley. The two of them make for an excellent thunder-and-lighting combo, and if the Flames are able to cycle in sophom*ore James Jointer Jr. like Flames Head Coach Jamey Chadwell seems to want to do, Liberty will boast a lovely rotation at running backs one, two and three.

If you’ve been reading this column for a bit or watching the Flames, you’d notice a missing name in that last paragraph, and that’s redshirt freshman Vaughn Blue. The Flames seem content to remain patient with Blue, using him more as a receiving back than a running back. In Saturday’s outing, Blue didn’t tally a rush, and he caught his only target for just 2 yards. I’m curious to see how — and if — the Flames use him going forward.

Unclear — What’s next for the offensive line?

With the rushing game being as important as it is for the Flames, it is absolutely critical to have a talented, deep and ideally stable front five. And right now, the Flames may have talent, but they have lost all depth and stability. Here’s a look at the Flames’ O-Line troubles.

After the game, Chadwell said that Flores, who didn’t suit up with an injury, would be out for the foreseeable future with a right leg injury. Gray, who went down during the game, is also out for an indeterminate amount of time. We should know more about the line in the coming days, but right now it’s looking bleak, especially with how crucial the offensive line is to the Flames’ successes.

Clear — This team would be struggling in the secondary without its two stud safeties

There was a clear vacuum in the Flames’ secondary last night that resulted from the departures of Preston Hodge and Kobe Singleton, who are now playing for Colorado and Oregon State, respectively. The starting corners last night, sophom*ore Dexter Ricks Jr. and senior Charles Yates Jr., struggled in pass coverage, especially keeping their hands clear of the opposing wideout and limiting explosives. Strong safety junior A’Khori Jones played well, forcing two tackles for loss and claiming four total tackles, but he wasn’t the strongest in coverage either.

The Flames defense seemed to rely heavily on the coverage chops of senior Quinton Reese and junior Brylan Green, the team’s safeties. On multiple different plays, the two of them were pulled into one-on-one coverage against a wideout, and that seems to be one of the coaching staff’s strategies going forward: to make up for a lack of coverage at corner with stellar safety play. And that’s all fine and dandy until those safeties get burnt and there’s no one behind them to clean up the mess, which happened more than once in the Flames win.

Unclear — Will this defensive line be enough against stronger opponents?

Sacks tend to be an indicator of production for a talented defensive line, but that wasn’t the case for the Flames against Campbell. In multiple instances, the Flames were able to get pressure on the Camels’ signal caller from either the interior or off the edge. Sophom*ore edge rusher TJ Bush Jr. looked to be operating at a higher frame rate than his blocker, and if you subtract the one explosive run that the Camels ripped off, the Flames held Campbell to just 52 rushing yards on 31 runs.

That’s a pretty sweet stat line for a team that struggled against both the run and in the pass rush last season. The next question is, can the Flames translate backfield presence and QB pressures into drive-killing sacks?

Clear — Kicker is going to be very weird this season

Going into Saturday’s game, there was no clarity at kicker in the slightest. The official team depth chart quite literally listed place-kicker as either junior Nick Brown or senior Brayden Beck or senior Colin Karhu. Well, to confuse everyone, the first player to trot out as a kicker to kick off the game was junior punter Max Morgan. Morgan ended up taking all of the kickoff and punt duties for the Flames, while Karhu, a transfer from North Greenville, took all of the point-after-attempts and field goal work. Karhu went 7-8 on total kicks, the only miss coming on a chip-shot field goal.

Karhu and Morgan seem to have won the job for now, but Chadwell and company have made it very clear that the leash for these guys is short, especially if the field goal misses pile up as they have in the past.

Palsgrove is the Sports Editor for the Liberty Champion. Follow him on X.