[Music] on this week's show Liberty football opens up Spring practice and adds some new pieces to the roster plus see how one women's tennis player is pursuing her passion of hockey and former Flames golfer Kieran Vincent is making a name for himself on the Liv tour we'll hear from him it's all straight ahead this is flame [Music] [Music] Central you've come to expect one thing when you tune into flame Central you've come to expect a great show with great stories about Liberty athletes and guess
what we deliver again today welcome on into the show as always she's Emily Austin I'm Matt Warner we have some new faces to introduce to you on football as the Flames are getting ready to hit the grid iron for Spring ball but first we begin with Liberty Hoops yeah the Flames coming off their first Conference USA Road win of the season season returned home on Thursday to square off with Middle Tennessee Liberty in the middle of the pack in C USA looking to get hot and make a move but the Flames
were going to have to do it short-handed Junior Joseph benzant was out with a shoulder injury putting Brody pebles in the starting lineup for the first time in 769 days and he would make up for lost time pebles would make seven of 12 shots from the field on his way to a team High 21 point point he's like I could get used to this whole starting thing meanwhile the Flames would jump out to a double digit lead in the first half Elias King trying to keep the blue Raiders in it he'd score 19 on the n
ight but Liberty would lead by nineth the break second half and it turned into the Zach Cleveland Show the kid would do it all Liberty made its first seven shots of the half with Cleveland making five of them he was also a force on the defensive end as he stuffed the stat sheet to the tune of 20 points by five rebounds five assists and four blocks that hot shooting would allow the Flames to pull away for a dominant win 8853 the win gives the Flames a 4 and five record in C USA play all right Swi
tching gears to football and you're like football in February yes in February Jamie Chadwell and the Flames don't have to wait for spring to start Spring ball they're doing it right now fresh off a 13-1 season Liberty is right back at it as they begin Spring ball this weekend not nearly as many question marks this spring compared to a season ago but the Target that will be on this team's back will be twice as big the Flames are set to practice for 3 weeks all leading up to this year's spring gam
e at Williams Stadium on March 2nd more information on that as we get closer staying with football Wednesday was the second national Signing Day it was also when the Flames officially announced their additions from the transfer portal the first thing to jump out to you from this list three linebackers Jamar Brown comes in from Co Carolina where he played previously for Jamie Chadwell and Taylor Jackson comes from East Carolina where he racked up 51 tackles a season ago another notable name quart
erback Ryan berer he won the starting job at App State last year before suffering an injury so he'll provide great depth behind Kaden Salter and finally a couple of intriguing receivers Dante Lee Jr he comes in from division 2 Shaw University shows the Flames over multiple power five offers and Tyson Mobley who snacked 40 catches two seasons ago under Chadwell at Coastal finding players in the portal it can be a challenge the Chadwell likes what the Flames have accomplished this year it's still
hard it's speed dating you know what you're used to it's uh it's still it's still speed dat it's hard just trying to get people to know in a short amount of time right uh and so that's the hardest challenge I think from a portal standpoint like the high school guys you got a lot of chance to develop relationships with with the with the with the portal transfer guys it's a short amount of window you know and you're trying to get to know them um they're trying to get to know us and you think you H
aven an understand understanding you really don't till they're here you know you can talk with coaches and all that and so I do think we hit on some uh we hope good players but I do really think on from a transfer standpoint we hit on some guys that are good people as well and and that you know fit what we're trying to do here for the record coach Chadwell was not pointing at me when he was talking about speed dating but hey it's never too early to get excited about football season am I right bu
t for now let's get back to the hardwood the lady Flames are smoking hot right now winners of four straight Liberty hits the road for its most difficult conference contest to date Lu will face a metal Tennessee team that's an undefeated 7-0 in C USA play it was a solid start for the lady Flames leading 2217 early in the second quarter another solid effort coming from your C USA player of the week bellais smuda but the Lady Raiders were Unstoppable on this one final score 81- 55 one 2 3 4 five 6
7 lady flame Asia Boon collected her seventh freshman of the week honor which ties for the most the award has been given out to a freshman in C USA history Boon is also just one honor away from tying the program record which Ken green holds with eight so we thought it would be a perfect time to learn more about Boon in her game Asia boon with a smile on her face great defense by Boon Bo left open gathers watches and hits my name is Asia Boon I am a shooting guard SLO guard on the Liberty Women's
Basketball team during games I'm very locked in like I'm very like nothing will pH me I'm in the zone set and here comes how about the strength from the Freshman as I feel like I always have good energy feel like I'm always like loud and like like let's go girls or like if one of my teammates is struggling then I'm going be like okay like it's okay like let's pick it up in this next play like I'm always encouraging so so I feel like that's what I bring to the table as the way to theim they cann
ot for confidence and that's what you want to see from your B to start it off my pops has always told me to have a short-term memory in basketball I'm not perfect neither is my teammates neither is my coaches everybody makes mistakes so when I make a mistake I laugh it off like I was just like it's okay like next play like nobody's going to remember all the mistakes that I made in the game after the game sprinting keeps it with boom misses a jumper a scene with offensive rebound offensive reboun
ds continuing to pile up for Lu and it results in more Second Chance points as with the triple our culture this year is called get to so we had a long practice 2 and 1 half hour practice and we have to go to weights after we're all like uh like we don't want to go like but we're like we get to go we're just like it like get to we get to do all of these things we're blessed to do all these things the 1 2 the GL Asia Boon might just be the face of the Liberty women's program here here in the very
near future all right well when you're a division one college athlete your sport is basically a full-time job and typically it's also your passion and while that's all true for women's tennis player Bruna samayo she's also very passionate about another sport as well one that's far from popular in her home country of Brazil and one that she covers from the broadcast Booth she's all alone she can't make it she takes the shot as she scores buy now try to center it in and that's another goal for the
flame there a lot of pressure here for this Liberty team and they [Music] score L now with the bucket is able to finally grab Thea as she gets in five ho Madison G with the first goal of 20124 for the lady flam Bruna Sao is not your typical two sport athlete the young Brazilian would follow in her dad's footsteps and pick up a ball and Racket at an early age to begin her journey in the game of tennis but a trip to the states would reveal a passion for a new sport that Bruna had never seen befor
e I came in December of 2017 with my dad and my dad told me like I'm going to introduce you to American Sports I had no idea what football was I had no idea what hockey was basketball so we watched Jacksonville Jaguars game against janap Colts which was really good then we watch Orlando Magic against Golden State Warriors also fun and lastly we watched the Tampa Bay Lightning against Colorado Avalanche I never fell in love so quickly in my life before just watching the puck drop there were two g
oals in the first two minutes of the game just the atmosphere inside I absolutely fell in love with hockey right there and then and I just started inserting myself in the game of hockey the new hockey fan would move over 4,000 miles to the mountains of Central Virginia and begin her Collegiate tennis career at Liberty University when an opport opportunity arose off the court that would allow her to pursue her New Found Love of hockey in a unique way the first week of my sophomore year Bennett ca
me into my class and he explained about Liberty broadcast experience which is an opportunity for students to work within the broadcast of sports and he said that every student had to start at lower level hockey and I just found that awesome because it's literally the sport that I understand the most of and that I love the most he passed on a sign of I was like I'm there but the eager athlete would first have to get the blessing from her tennis coach Jeff Maron I spoke to Bruna about her interest
in broadcasting and Sports in general and I thought it was a perfect situation for her she had this this gave her the opportunity to use her G her gifts her strengths and the the love that she had for sports and for statistics and uh wanting to be involved especially in hockey I think it was just an incredible fit and so I was all in for that I thought it was an incredible idea that she had and something she wanted to do and I endorsed it I said go for it you know as long as you are here on pra
ctice and you're given 100% and you're you're here in our matches go for it let's see what you can do with Coach on board Seno would attack this new adventure like she does the net whenever it's go time there's no time to practice you know so you need to practice and prep beforehand the same is with tennis right we practice six times a week for an entire semester before our season even starts because if you don't do anything and it's a game day you're not going to be ready for it you're not goin
g to be ready for the opportunity and I think the same thing goes as calling a hockey game you know you you can't just expect to get into it and know instantly what it say if you don't prepare if you don't know the things that you need to know before you go into a game like you're going to blank and you're just going to not be able to say anything ahead another shot and another great save there by Thea scolling down on the ice truly has been the story of this game so far while the young broadcas
ter has never played a shift in a hockey game she has been able to bring her unique perspective as an athlete to the booth I think being an athlete helps me understand the sacrifice that goes into your craft for me at least with tennis I had to sacrifice a lot growing up in order to be in the position that I am today you do all of that for the love of the sport and for trying to put yourself in the best position to win and I I think whenever I'm doing hockey games and I understand the amount of
work that they put into it and I understand how badly they want it stand it in front for adamc who has fussy with her as she scores fussy with the second goal of the game a fe from adamac as she's able to take that one in between the badge and the glove from Thea the Flames going up two to nothing late in the third period even though her dad isn't here in the stands to watch his daughter call ball games or playing a tennis match Bruno knows that he's tuning in from a hemisphere away my dad is li
ke my biggest supporter always so even though if I say something wrong in a game he'll always be like hey I'm so proud of you and I'm it's so amazing like what you're doing and it's just so special to have him watch [Music] it the only reason why I get to do what I'm doing today is because of him he was the one that introduced me to hockey he was the one that show me this amazing Sport and I wouldn't be doing what I do today without him so I think it's very special to have him watch a byproduct
of what he started what a great story by our Donald Scott you know something about Bruna she's so passionate and dedicated to this career field not only is she in the broadcast Booth but I see her on the sidelines at football games rolling cable she's doing Graphics at basketball games so she is all in yeah and her love of hockey is so wild like she can consumes it she'll tell me she'll watch entire games from 30 years ago on YouTube she is so passionate about the game of hockey and I have no do
ubt she can go as far as she wants to in the broadcasting field like with a game of hockey because of that passion word on the street she's a bigger hockey fan than that Canadian R MCG but we'll have to see all right we take you from the court to the links for our next update which is on former Liberty golfer Kieran Vincent Matt it's been so exciting to follow along kieran's Journey since his Lu playing days it seems like he's in a new country every every other day so let's get you all caught up
on his travels or should I say his insane success the last year and a half as you may remember the South African had an incredible career here at Liberty from 2016 to 2022 in fact he won the Big South Conference rookie of the year back in 2017 he went on to go turn pro in 2022 playing on the PGA tour Canada and Asian tour which is when he won his first pro tournament at the international series Vietnam in April of 23 then he earned his live golf tour spot in a playoff at the live promotions eve
nt in December 2023 Matt next thing you know he joins John ROM's Legion 13 team which was just formed last Monday then they teed off at Liv golf's myoba in Mexico Just 4 days later here's the former flame arriving at the course Matt Warner take note of the backpack repping the Flames love it Kieran finished the event tied for 38th his best round coming on Sunday at two under but as it team Legion 13 won the event here's Kieran after the victory I'm not really a leaderboard follower or looker uh
so I try and avoid it as best as I can but my peripheral got the better of me today and so I kept peeking at it every now and again like oh I shouldn't be doing that but um yeah obviously it was it was nice to see a little bit of pink on top um and yeah kind of I sort a couple of times throughout the round and I was like well I know my score is you know average right now so the guys must be playing good and then I kept looking every now and again and kept going so it was awesome all right we ste
p aside for a moment but when we come back we get you ready for baseball season and let you know how the Flames are expected to fair in Conference USA plus Rett joins us for warm hot and Fuego that's all when flame Central returns so you're looking for a university that's perfect for you a school that has anything you could possibly need anything you want a place that has the programs you want to study and maybe a few more just in case you change your mind I think I'm going to sign up for the fa
shion design program all right a place with state of the facilities I mean look at this campus and who doesn't love Big Time Sports and great recreational activities okay now we're on a roll somewhere you can hike slide strike shoot climb eat and most importantly eat you want a place that takes you to space okay maybe not but we can teach you how to fly or Pastor a church or run a business and all that with a great view yeah I think I know a [Music] place [Music] at Liberty University we underst
and life can be unpredictable and when you need a resilient career your education should withstand any test so we've made sure the degree you need is Within Reach by freezing one of the lowest tuition rates in the nation for 8 years and counting and giving scholarships discounts and credit for work you've already done because we're proud of what you do we've done this for over 30 years and we know how to help we're here to help you does education mean a room with four walls a desk and a PowerPoi
nt lecture or is it something bigger what if it's the people beside you one chair away or one ocean away what if it's the chance to learn from your mistakes as well as your victories and the push to keep going either way what if it's the freedom to reach for bigger things without missing the little ones in between for each of us education looks a bit different because we're each a bit different but at Liberty we think education might just mean something big enough for all of us that's Liberty to
us what will Liberty be to [Music] you welcome back to Flame Central despite the cold conditions here in Lynchburg Liberty baseball will hit the field to host Quinn kak in its first series of the season next weekend the Flames had a somewhat disappointing finish to last year dropping three straight including a loss in the Asen semifinal however Lu will now shift its focus to Conference USA where the Flames are already picking up some praise INF fielders cam Foster and Aiden SWAT as well as pitc
her Garrett horn were all named to the C USA preseason All Conference Team Foster started all 58 games for Lu last season hitting 272 with 44 RBI and 40 run score not to mention a career-high and team leading 12 home runs sweat is a transfer coming from Three Seasons at North Florida where he was a two-time ason allconference second baseman I'll tell you Matt Warner this guy is going to be fun to watch it seems like nothing really gets by him at second finally horn makes the list after posting 1
5 starts with the five and five record in 2023 the Ley struck out 87 and held opponents to a 214 batting average and hopefully that Talent will help the Flames meet the expectations of this preseason PLL or hey maybe even exceed them who knows this is how the ca head coaches think it will all shake out Dallas Baptist is projected to take the conference Crown the Patriots won the ca regular season last year the rankings are followed by Liberty law Tech and Sam Houston all right r g here you know
what that means time for warm hot and Fuego top play player moment over the past week in Liberty Athletics R do we have any kind of theme we're working with this week not really a theme but we do have a newcomer to the list and she is from a place in the Caribbean that I don't know why you'd leave like truthfully it's Trinidad and Tobago I was looking at no I haven't but you know looking at the pictures and like the just the crystal clear water the beach I'd be like can I join the National Team
a story there I think that' be a great idea Emily I bet You' be on that one as well but uh Reese Webster this youngster that's come on to this Flames team First Years of flames she has been terrific unbeaten in seven individual races to start off her Liberty career that's between the 60 M and the 200 M so she has just been flying high she's got a 7.32 in the 60 that's number one in Conference USA and 38 in the NCAA so coming into the Darius Dixon this weekend she's got some stiff competition goi
ng on I think it's going to be a really good challenge for her but she's gotten better each individual race she's run so I think she's going to get it all right from warm we go to hot who's your pick all right Zack Cleveland how good is he yeah he has been terrific that's that was I was going to almost ask you like tell us about this guy I mean most important player on Liberty basketball I believe I went back to last year his average in points you get any guesses is it like three and a half yeah
3.4 you look at it this season well over that in the teens he's the pardon me Conference USA player of the week you look at average 20 and A2 points seven assists 5 and a half rebounds versus the agies 23 points versus UTF 18 points he is just so versatile like you said he can get down in the post he can pass it out he can drive he can slash I know the three-pointer it really is in his game but last year we're talking about him as like this guy can dump that felt like that was the main thing wa
tch out when he gets some territory some room cuz he can throw it down now watch out in every aspect of the offensive game cuz he can do so much with it yeah he's been so good and he a lot of times he brings the ball up they use him as like a point forward so he has been really Dynamic for them this season all right finally ready in F go who you got this week oh it's Bella smuda again how good season for Bella smuda I we keep talking about it but she keeps better and better and better she really
does you know you spent so many years behind Maya McMillan and again I I've said this in the past like good for her sticking with the Liberty program and wanting to stay here at Lu and then she has just reaped the benefits this season 27 points versus UTEP she as well was the Conference USA player of the week seven rebounds she's number one in CSA when it comes to double doubles she's just pulling it down so you look at some games and I'm like a I bet she probably had like 10 or 11 rebounds she
has like 18 I'm like goodness sakes this it's funny thing against utap only second time this season that she did not have an offensive rebound and then I went to the field goal percentage she shot it at 83% so when you're not missing it I guess yeah you don't need to pull down any offensive boards right Liberty was just clicking and H man I really hope she sticks around for one more season with this young talented team they have because I think they can really do some serious damage in the year
s ahead I mean she's going to be first team all conference right she has to be the season that she said right great job as always we appreciate it don't go anywhere more flame Central coming up right after this welcome to Liberty University's online programs we living out your calling with Integrity is what you train to do and getting ready for the future doesn't mean missing out on the now because a university is more than buildings and books and an education should set you free not fence you i
n welcome to Liberty's Global Campus where distance learning was pioneered and evolved into one of the top ranked schools in the nation we're protecting your budget budget your time and your education isn't just a theory it's our priority here degrees in your field reflect industry demands and help you get ahead of the competition where College comes to you but you can come to college too game day homecoming graduation day your school your values your experience your choice welcome to Liberty Un
iversity where we train champions for crft challenges they're nothing new at Liberty we know they make you stronger force you to learn adapt to overcome when your next challenge comes be ready meet it with a degree that propels you forward we've helped Champions like you succeed for 35 years in counting and now over a 100,000 students are getting stronger every day at Liberty University challenges Make Champions let's overcome together being a parent and helping your kids through school it's not
exactly easy I mean there's waking up at 5:00 a.m. the morning routine helping with homework sitting in traffic you get it what if there was a way you could get your kids a quality Christian education where they can work at any Pace any time from anywhere school that works for your schedule and frees your kids to keep doing what they love well that's exactly what we do Lua School that goes where you [Applause] [Music] do start in 5 4 3 2 [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] 1 hey there welcome
back to the show you know for some people a quick half hour of us here on flame Central just isn't enough you know there's more to talk about when it comes to Liberty Athletics there absolutely is I get it you want to dive deeper you want to hear more from coaches athletes and of course get educated opinions from those who are closest to the programs you know I have some news for you it's called The Flame Central Podcast people and it's powered by alova mortgage it's everything you need and mor
e in a liberty Flames focused podcast we're really serious about sports yes but the rest of the time we're not really serious at all Joe Yak Matt Warner myself drop a new episode each and every Monday check it out wherever you listen to your podcast or watch it on the Liberty Flames YouTube channel great guest coming this week sure to tune init hey for any stories you might have missed Liberty Flames central.com be sure to check it out for Emily I'm Matt we'll see you right back here next [Music
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