(Photo, at right, of Asa Chapman, courtesy Liberty athletics.)

As The Cure once sang, it’s “In Between (Two-A) Days” at Williams Stadium. OK, lame reference, but I’m a sucker for ‘80s alt-emo music.

Caught the end of the first of two practices this morning at Liberty, and the team will head out again later this afternoon. It’s muggy as can be on the field, where there’s no refuge at all from the sun. Temps are a bit down—high 80s rather than low 90s—but I know I sweat my way through a T-shirt just standing out there for 30 minutes. So I can imagine the players are feeling some of the effects of the nasty heat. Good news, though. That’s expected to break later tonight, leaving more reasonable August temperatures for the balance of the week.

Some notes before I get to comments from Danny Rocco and Asa Chapman.

—First, the new scoreboard continues to go up quickly, with more of the video panels being installed this morning. The left side of the board, with the home score, yard, down, etc., is up as well. No longer will the board have generic “home” and “guest” designations. The school will have the ability to post “Flames” and “Eagles,“ for instance, for the home opener against North Carolina Central Sept. 12. It looks like the project will be done in plenty of time for that game.

—The new seats that were supposed to be installed in the stadium will have to wait until next year, I’m hearing.

—Monday was the first day in pads, but Tuesday morning was the first practice with live, hitting scrimmaging, as the Flames worked on some short yardage situations.

—Injury report:

* WRs Jimmy Eden and Ervin Garner were out again Tuesday with nagging hamstring injuries. Rocco said both are day-to-day.

* The Flames took a big depth hit at center, as Aaron Lundy went down with a fractured foot. Rocco said Lundy will have surgery to have a pin placed near the ball of the broken foot. Lundy, a 6-foot-5, 305-pound redshirt freshman, was listed as No. 2 on the depth chart behind Mario Cosby, and Rocco said Lundy was having a “very good camp” up until the injury. Matt Camire, a 6-3, 270-pound redshirt junior, moves up to No. 2 on the depth chart at the position, and there will likely be some more shuffling along the line as camp goes on. Rocco said Lundy will miss eight weeks.

* Freshman linebacker Eric Fath has some cartilage damage in his knee and will get scoped and miss 3-4 weeks, Rocco said.

Some Rocco thoughts on the last few days of practice:

“We added Freddy Brown to the roster. Freddy came in two days ago, and he practiced Monday for the first time. He catches the ball well. He’s a big target. He’s got to learn the system and learn the offense, but he’s certainly going to give us a little more firepower over there on offense.“

“Today was our first live work. We had a short-yardage scrimmage where the offense did extremely well. Offensive line got moving on the line of scrimmage, and our backs looked real good. I’m real pleased with B.J. Hayes, and I’m real pleased with Derek Bishop and Aldreakis Allen. He’s coming on as a kid who’s going to contribute this year for us. That’s kind of what we saw today. Offensively, we had a perimeter period where we worked on a lot of our perimeter options; reverses, trick plays, you know. We’ve got a lot of good things in our repertoire right now. We’ve got to continue to build on it.“

I’ll interject here, because this is the second time in a week that Rocco has praised Allen, so it’s worth taking a closer look at what he brings to the team. In the media guide, under the heading “an inside look from the coaching staff,“ Allen is described as: “(A) big kid who runs well. ... will add value to the scout team.“ He seems to be playing himself into more than just a scout-team guy, though, if you listen to Rocco, who doesn’t tend to throw a lot of false praise around. Allen is 6-0, 210 and attended Madison County High School in Colbert, Ga., where he was a three-time All-Region 8-AAAA first-team wide receiver. As a sophomore, Allen caught 62 passes for 851 yards and six touchdowns and ran for 402 yards and five touchdowns on 38 carries. As a junior, he carried the ball more (116 times for 616 yards and seven touchdowns), and as a senior, Allen had 254 yards on 60 carries and scored four touchdowns, and he caught 34 passes for 605 yards and five TDs. Sounds like the sort of dual pass-catching/running threat that Rocco loves, considering some of the other players he has in the backfield, guys like Hayes, Danny Broggin and, in the past, Zach Terrell.

Moving on ...

Do you like using Derek Bishop as a guy catching passes out of the backfield?

“Bishop showed last year that he can. So he has started to expand his role. He’s about 240 pounds and obviously, any time we’re in the I configuration or the two-back I, he’ll be the fullback. He’s a dominant lead blocker, a physical lead blocker. He’s shown the ability to pass protect. And now he’s shown the ability to catch the ball in the flats. What we’re wanting to do with him a bit is to give him the ball, and give him a few chances to carry the football. There are a couple of calls in the system that will show us what he can do carrying the ball.“

Now, a quick Q&A with Chapman, who came to Liberty from Fork Union Military Academy before last season. Chapman was a big-time FBS recruit who had committed to both Virginia and West Virginia at different times, but things didn’t work out academically so he chose to go to LU. Chapman is a house, to say the least, listed at 6-5, 377 in the Flames’ media guide. As a freshman, Chapman finished with 10 tackles, including one TFL. He had a season-high three stops against Charleston Southern. Chapman enters camp No. 1 on the depth chart at nose guard.

What did you learn last year playing under (second-team all-Big South nose guard) Colin Dugan?

“The main thing I learned is that he’s very in tune with his technique. I learned a little bit more about playing with technique instead of just trying to rely on my talent.“

What are you weighing in at right now?

“360.“

So you’ve dropped more than 40 pounds. You were over 400 last year, right? What have you done to shed that weight and get in better shape?

“I’m eating better. I eat right and drink water and no sodas. And working with Bill Gillespie, he can make anybody lose weight. It’s basically just living a different lifestyle.“

(One interjection. Gillespie himself lost a fair bit of weight last summer and didn’t sacrifice anything in the gym. He can still bench press the better part of a pickup truck, yet he is much leaner. I’m sure he’s shared some of those stories with the Flames’ bigger offensive and defensive linemen. I also remember one post-practice yell session from Rocco last spring, when he specifically called out Chapman in front of the team to get in better shape. To Chapman’s credit, that seems to be the kick in the rear he needed.)

What are the biggest things that you’ve noticed out there having shed that weight?

“I think I’m quicker, but I don’t think I’m quick enough. I want to lose a little bit more so I can get quicker. You can never be too good. You can always be better.“

Was it much of an adjustment for you coming here last year after what went down with West Virginia and Virginia?

“Coach Rocco, I feel like he’s one of the best coaches in the world. To me, it’s not really a step down. I feel like it wasn’t an adjustment. I’m playing D-I ball, good football. And I feel like we’re one of the best teams in the nation.“

What was the rotation like last year between you and Colin?

“It was mostly 4-2, so he’d go out for four, I’d go out for two, he’d go back out for four. Like that. But I saw a lot of plays on jumbo. It was a package that we ran on certain down and distances, when we needed to stop the run. So I was on that a lot, because I was first-team jumbo. So I had a decent amount playing time.“

So are you ready for that jump, heading into camp as the starter in that position?

“Oh yeah. I love a challenge, and this is a challenge. I’m going to get it right. There’s still a lot to learn, and it’s early in camp. I’m trying to get ahead of the curve and stay ahead of it. You can never learn everything.“

What kind of defense did you play in high school?

“A little bit of everything. 4-3, 3-4. And coach (John) Shuman played a lot of 3-4 at Fork Union. So I was used to it.“

You playing much basketball any more? (Chapman was an all-district hoops player while at Orange County High School.)

“Yeah, in the offseason. But not during football season. I love basketball.“

What was the reaction from everybody when they see a guy your size go up and dunk?

“Everybody says it’s amazing, but I don’t feel like it’s that amazing. It’s like I’m supposed to do it. I can understand why people would say that. But if I couldn’t do it, I’d feel like that’s a problem.“

What kind of expectations have you placed on yourself for this year?

“I want to be great. Plain and simple. And I want to get this national championship bad.“