Back to the grind after a couple of days at the beach. Practice is underway at Williams Stadium, and the first panels of the massive scoreboard/videoboard that is being erected at the north end of the stadium are being installed. It’s going to be quite the spectacle once it’s done.

First, here’s a schedule of the Flames’ practice dates. All practices are open to the public. The list, courtesy of Liberty media relations director Todd Wetmore:

No. 1 – Aug. 6 – 2:15 p.m. (No Pads/Williams Stadium)

No. 2 – Aug. 7 – 6:45 p.m. (No Pads/Williams Stadium)

No. 3 – Aug. 8 – 2:20 p.m. (Shells/Williams Stadium)

No. 4 – Aug. 9 – 2:20 p.m. (Shells/Williams Stadium)

No. 5 – Aug. 10 – 2:20 p.m. (Full Pads/Williams Stadium)

No. 6 – Aug. 11 – 8:50 a.m. (Full Pads/Williams Stadium)

No. 7 – Aug. 11 – 2:50 p.m. (Shells/FOC Practice Field)

No. 8 – Aug. 12 – 2:20 p.m. (Full Pads/Williams Stadium)

No. 9 – Aug. 13 – 8:50 a.m. (Full Pads/Williams Stadium)

No. 10 – Aug. 13 – 2:50 p.m. (Shells/FOC Practice Field)

No. 11 – Aug. 14 – 2:20 p.m. (Full Pads/Williams Stadium)

No. 12 – Aug. 15 – 9:20 a.m. (Full Pads/Williams Stadium)

Aug. 16 – Players Day Off

No. 13 – Aug. 17 – 2:20 p.m. (Full Pads/Williams Stadium)

No. 14 – Aug. 18 – 8:50 a.m. (Full Pads/Williams Stadium)

No. 15 – Aug. 18 – 2:50 p.m. (Shells/FOC Practice Field)

No. 16 – Aug. 19 – 2:20 p.m. (Full Pads/Williams Stadium)

No. 17 – Aug. 20 – 6:45 p.m. (Full Pads/Williams Stadium)

No. 18 – Aug. 21 – 2:20 p.m. (Full Pads/Williams Stadium)

No. 19 – Aug. 22 – 9:20 a.m. (Full Pads/Williams Stadium)

Aug. 23 – Fan/Picture Day – 2:30 p.m. (Williams Stadium)

—I’ll try to update the depth chart about midway through the training camp phase of practice, and then once again once West Virginia game week arrives in late August. Day-to-day changes on the depth chart at this stage of camp are not important, as the Flames coaching staff will be working with all sorts of combos to see what works best. With such a young team and so many new players, that makes perfect sense.

—Tomorrow’s main story in the News & Advance print edition will look at the running back situation and examine the candidates to replace the Big South’s all-time leading rusher, Rashad Jennings.

—Friday evening on the blog, look for a quick Q&A with quarterback Tommy Beecher, the South Carolina transfer who will push offensive tri-captain Mike Brown for playing time at the position. Practice ends late tomorrow, so the post probably won’t be up until around 10 p.m. or so.

—When I spoke to LU coach Danny Rocco at Big South media day last Friday in Charlotte, he said the team enters camp fairly healthy, and that certainly appears to be the case. Everyone appears to be dressed out. The team won’t have a full-pads practice until Aug. 10, as the team slowly acclimates itself back into football shape.

—Weather isn’t too bad here, as has been the case for most of the summer in Lynchburg. It’s a little muggy, but reasonably comfortable, in the low 80s.

—Only three days of two-a-days are scheduled during camp, with two of them coming fairly close together (Aug. 11 and 13).

Some newcomers worth watching during camp, i.e., true freshman who have a chance to make an immediate impact on the team this fall:

* WR Pat Kelly (6-3, 205). Kelly enrolled in January and participated in spring practice, though he missed some time with a hamstring injury. Still, he has the size and hands to work himself into the Flames’ receiver rotation. Both starting positions seem to be up for grabs, even though redshirt freshman Jimmy Eden and sophomore Chris Summers are listed as the starters.Ervin Garner, Freddy Brown and Chuck Duffey will be in the playing-time mix as well. Brown won’t arrive on campus until Saturday, at the earliest.

* OG Malcom Boyd (6-4, 275) and Jay Weatherington (6-4, 280). Rocco loves to redshirt his freshmen offensive linemen, but both Boyd and Weatherington have college-ready bodies and can contribute in a spot where the Flames lack some depth. Bryan Mosier, another tri-captain, is secure as the starter. But my guess is whomever wins the No. 2 LG spot between these two rookies will find their way into the regular rotation. The other may redshirt, as there’s no sense in wasting a year of eligibility on a year in which said player will see little playing time.

* RB SirChauncey Holloway (5-8, 190). He’ll fit prominently into a tailback mix that features B.J. Hayes and Danny Broggin. Broggin is a nice player, but he’s not a prototypical tailback and might fit better as a slot guy or a hybrid back. We shall see. He’s listed as the starter in the media guide, but I think Hayes holds that distinction now as camp opens, now that he’s back to playing tailback full time.

* LS Robby Cramer (6-1, 225). Cramer will almost certainly start, as he’s the only long snapper listed in the media guide and was recruited specifically to fill that role. He’s replacing Dan Pope, an All-American at the position. If Cramer plays well, Rocco won’t have to worry about this position again until 2013.

UPDATE, 5:30 p.m.

Comments from Rocco after the first day of practice:

Your general assessment of day one?

“I think we came back in pretty good shape. There’s always a couple of things you’re looking for on the first day, and that’s always the first thing you’re looking for. What kind of shape are we in? What kind of condition are we in? Are we physically ready to perform? I was pleased with that. We had our highest participation this summer in our voluntary workouts. It carried over and showed today. We looked like we were in condition and were strong.

“Secondly, you’re looking to see what type of recall and execution you’ve been able to maintain from the spring. We kind of ran some base things today offensively and defensively. We kind of wanted to see what kind of recall we had, what kind of execution they had, and for the most part I was pretty pleased with that. The ball wasn’t on the ground. We weren’t sloppy, Kids basically knew what they were doing, and they were fitting in the right spots on defense.

“Thirdly, and this just may more just be me as the head coach, I just like to sit back and evaluate the new talent. We’ve got a bunch of new kids here, and I’ve got to make some decisions on them pretty soon on a a lot of them. It’s just initial impression stuff, but you can learn a lot by standing back and watching kids, not just their talent level, but their athleticism and the way they compete and how they follow instructions, and things like that. I’m really excited about this young group. I’d like to think we’ll get a couple of guys some playing time this year.“

Who are some of the freshmen that caught your eye?

“Our two offensive linemen, Malcolm Boyd and Jay Weatherington, I think will be competing this year for playing time. They have very, very bright futures. Our two defensive ends, Steve Wilkes and Cory Freeman, have bright futures. Are they ready right now? We’re pretty deep in the D-line. I don’t know.“

On the quarterbacks

“I think when I look at the quarterback position today, I was really pleased with Mike Brown‘s ability to lead and run the offense with confidence and make some throws. Then Tommy Beecher went out there and showed that he’s very capable of running the show. He had some poise and confidence. We’ve got a good situation. It will unfold in front of us. We’ll see where it goes.“

—Rocco said there was one position change, with Stan Herring (6-4, 275) moving from defensive end to offensive tackle to fill a depth need on that side of the ball.

—One other piece of news: Defensive back Brandon Saunders, who transferred from Northeastern last year, is no longer on the team.

“Brandon Saunders and I have agreed that he’s going to go in a different direction and he’ll pursue other interests in his life,“ Rocco said. “So he’s no longer on the roster.“

***

On to basketball talk. I was off the last couple of days, so I wasn’t able to get to the basketball schedule. Some thoughts:

—First the men. Dale Layer inherited most of this schedule from former coach Ritchie McKay, who had put a tough opening part of the schedule together in anticipation of preparing Seth Curry and Jesse Sanders and others for the rigors of Big South play. McKay and Curry are both gone, of course, so now Layer will take an extremely young team through a demanding stretch of games in November.

George Mason is coming off a 22-11 season that included a berth in the NIT and a first-round loss to eventual champion Penn State. The Patriots lose three of their top four scorers from last year in John Vaughan, Darryl Monroe and Dre Smith. But down years for the Patriots recently have been seasons in the .500 range, so this should prove to be a sticky opener for the Flames in Fairfax.

Clemson is coming off a 23-9 season and a loss in the first-round of the NCAA tournament to Michigan. The Flames had the Tigers on the ropes in South Carolina last December before faltering late. Getting any ACC team to come to Lynchburg is a coup, seeing as it’s never happened before. (Virginia Tech visited as a member of the Atlantic 10.) Trevor Booker is back, and the Tigers are notorious for getting off to hot starts.

Defending CIT champion Old Dominion visits the Vines two days later in a return of last year’s BracketBusters game in Norfolk. The Monarchs return much of that team intact, including Gerald Lee, who gave the Flames fits last season at the Constant Center.

Notre Dame is a difficult draw in the Chicago Invitational. Luke Harangody is back and the Irish are out for a redemption year after missing the NCAAs last season after struggling in the brutal Big East. Liberty’s other draw in that tournament is Northwestern, which plays that old-school Princeton-style offense that gives teams fits. The Wildcats won at national finalist Michigan State and beat Purdue on its home floor, so Northwestern is no slouch.

The rest of the slate is reasonable for a rebuilding team. There are four NAIA schools on the schedule and the other games in the Chicago Invitational are against Mississippi Valley State and either Kennesaw State or Tennessee State. The Flames should have a chance to win both of those games. The UCF Classic, in Orlando Dec. 29-30, features the Flames, Buffalo, Jacksonville and host Central Florida.

The Big South schedule sets up nicely for LU, as it opens with home games against Charleston Southern and Coastal Carolina in December. Both are missing their big guns from last year—CSU’s Omar Carter and CCU’s Joseph Harris have both opted to transfer—and a 2-0 start in league play isn’t unreasonable. Between Jan. 14 and Feb. 6, the Flames play five of seven games at home, with the only trips being quickies to Radford and High Point. The toughest road stretch comes Jan. 2-9, when LU plays three straight road games at VMI, Presbyterian and Winthrop.

—The women’s schedule is favorable for a team that will be going through a major rebuilding phase after the graduation of Megan Frazee, Moriah Frazee and Rachel Hammond. The only really tough road games are Dec. 15 at Auburn and (potentially) Dec. 29 at Virginia, provided the Flames win the first game of the Cavalier Classic in Charlottesville. LU plays 15 home games, though only two are attractive—Dec. 1 against James Madison and Jan. 5 against North Carolina A&T. The goal, though, is not to play a name schedule. It’s to put the team in the best possible position to earn an NCAA tournament berth come March. Go too tough with a young team, and you risk breaking it. I think Carey Green realizes that, which is why this schedule works for this particular team.

Liberty will finish with five of its last seven games at home, though right before that, the Flames play four straight Big South games on the road. The women’s tournament, once again, will be held at High Point’s Millis Athletics Center.