Liberty will play its annual spring football game at 1 p.m. Saturday at Williams Stadium. The weather forecast is not at all promising that day. According to WeatherUnderground.com, we’re looking at temperatures in the mid 60s with a 90 percent chance of thunderstorms. The game is played on a turf field, of course, so they’ll get the game in unless there’s a ton of lightning in the area. Kind of a bummer that Saturday is the one day in the next week that we’re looking at a huge chance of rain. But such is life.

As has been the case the last couple of years, I haven’t had a chance to get out and watch a lot of spring football. Between Liberty football, baseball, the Hillcats and taking high school phoners, it hasn’t been easy to get out there, especially with a lot of the practices at night. Still, I had a chance to catch up with LU coach Danny Rocco Wednesday to get his thoughts on the spring game, which undergoes a massive format change from the last couple of years.

It was straight offense versus defense in the last couple of years, with a somewhat complicated scoring system that made it difficult for fans and scribes alike to keep up at times. This year, it will be a straight blue vs. white game. The blue team will mostly feature the first-team offense and second-team defense. The white team will have the first-team defense and second-team offense. Some players will float between the two sides, and they’ll be wearing red. Two prominent ones will be quarterback Tyler Brennan and receiver Ervin Garner. Rocco wants Brennan to have a chance to work with the 1s and the 2s, and with depth lacking a touch at receiver, Garner will be called upon to play more. That’s probably a good scenario for him anyway, considering he’s coming off a late-season knee injury. The extra reps certainly can’t hurt. Quarterback Mike Brown will wear black and will be the one player who will not take any contact.

There will be no kickoffs, and though there will be punts, there will be no punt returns.

So why the change in formats?

“Because we can,“ Rocco said. “It’s kind of at a point where this is something that we can do successfully. We’ve got more depth in the offensive and defensive lines than we’ve had in the past. We’ve got more depth at receiver and at defensive back than we’ve had in the past. We have four quarterbacks that can really go back there and function. We’ve never really had that before. That’s another big reason why we have the ability to do that.

“You know, my first year, we barely even had a quarterback. Brock Smith didn’t play that spring (out with mononucleosis). Zach Terrell was a receiver and we made him a quarterback. And Tavares Dove was a receiver and we made him a quarterback. So really didn’t even have a quarterback. So the thought of playing a game was like, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me.‘ The next year, we were a little better, but we certainly didn’t have that type of depth with guys you feel can go out there and run the offense.

“I also think that there’s a number of things in our program that we’re continuing to try to evolve and move forward, and this is one of those areas where I feel comfortable doing it. Players will like it more. Fans will like it more, and I’m willing to value that and understand that the product should be pretty good.“

The following players will not play: LB Mike Connolly (knee rehab), OL Andre Mondor (stinger), WR Jimmy Eden (still rebounding from appendectomy) and LB Dylan Llewellen. WR Julian Poindexter may be able to go.

The areas casual fans should pay attention to are along the offensive line, where Liberty is breaking in four new starters, and at the two inside linebacker positions. Nothing will be decided in terms of starting jobs at the end of spring with these spots, though Rocco noted that Jack linebacker Marques Jenkins is having a fantastic spring. It seems like the depth chart heading into fall practice at the two spots will be Eric Fath/Nick Sigmon at Mike and Jenkins/Scott Hyland at Jack, but those position battles are far from over.

Another thing to watch is the battle between wideout Chris Summers and cornerback Walt Aikens, an Illinois transfer who is a freak athlete. He’ll play boundary corner. They’ve had some epic matchups in spring ball, and Aikens has the potential to immediately be one of the best corners in the Big South. I’ll have a story on Aikens in Saturday’s News & Advance.