Liberty picks up key defensive lineman

Since Turner Gill took over as Liberty’s football coach a little more than a month ago, he’s shown a fondness for talking about building relationships. For now, that’s really what he has to sell to prospective recruits. He’s still learning his way around the school, figuring out the nuances that make Liberty a unique institution.

One of Gill’s previous relationships paid off when looking for potential impact players for next season. Gill recruited defensive tackle Jibrille Fewell to play at Buffalo, but Gill later left for a new job at Kansas. When Gill left, so did Fewell, who went west to Butte College, a junior college in Oroville, Calif.

After one season at Butte, Fewell was a hot commodity. He held offers from a handful of FCS schools, and Tennessee and Michigan State both made a late run at him. But Fewell’s previous relationship with Gill was the deciding factor in Fewell’s decision to transfer to Liberty. He attended class on Monday, the first day of the spring semester, and will be a member of the team when it opens spring practice on March 22.

“I know about him as a person and as an athlete and I know his family,” Gill said. “We’ve kind of made the long trip. I’ve been around different places. He’s been around different places. And boom! All of a sudden we’re all back together again. He’s a good football player. We beat some pretty good schools on him. … He’s going to be a very good addition for our football program.”

Fewell, a 6-foot-2, 295 pounder, is a key addition for a retooled defensive line that will be transitioning from a 3-4 scheme under previous coach Danny Rocco to a 4-3 scheme under Gill and new defensive coordinator Robert Wimberly.

Fewell signed his letter of intent to join the LU program before ever setting foot on Liberty’s campus.

“The relationship was the key,” Gill said. “I knew him, he knew us. In some cases, the kid would want to see the surroundings. But he had trust in us and myself and other people. Coach [Vantz] Singletary was the D-line coach at Buffalo, too, so that also was helpful. He was going to have the same position coach. He had recruited him, too.”

Fewell was one of four players added to the roster on the first day of classes. Max Sommer, a 6-foot-4, 245-pound defensive lineman from Germany, is the latest in an international pipeline that has produced current Flames defensive linemen Paco Varol and Francis Bah. Sommer will have three years of eligibility remaining.

“He has a tremendous upside,” Gill said. “He’s a tough kid. He’s sharp academically and athletically.”

The other two players were part of the 2011 recruiting class, but they grayshirted last year, meaning they were on campus taking classes but were not eligible to play or practice for the football team.

Donte Shells, a 6-2, 180-pound wideout from Camden, Del., drew raves in early practices last summer before taking his grayshirt. Zach Erickson, a 6-1, 235-pound linebacker from Memphis, was the other grayshirt. He sat out last season while recovering from a knee injury suffered in high school.

Before hitting the recruiting trail again later this week, Gill will try to meet individually with each of Liberty’s returning players. He said that before Monday, he had only met six to eight of the players, most in passing, which is understandable considering most players were on semester break and Gill was trying to get settled into Lynchburg.

He wants to begin forging relationships with his players so they know exactly what to expect from him going forward. The spring game will be held April 21 at Williams Stadium.

“I’ve got to do what I’ve got to do in recruiting, but they’re the core of this program,” Gill said. “It’s so valuable for me take these three or four days and sit down with them one-on-one so they get to know who I am, face-to-face, rather than what they read in the paper or what they’ve read on the Internet. That’s the most important thing.”