Bolt will start at linebacker for Liberty Flames

With Nick Hursky out for Saturday’s game with Glenville State, Liberty’s already muddled linebacker situation has turned even messier.
Hursky had successful arthroscopic surgery on his right knee Monday. At practice Wednesday, Hursky looked to be walking fine and was wearing only a soft brace on the knee. He said last week that he hopes to return for the Sept. 13 game at Western Carolina, and Liberty coach Danny Rocco confirmed that timeline Tuesday.
Doncel Bolt, a transfer from Cerritos (Calif.) Community College, will get his first start at the Mike linebacker spot Saturday.
Hursky’s surgery was scheduled before Liberty’s 49-10 win over North Greenville. Still, Hursky played the first half and made six tackles, including 1 ½ for loss. Rocco wanted Bolt to play the majority of the second half, and the sophomore responded by making four tackles.
“Doncel Bolt looked very comfortable in the game, played very physical, very hard,” Rocco said. “We’re very confident and optimistic about his ability to run our defense.”
Chad Brown, making his first start in place of injured Jack linebacker Kyle O’Donnell, led Liberty with seven tackles. Brown started his Flames career as a defensive end but his size wasn’t well suited for the position. So Rocco moved the 6-foot-2, 240-pound Brown to inside linebacker.
Brown hasn’t had many problems adjusting to his role as a starter.
“Playing with the twos and then jumping in with the ones, it’s just a much faster game,” Brown said. “It’s harder hitting. It’s not really a learning curve. I’ve just had to get adjusted to the speed of the game.”
With Hursky and O’Donnell out, Mike Connolly has moved to inside linebacker. Mamadou Balde moves this week from outside to inside behind Bolt to bolster depth there. Freshman Jamal Giddens (leg) will be back this week to add depth to the outside, and Pierre Tinsley, who was expected to back up Hursky at the Mike, is getting closer to returning from a knee injury.
One player who has had to learn the position on his feet is Wes Cheek, the junior who moved from running back to outside linebacker in mid-August.
Cheek made four tackles against North Greenville, including one for loss.
“It kind of puts pressure on you, not bad pressure, but a good pressure,” Cheek said. “Pressure to get the system down and get the calls down and get all the checks down. You’ve got to put yourself in the right position out there.”
Protection problems
The stat from the North Greenville game that alarmed Rocco the most was the three sacks Liberty’s offensive line allowed.
The Flames allowed eight sacks in 11 games last season.
One sack came on a broken play, when the call was for the protection to go one way while center Mike Godsil went the other. On the other two sacks, Liberty’s starting offensive tackles — Zach Davis and Josh Weaver — were beaten at the line of scrimmage.
“I saw Zach Davis get beat on and up-and-under and Josh Weaver got beat on an up-and-under,” Rocco said. “Even though some of the pressure looked like it was on the outside, it was really more edge pressure. It was our offensive tackles sitting too deep.”
Extra points
Rocco said Tuesday that RB Terry Williams, who has battled knee and hamstring injuries throughout his career, suffered a devastating knee injury last Saturday against North Greenville. Williams tore the ACL, MCL and PCL in his right knee and is done for the season. … Tropical Storm Hanna had an effect on two Big South games. The Charleston Southern-Wofford game was moved from Charleston to Spartanburg. Coastal Carolina’s game with Colgate in Conway has been pushed back to Sunday at 1 p.m. … After Saturday, Liberty won’t play another home game until the Oct. 11 matchup with Stony Brook.