LU expects Beecher to play at Lafayette

Liberty quarterback Tommy Beecher suffered a mild concussion during the second series of the Flames’ win against North Carolina Central last Saturday, LU athletics trainer Chris Casola said. And all indications are that Beecher will be available and ready for Liberty’s Saturday game at Lafayette.

Just in case, though, Mike Brown will spend more time this week at practice working with the quarterbacks than he did in the past, when he spent most of practice as a receiver.

Brown still attends positional meetings with the quarterbacks, but ever since Beecher was named the starting quarterback midway through training camp, Brown had been working with the wide receivers in practice.

So Brown’s performance last week against NCCU was admirable, seeing as he was sort of thrust into the position. Brown, who was the starter coming out of spring practice, completed 10 of 12 passes for 71 yards and a touchdown, and he completed a 32-yard downfield pass to receiver Chris Summers that set up Brown’s TD pass to tight end Dominique Jones.

But there’s no quarterback controversy of any kind. Liberty coach Danny Rocco named Beecher the starter because he wanted to have his best athletes on the field at all times. As long as Beecher is healthy — and he’s officially considered day-to-day — Beecher will play the majority of snaps at quarterback while Brown plays receiver.

“Mike does bring a dimension that is unique and is challenging for the defense,” Rocco said. “But one of the things that I always have to look at is the sum of the parts. I need to look at all of the parts and try to get the greatest sum value. That is why we decided early on to start Tommy Beecher. The reality is, with Beecher and Mike Brown in the game at the same time, we obviously have got a lot more weaponry on the field.

“How we start the game (at Lafayette) will depend on how quickly Tommy gets into the routine and the flow of the gameplan.”

Beecher got hurt when he took a hard knee to the helmet in the second quarter Saturday. Beecher was 3-for-6 passing at the time of the injury, though two of the incompletions were clear drops. He went 22-for-33 in the opener at West Virginia.

“Tommy did have a little trouble in the huddle seeing the signals that were being sent in from the sideline,” Rocco said. “We were pretty quick to figure out that something wasn’t quite right. He had his bell rung. He had some cobwebs in his head. It was Chris’ judgment and the doctor’s judgment that we no longer play him.”

Beecher was taken to Lynchburg General hospital for a CT scan by halftime and released that evening.

Beecher’s status affects other areas of the team as well. If Brown is forced to play quarterback, Liberty’s kick return game changes. Brown is the Flames’ first option at both kick and punt returner, but Rocco won’t put his No. 1 quarterback out there to return kicks. Aaron Hewlett, whose 25-yard punt return sparked the Flames’ first scoring drive Saturday, is the secondary option on the punt return team and would likely handle Brown’s duties in the kick return game as well.

One thing is for sure — Rocco won’t have a definitive answer on Beecher’s status for Saturday until closer to game time.

“I certainly feel like today he looks good, he feels good, not complaining of any issues with his head,” Rocco said. “I expect him to do some work out there (Tuesday) and continue to increase his workload as we get deeper into the week. My assumption is that at the end of the week, he’ll be 100 percent ready and ready to play. But we do have to look at this as a day-to-day situation.”