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[PAmedic]

SLY please delete this if someone already posted it- I can't find anything on this board anymore!

Crouch And Smith Honored By Big South Conference

October 31, 2005 · Lynchburg, Va.

Noah Crouch has been named this week’s Big South Special Teams Player of the Week, while teammate Brock Smith has been named Big South Freshman of the Week, honoring both players’ efforts at Gardner-Webb this past weekend.

Crouch and Smith both played significant parts in the Flames’ Big South Conference 21-16 loss at Gardner-Webb on Saturday, marking the team’s third-straight league loss by less than a touchdown as the Flames have lost three league games by an average of 4.7 points this year.

Crouch (r-Sr., 6-0, 185, Madison Heights, Va.) tallied five punts for 202 yards, averaging 40.4 yards per punt on the evening. This marked the sixth time this season and the 17th time in his career that Crouch has averaged 40 or more yards per punt in a game. The senior pre-season all-conference selection currently leads the Big South in total punt yardage (1,875) and ranks second in punting average (39.9), while ranking 26th in the nation in punting.

Smith (Fr., 6-3, 240, Hershey, Pa.) led the Flames in passing as he completed 17-of-26 pass attempts for 261 yards and a touchdown. In his first career start at quarterback, Smith became the 15th player in school history to pass for 250 yards in a game and the first since Kyle Painter passed for 260 yards against Elon on November 9, 2002.

This marked the third time that Crouch has been named the Big South Special Teams Player of the Week, while this marked the fifth time in nine weeks that a Liberty player has garnered Freshman of the Week honors as Patrick Calvary (Oct. 24), Rod Fluellen (Sept. 5) and Zach Terrell (Sept. 12 and Oct. 10) have also been the league’s top weekly rookie this year.

Crouch, Smith and the rest of the Flames have this weekend off, but will return to the gridiron on November 12th when they travel the Charleston, S.C., to conclude their Big South schedule against Charleston Southern. Kickoff is set for 1:30 p.m., at CSU Stadium.

[Sly Fox]

No, its not been posted to my knowledge ... excpet in the news flash at the top of the forum list. Its been up there since it was released Monday.

[PAmedic]

yeah- that's where it caught my eye. Noah is something all right, glad to see him recognized.

[PAmedic]

More on Noah Crouch, courtesy of CHRIS:
at least we can be in the top 5 of SOMETHING!

Crouch gives LU leg up on special teams

By Chris Lang
Lynchburg News & Advance
November 9, 2005

It seems so simple.
The punter takes the snap, kicks the ball a long way, and a great punting game is born.

If that were the case, Noah Crouch might have been a three-time All-American at Liberty University.

The Amherst County product has never had a problem with bombing the football. But booting a ball really far is really just one of four elements that makes a successful punting game tick.

The Flames have all four working for them this season. While Crouch ranks just 25th in Division I-AA in punting yards, as a team, the Flames rank seventh in I-AA in net punting at 37.6 yards per punt. (Delaware State leads the nation with a 40.5 yard average).

Crouch has been good, no doubt, averaging 39.9 yards per punt.

Still, he doesn't do it alone.

Crouch hasn't had to stretch for bad snaps because Dan Pope does his job at center. He hasn't even come close to having one blocked because the protection has been excellent. And less than half of his punts have been returned because gunners Dominic Bolden and Pat Calvary have sprinted to the other end of the field to cover returners.

"They just have a knack," LU coach Ken Karcher said. "It's not like you stand out there and teach them to be a gunner. Obviously, we tell them some things. But that's a lot of raw ability.

"You've got to beat the guy who's trying to block you, and sometimes it's a double team. Then you've got to get down there, flying full speed, and adjust to the guy and make a move. They've done an outstanding job."

Which brings back memories of Crouch's freshman year when the Flames' punting game was an absolute mess. In 2001, he averaged 34.0 yards per punt, by far his worst total as a Flame. It wasn't all on him.

"We went through three different long snappers that year, I think, and we used two the next year when I was redshirted," Crouch said. "It was all over the place."

Bad snaps were common. So were blocks. It was obvious LU needed continuity at that position.

Pope, a freshman, came to Liberty as a quarterback, but quickly found out that he would be buried on the depth chart. In high school, he also did some long snapping, so Karcher gave him a shot on the punt team.

Pope might be the most anonymous guy on the team. He's not even listed in the Flames' media guide. He likes it that way. It means he's done his job.

"Like (special teams) coach (Mickey) Mays always tells me, 'Nobody knows your name,'" Pope said. "'So let's keep it that way.'"

Pope has been nearly perfect on his snaps, and Crouch gets rid of the ball very quickly. Combine that with excellent line blocking, and the seeds for an excellent punt game are there.

Still, that's not enough to move a team into the top 10 in the national rankings in net punting. Downfield coverage is essential, and the Flames have gotten that from Bolden and Calvary.

Like most freshmen, the two were looking for a way to get on the field during training camp. As is often the case with unheralded rookies in the National Football League, freshmen get on the field on special teams.

Bolden and Calvary will both start Saturday at Charleston Southern - Bolden at wide receiver and Calvary at cornerback. But it's not enough to get out of special teams duty.

Not that they want out of it.

"There's a lot of us that like it now," Bolden said. "A lot of us go into the game hyped because we know when the punt team is up, we're going to do well."

Karcher made a crafty decision early in the season that helped Bolden and Calvary's development. In the season's second game, a 59-0 blowout loss at Connecticut, Karcher decided to kick to Huskies punt returner Larry Taylor, who hurt Buffalo the week before with five returns for 118 yards.

At the time, Karcher said punting away from Taylor wouldn't be beneficial to the develop of LU's special teams down the road.

Instead of giving up more long returns, LU's punt coverage team excelled. It held Taylor to three yards on two returns.

That success has continued throughout the season.

LU has punted 48 times. Only 17 have been returned for a measly 120 yards, or seven yards per return. Opponents have called a fair catch 14 times. Crouch has dropped 17 kicks inside the 20 and has only one touchback.

Though Liberty has struggled to a 1-8 record this season, those sorts of numbers can be important to winning football teams. Of the top seven net punting teams in I-AA, only Liberty has a losing mark.

Crouch is hungry for more. He wants to lift LU into the top 5 in the national rankings by the end of the season.

"At least top 5," Crouch said. "We're trying for No. 1."