Liberty secures commitment from 4-star quarterback Jayden Bradford
Head Coach Jamey Chadwell is already making history with the 2024 recruiting class, receiving a commitment to Liberty football from four-star quarterback recruit Jayden Bradford on July 7. Bradford’s commitment, made on the young athlete’s 18th birthday, makes him the highest-rated recruit in program history.
Bradford, a former standout at Chapin High School in South Carolina and current quarterback at IMG Academy, is the 35th-ranked quarterback in the class of 2024, according to 247Sports Composite. While multiple factors went into his decision to play football on the Mountain, his experience with the Flames coaching staff held ample weight in his eventual choice.
“Really (it was) just the overall love that the coaches had as soon as I got there,” Bradford said in an interview with 247Sports Composite. “They always say as soon as you get to a school you belong at, you’ll know. I really didn’t understand that or know what that meant until I got to Liberty, for real. I’ve seen all different types of programs and all different types of coaches and I feel like Liberty is where I fit best. It’s an opportunity to go in and play early and build a legacy for myself and kind of set myself apart from a lot of the guys that go to bigger schools.”
Other programs in the mix to land Bradford included the University of South Carolina, Cincinnati, University of Alabama at Birmingham and Coastal Carolina. Chadwell recruited Bradford at Coastal Carolina before taking the position with the Flames in early December.
“(Chadwell’s staff has) been in contact with me since my freshman year, just because they were in state and they know Coach (Justin) Gentry, and Coach (Willy) Korn obviously played in South Carolina, so they just kind of had that South Carolina connection,” Bradford said. “They always just stayed in touch, whether it was personal or recruiting-wise. Then they got to Liberty and I was the first guy they brought up there on an official visit. When I got up there, I knew I just had to be there.”
Bradford played his freshman and sophomore high school football seasons at Chapin before transferring to IMG Academy, a well-known training program for the nation’s top athletes. In his junior year at IMG, the then 17-year-old completed 78% of his passes for 1,071 yards, 19 touchdowns and zero interceptions. On the ground, the quarterback rushed 27 times for 53 yards and two touchdowns. His rushing skills are something he feels can flourish in Chadwell’s system.
“I really feel like I could be very dynamic (in Liberty’s offense),” Bradford said. “I feel like I don’t get the chance a lot of times to run as much as I would like and kind of show my athleticism as I would like to … With that system and the way they run the triple-option offense, how they tie in the run game into their passing game, I feel like I would just be very explosive and they could utilize my skillset very well.”
Aside from the standout quarterback, Chadwell and his staff have secured six other commitments for the class of 2024, the first full recruiting class under the first-year Flames coach. With four quarterbacks currently on the depth chart competing for the role of signal-caller in 2023, Bradford hopes to bring stability and prominence to the position come the following season.
“(Chadwell) won at Charleston Southern. He won at Coastal Carolina and made Grayson McCall a top-five quarterback in the country,” Bradford said. “The development he has and the track record, I just feel like going there, I can help him win a conference championship and propel Liberty into the national spotlight. I feel like, with coach Chadwell, I can definitely do that.”
Annie Cory is the Sports Editor for the Liberty Champion. Follow her on Twitter