NFL quarterback prospect Malik Willis brings 'once in a lifetime' pro day to Liberty
LYNCHBURG, Va. — Ralph Wilson, better known as “Chopper” at the Ninth Street Parlor, just finished giving Liberty University football coach Hugh Freeze a shave and haircut. The 56-year-old barber wanted the coach to look especially good for what he insisted was the biggest day this town, best known as the home of television evangelist Jerry Falwell Sr., has seen in his lifetime.
Maybe ever.
“It’s going to blow,” Chopper said late Monday afternoon. “MAAA-an, it’s going to blow!”
Chopper was talking about pro day at Liberty University, which, until Tuesday, barely drew a blip on the NFL radar. Instead of the typical eight to 10 scouts, barely enough to run the wide assortment of drills, 120 NFL coaches, scouts and front office personnel will be on campus.
Instead of having one or two players hopeful of being a late-round pick or an undrafted pickup, 19 will be on display.
All 32 NFL teams will be represented, but some more than others. The Carolina Panthers, who have the No. 6 overall pick and are looking for a quarterback, will be out in full force with general manager Scott Fitterer, head coach Matt Rhule, offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo and others, just as they were on Monday in Pittsburgh for quarterback Kenny Pickett.
ESPN and NFL Network will do live shows from the campus outlined by the Blue Ridge Mountains.
They’re will all here because of one player: senior quarterback Malik Willis, whose never-before-seen-talent in these parts has put Liberty on the NFL map in ways few, if any, ever imagined.
Even the city manager has called offering assistance.
“I don’t think I can quantify [what this day means],” Freeze said. “I just know it’s huge.”
‘This is monumental’
The school has spent weeks preparing for the pro day, an event they barely invested a few days in the past. Chopper, who half-jokingly claims he looks like a combination of Magic Johnson and George Foreman, says it’s all people in the parlor have talked about since it became apparent Willis could be a first-round pick —
• “It’s an unprecedented brand-building opportunity,” McCaw said.
• Ranks: Between spring practice and preparing for pro day, Freeze had little time to relax the past month. Chopper took care of that for about an hour and a half in his barber’s chair. “He was just snoring,” he said. Tuesday was wide open, beginning with check-ins at 9 a.m. and weight room testing at 10 a.m. The schedule calls for Willis, who led Liberty to a 17-6 record while passing for for 5,107 yards and 47 touchdowns in two seasons, not to perform until 1 p.m. so he didn’t steal the spotlight early. But Willis, considered undersize at 6-foot and 225 pounds, will steal the spotlight on draft day. The Panthers are looking at him as a possibility, just as they are Pickett. They are searching for a franchise quarterback after failing to make a trade last week for the
