Salina Liberty Playbook: Training Camp

The Salina Liberty of Arena Football One are currently in training camp as they prepare for the inaugural season of Arena One Football. The Liberty kick off the season Sunday, March 16th as they travel to Corpus Christi, Texas to face the Tritons. They’ll meet in the American Bank Center with kickoff scheduled for 6:00 p.m. ET. 

CHECKING IN WITH COACH O'NEAL

Coach O’Neal knows a little bit about how to win in Arena Football. Most recently, he led the Salina Liberty to the CIF title in 2022. This will be his seventh year with the team. When I spoke with Coach on Friday about training camp as the team prepares for the 2025 season, he used the word excited a lot, and you could hear the excitement in his voice. “Camp is very exciting to me.” 

“We’ve got some surprises, It makes me excited.” “We’ve had guys come in with less experience, but that hunger is showing up; they are starting to execute and understand what we are trying to do.” The team has stayed healthy through training camp, which is a huge bonus, and the weather has been cooperative. Allowing the team to get outside and practice in the fresh air. 

SETTLING THE COACHES AND PLAYERS

“Depth is the strength of this team,” Coach O’Neal said. He’s excited about being able to get a strong look at each player. Coach has his eyes on the secondary, receiver, and defensive line as the biggest camp battles. The Liberty are returning quite a few familiar faces, but the receiving core and defensive line are almost all brand new to the team. O’Neal loves the fire and competition he’s seen at those positions early in camp. 

O’Neal has new and familiar faces on the catching staff. Larache Jackson has taken over as defensive coordinator and has been implementing his system. Having veteran defensive backs like DeWayne “Ballhawk” Autrey II has made that transition easy. 

Ed Prince has “done wonders” as the offensive and defensive line coach. Prince played on the 2022 title-winning team. Assistant Head Coach Martinez has been invaluable in many ways as well coaching a lot of positions. Javin Kilgo returns as the team's starting quarterback. Another of the familiar faces from that 2022 championship team as the Liberty, as they try to reach that peak in the inaugural season of Arena One Football.