President Donald Trump gave the first commencement address of his presidency Saturday at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. As part of his address, he read the 2018 schedule for the Liberty football team. It will be the first season for the Flames as an FBS football program, which is the highest division in college football.
Jerry Falwell Jr., the president of Liberty University, had given Trump the newly released football schedule to read during his speech. So, the president delighted the crowd of around 50,000 with the news filled with friendly banter.
“And just wait until the world hears the football teams you’ll be playing on your schedule starting next season,” Trump told the 2017 Liberty graduating class. “President Falwell gave me a list of some of those schools. The ones you’re going to be playing in 2018. Would you like me to read the names that just came out? I’m a little bit concerned.”
Trump continued to read the list of opponents. When he reached a certain opponent, he paused to give his warning about the difficulty of the matchup.
“UMass, Virginia, Auburn. Jerry, are you sure you know what you’re doing?” Trump asked Falwell. “Jerry, Auburn. I don’t know about that, Jerry. This could be trouble, Jerry.”
As he read more teams, it became clear that he has a lot of respect for SEC teams and that he will have a tough time deciding who to root for when Liberty plays Army.
“Rutgers, Old Dominion, Brigham Young, Army. I might be at that game. Who am I supposed to root for, tell me? That’s a tough one, Jerry. I’m going to have to think about that one.” the president said. “Buffalo, Troy, Virginia Tech. Oh no, Jerry, Ole Miss. And Wake Forest. Those are really top schools. Maybe in four or five years I’ll come to a game. You’ll build it up. Well, good luck.”
Trump was the first sitting president to speak at Liberty’s commencement since George H.W. Bush delivered an address in 1990. Falwell was beyond excited to have the first-year president speak on his campus.
One thing was made very clear in this commencement speech: President Trump knows his college football!
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