Everything From Final Hafley Preseason Presser
CHESTNUT HILL - After a light, walk through style practice to wrap up the preseason on Friday morning as rain pounded down on Fish Field House, Coach Hafley spoke to myself and the AP's Ken Powtak (fantastic human) for 4:08.
And just like that, we're on to the regular season. Here's what Haf had to say...
ON NIU PREP & CAMP OVERALL
"We got into it (NIU) today. Yesterday (Thursday) we went really hard against ourselves one last time. Did some scrimmage stuff, and today we kind of had a light day with introduction to our opponent and then Sunday, we'll put the pads back on and get rolling. Really solid camp. The No. 1 thing was to stay healthy and it's the best job we've done in that. Credit in the offseason to Coach Tuz' (Matusz) and his staff changing some stuff up. Mike Vigneau and his staff really being on top of it. Knock on wood, that was the most important thing and we got through it while also practicing hard. Now, it'll be on to NIU."
ON EXCITEMENT OF MOVE-IN DAY FRIDAY & WEEK 1 JUST DAYS AWAY
'Yeah, I think the guys got tired of going against each other and seeing the same plays. It gets old after a while, but that's training camp and they needed it and they worked at it. They're excited now. We'll get the offense and defense separated and go against scout team plays of our opponents. It's nice to see something new and have someone to prepare for."
ON IF HE'S MADE A DECISION ON CAPTAINS YET
"I have. I just haven't announced it yet. I'll probably do that Sunday when we start it up."
ON WHEN HE WILL RELEASE THE OFFICIAL TWO-DEEP
"I don't know when the two-deep will be announced. We'll see when we decide to get that out. I'd rather have those conversations with the players first. There's going to be some harder ones this year because there's competition. There will be some more guys playing and going in, but you know how that goes. Each guy wants to be the first guy to run out. I'd rather have those conversations one-on-one before I put it out."
ON HAVING MORE EXPERIENCE AS A TEAM THIS SEASON
"Yeah, a lot more experience. I don't know what the exact number is, but when you go from four total starts on your O-line to in the 120's or 130's, it's a much better feeling. Then, when you look at your two-deep and those guys have all played real games, it's really helped training camp. We practiced a lot harder."
ON THE OVERALL HEALTH OF THE TEAM AND BRYCE STEELE
"Bryce has something he's dealing with and in time we'll get that out. Besides that, we made it out (of camp) really good. Bryce...I'm not hiding that from anybody, just on his behalf, when he's comfortable to share, we'll share it."
ON MOREHEAD BEING MORE COMFORTABLE
"He should be more comfortable. He's got a lot more practice reps, he's played in four games, so this isn't the first go around for him and he's shown improvement. He needs to continue to improve as we get through the season and make good decisions. But, for sure, he's much more comfortable."
ON IF HE'S WILLING TO REVEAL HIS STARTING O-LINE
"You'll see the depth chart when it comes out. I just want to have those conversations with those guys first. It's the right thing to do."
ON NOT WORKING IN THE DOWNPOURS FRIDAY MORNING
"Not in this instance. This is one of those days I hope we're not flooded out again. We've been inside the stadium for the last five days on purpose. I wanted to get out there again today, but this rain was a little bit...this is crazy right now. You need a boat to get out of there."
ON HIS MINDSET HEADING INTO YEAR FOUR
"Just excited. I like this team. They've put in a lot of work. This was a hard offseason. I think we made some really crucial moves getting some new players, changing how we do things to make sure we got ready to play. We're stronger, healthy...changed some of the ways we did training camp. I really like where we're at right now and I really like this team. They're fun to coach. Now, there's enough talk, we've got to go out and play football."