Coach Hafley had his final Zoom presser before the NIU game on Wednesday morning. Here's what he had to say...

ON JOHN PUPEL

"I told you about him early, didn't I? I gave you a hint when you guys asked who the biggest surprise of camp was. He was the first guy that came to mind. He was hurt last year. He had some issues and he had to really get some good work done. The first time I really saw him healthy was this spring. We really liked him on tape when we got him at Dartmouth. He's an All-Ivy League player. He's like 24 years old. He's smart. He's tough. He tackles. Then, in the spring, he just started jumping out to me. I thought, alright, he'll be in our two-deep. What he did in camp...he just took the job. You want to earn a job, just go put it on tape every day. That's what he did. It was constantly ascending. Leadership, tackling, lining guys up. He's a really good football player and I trust him. Credit to him. He took the job. I'm fired up for him."

ON ALEX WASHINGTON

"They'll all see action. We'll roll those guys in. He deserves to play. He had a really good camp. He had a great day today, had two interceptions in practice. Another guy...good length, size, speed. You could list all those guys as starters, which is why we had the 'or' there. They'll all play in the game and rightfully, they deserve it."

ON ELIJAH JONES

"He is (the guy that runs the room). He's the vet that's been back. He's the leader. It's the way he practices. It's the way he is in the meeting rooms. It's the way he helps out younger players. He's had a really good camp. He can play inside and outside. I'm excited to see him stay healthy. He's stronger, put on some weight. Now, he's got to go win those contested catches this year. He's got a bright future ahead of him."

ON IF BEING LOCAL GUYS HELPED PUPEL AND WASHINGTON TRANSITION AND IF THERE WAS AN EXPECTATION THEY'D ASCEND QUICKLY BECAUSE OF THEIR INTELLIGENCE

"Well, one, whether being local helped them out or not, that's a really good question for them. I'd imagine the familiarity with the area probably always makes it a little easier, but that's a question you'd have to ask them. Look, the Ivy league's good football. There's been players in the Ivy League that get drafted to go to the NFL. There's really good players at the FCS level. There's really good players at the D2 and D3 level that make it to the NFL. You just saw a bunch of Ivy League guys get signed to the active NFL rosters this week. There's been Ivy guys that have transferred and had really successful careers. So, one, when you watch a guy play, maybe he's not going against the speed of a Ryan O'Keefe, but when you see some of his traits and what he's doing on the field...then you trust he's probably going to be a pretty sharp guy going to Harvard or Dartmouth. I'd imagine you'll fit in pretty well here being able to handle the class load. The culture fit for us is really good. I'm really glad we have both of them."

ON NIU'S DEFENSE

"I think a lot of it will be the same (as previous coach) because they were co-coordinators. I'd have to believe they did some of it together. I'm not sure how much the philosophies will change, we'll find that out on Saturday. Truthfully, you never know what you're going to get week one on either side of the ball. Just looking at their defense, they're really strong up the middle. Their defensive tackles are really good players. Their linebacker, really good player. The one safety I just watched him come in, I respect him a lot, the way he runs and hits. I know they have some new guys coming in on the perimeter, some from the transfer portal, some that are going to play. They do a good job. They game a lot and junk it up up front. They make it hard for you to run the football. I have a lot of respect for whoever did call it last year and the job they're doing now and the players they have."

ON HOW HE BREAKS DOWN FILM FROM A DEFENSIVE PERSPECTIVE

"When you watch film on defense, you want to break the films down that, they're similar defenses. Say we're majoring in Cover 2. We're playing 4-3, Cover 2. You'd want to watch the teams against their offense that were playing that same scheme because you kind of get a sense of how they're going to attack it. Where, if I'm watching a game against NIU and they're playing in a three-down, 3-5 stack defense, it's not how they're going to attack us because we don't line up in that too much. So, I want to figure out how they're going to attack certain things we do and then you look at players. Who are their best players? How are we going to stop their best players? What do they do best and how are we going to attempt to take that away? There's a scheme aspect, then there's a player aspect, then you put your plan together accordingly and try to figure it out."

ON IF HE'S CHANGING HOW THINGS OPERATE NIGHT BEFORE A GAME

"I am the night before the game. I've changed how we did stuff in the offseason. I've changed how we did stuff in training camp. I've changed up the Wednesday practice. I've added some different things. I'm constantly evolving. I've tried to change around some of the times and meeting schedules. Continuing to find what fits our team the best. I'd be foolish not to each year look and try to improve on what I did in the past."

ON IF TWO-DEEP CONVERSATIONS ARE IN ANY WAY LIKE CUT DOWN DAY CONVERSATIONS IN THE NFL

"No, I don't think they're similar. In one aspect, you've got a guy who might not be on the two-deep, but you're constantly developing him and he's going to have a chance to work and improve and climb his way up. In the NFL when you have to cut a guy, that's his career that's his job and you're essentially moving him from the team. So, I think the latter is much harder. If you want to talk to our ex-players and see where they're at, it's...that could be a tough deal for a player."

ON IF PLAY-CALLING WILL BE LESS VANILLA WEEK ONE

"I'm glad Emmett said that (comfortable with the amount of offense installed) and feels that way. Yeah. I think it'll be less vanilla. I know what the game plan looks like, we'll see what we actually call on game day. Hopefully, with the guys we have, they've done a good job handling everything we've thrown at them. We'll have to see on Saturday."

ON WHAT HE EXPECTS FROM FANS ON SATURDAY

"Campus looks way different than it did in early August when we were the only ones walking around. People are around, it's been nice out, they're outside. What am I hoping for? I mean this. You guys have come to the games...our student section last year, despite how we were at the end of the year, they showed up and that's incredible. That says a lot about them. It's a noon game. I expect people tailgating as soon as they get up in the morning, get it all out of their system and get into the stadium when they come out of the tunnel. We need them. These players need them and we're going to give them a lot to cheer about and do the best we can."