Full Hafley Interview From 1st Game Week Presser

CHESTNUT HILL - It's finally game week.

Coach Hafley, Pat Garwo & Vinny DePalma spoke to Rich Thompson and I inside the Yawkey Athletic Center Monday morning as the team began full preparations for NIU on Saturday. Here's what Haf had to say on a number of different things...


ON FINALLY BEING ABLE TO PREPARE FULLY FOR AN OPPONENT

"It came fast and it always does. It's great. I think towards the end of camp the guys start to get tired of going against each other and coaches, same deal when you know what the other side is doing every time. I think we're at a good point. Being able to pop on an opponent's film and then go out and practice and work on different stuff, we're excited for it."

ON FINALIZING THE DEPTH CHART AND IF THERE WERE TOUGH CHOICES

"Yeah. There was more competition regarding the depth chart this year than we've ever had. There's been some guys this camp that have moved ahead and then later on a week later, the other guy jumps him. There's certain positions where we're going to rotate players. There might be someone that's disappointed they're not starting, but you can only have 11 guys run out to start the game, but there will be a lot more guys used throughout the course of a game because of that. I think the competition brought out the best from a lot of people. I think a lot of guys needed to be pushed. You're going to see a two-deep, but then you're going to see - as you'll watch Saturday and going forward - it could change. You're going to see multiple people playing at a variety of positions. Defensive line. Shoot, I feel confident rolling in different guys on the offensive line if we choose to do so. The defensive backfield, wide receiver room...you're going to see more guys play this year than you have in the past from us because of the competition and depth at certain positions. Now, some you won't. Some (positions) it's going to be one guy and we'll go from there."

ON THE STARTING QB AND HOW MUCH OF A COMPETITION THAT SPOT STILL IS

"Yeah, Emmett will start. I thought he had a good camp. Really glad we have Thomas. He came in and in a short period of time he learned the offense. He didn't really get here until after spring ball, so, shorter period of time getting to know the players, getting to know the playbook, it's a lot different running this offense than what he's used to running. He did a great job of not only getting to know his teammates, but showing some leadership. At the same time, grasping the playbook, the concepts...he's a very talented quarterback with a very talented future."

ON CAPTAINS

"We voted for captains, so I'll give those to you guys here...Donovan Ezeiruaku, Vinny DePalma, Christian Mahogany and Pat Garwo. We had the team vote and those were the top vote getters, which is a good mixture. You've got a younger guy in Donovan and then you've got some older vets. I think with Christian getting voted, it kind of shows his maturity as a football player and as a leader sitting out all year. Those are four really good football players, great leaders and great people that will represent us in a very positive way."

ON BALANCING CONTINUITY ON THE O-LINE WITH KEEPING GUYS FRESH WITH A ROTATION

"If you can. You'd like to have continuity on the offensive line. So, i think the way we start, I think we'll play most of the game that way. At the same time, if you've got your sixth and seventh guy and it's close, you can continue to develop them - especially if they're young - you're building towards the latter part of the season and looking a bit towards that player's future. Just like any other position, if you can do it, then I think it's a positive. We'll see. we'll see how the offense feels and we'll make our decision once we get closer to the games."

ON BRYCE STEELE

"Bryce, right now, is dealing with a health issue. When he's ready to really talk about it in detail, I think we'll get that out there. For right now, out of respect for Bryce and his family, I think it's best that we leave it at that. Obviously, he won't be playing his first game this year."

ON WHO WILL STEP UP AND REPLACE STEELE

"So, right now, Vinny and Kam (Arnold) will be the two guys that go out. Then, you have JB (Blackwell) and Owen McGowan. You've got two guys there where if we go base and have three linebackers in the game, or whether we go sub with two linebackers in the game, you've got four guys we feel pretty good about. Then, there's some guys below them who are chomping at the bit to get into the two-deep, but that will be the two-deep as we go forward."

ON THE DEPTH IN THE DEFENSIVE BACK ROOM

"They (decisions) were hard. If you look at corners, Elijah Jones - in my opinion - has had the best camp that he's ever had. Playing on the outside, playing on the inside. Amari Jackson's a guy I felt would have started last year if he stayed healthy, we started him against Clemson. Alex Washington comes in and he's out there battling every single day. You've got Cheek, he's back, he was out for a good part of the season last year. Then, you've got some other guys at safety too. Cole Batson kind of took over the free safety position last year and then I've already talked a lot about John Pupel and what he's been able to do in a short amount of time. Victor Nelson is another guy that deserves to play. I just named three safeties right there and those guys deserve to play. They'll probably all see the field. With the corners...I've been in a lot of good places in the NFL where you move guys. If we feel like we want to get guys experience and build depth, there's other guys that could go in as well. Even a guy like CJ Clinkscales really jumped out. He's a name that hasn't been mentioned much, but talk about a transition from year one to year two, and how much someone can step up and change, I've been really impressed with the camp he had. Then, Khari - our transfer from Arkansas - he's another guy that's battling right now to be a starter too. Those are decisions we'll continue to make. We have a pretty good idea right now, but I want them to compete through the practices this week too and see where this ends up. Who's going to go out and practice Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and get better and give us the best chance to win? We're going to play those guys."

ON NIU

"Got a good look at Northern Illinois. Coach Hammock has done a nice job. If you really look back, they were MAC champs in 2021 and had a huge year. What he did to flip that is really impressive. Last year, he's got a lot of guys back, but then he loses his starting QB - who I think is a really good football player - and he loses his best wide receiver. So, when you have some injuries, especially with your QB, they kind of took a step back last year. But, now he's got his QB and receiver back. I think Rocky Lombardi's a really good player. He was a Power 5 player coming out of high school, went to Michigan State, played at Michigan State. Then, as a starter at NIU he goes out and beats Georgia Tech and does a pretty good job against Michigan. He's played in big games and he's a really talented player. If you look at his stats from 2021 and 2022 in the limited games he played, completion percentage went way up. He's got a big arm, really big arm. He can make all the throws to the field, which a lot of QB's can't. He can go hash to outside the numbers. He's got a really quick release. He sees it. He seems to have a really good sense of where he's going with the ball. He doesn't take a lot of hits or sacks and he's got a veteran offensive line in front of him. I respect the offensive line and offensive line coach. They play really hard. They play well together. They know what they're doing. The center's a really good player and all those guys are returners. He's got his team back that took him to the MAC championship game. I know a lot of people get caught up in looking at records from the previous year. This is a different team than he had when they won three games...he has his quarterback back. he has No. 85 (Rudolph) one of the better receivers in the conference who didn't play last year. I think they're a really talented team. The running back No. 1 is a really solid player. I know they lost one back in the transfer portal, but both he and the guy who transferred in from Iowa are two good backs. Tight end's a solid player. They added a transfer tight end that I believe came in from Howard. He has size and length. This is a good offense, which to me is led by the line, QB and receiver. Defensively I think up front is their strength. Their defensive tackles, I think No. 1 and No. 8, their nose and three-technique. No. 6 their safety kind of reminds me of the guy from NC State flying around making plays. It's a good team. If you just look at their record last year, you might feel otherwise, but you can't do that. We've got to turn on the tape and figure out why. Coming here isn't going to be a big deal. They beat GT in 2021. They played Vanderbilt very close and they played Michigan at Michigan. This is a very well-coached team with talent. That QB is a Power 5 QB, clearly."

ON IF HE'S CHANGING ANYTHING IN TERMS OF GAME DAY OPERATION

"For me, yeah. I think I've changed each year and tried to get better. Each game I try to do some things differently. I'll be on the field. I'd love to go up in the booth and kind of see the whole game. But, just the familiarity with being a head coach, knowing where to position yourself to get a timeout. I can't stand where I'd like to and watch the defense 40 yards downfield because I've got to be ready to call a timeout. Yeah, I'll make adjustments as we go. We've got some new coaches. We're going to send some different guys up to the booth this year on defense that we haven't in the past. But we worked all that in scrimmage, so I'm excited for it. I trust the staff, they've done a good job."

ON IF PLAY CALLERS ON BOTH SIDES WILL BE UP IN THE BOOTH

"We'll probably have...Shimmy (Shimko) will probably go upstairs and Chud on the field so you've got a good combination there. On defense I'll do the same thing. I'll put Coach Duggan in the booth and keep Aazaar on the field, so we'll kind of have it balanced out. Coach Thurin will probably go up to the booth, which will be different. I trust his eyes up there. i think he can have a big impact on special teams with that, as well as being able to see a lot on defense and special teams from the booth. We'll kind of go one-and-one on each side to balance it out better."

ON GARWO AND BROOME HAVING AN EXTENDED ROLE IN THE PASSING GAME

"Yeah we want the running backs in the pass game. Whether it's empty and sending them on routes or it's a check down...if the defense is giving us soft coverage we've got to check the ball down. It's important for the quarterback to hit those guys, but, yeah those guys give us weapons that they're not just going to line up in the backfield and run the ball. We've got to be able to move the ball."

ON THE KICKER COMPETITION

"You'll see in the two-deep. We've got a pretty good feel. I really liked what the kickers did the last two days. They were really accurate. You'll see that when the two-deep comes out. I want them to make sure they hear it from us rather than online, but I like the competition we had. Guys were pushing each other and that's going to be an important part of our game."