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PURDUE UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 1, 2015

Darrell Hazell

West Lafayette, Indiana

COACH HAZELL: It's an exciting time for us right now. I'm anxious to see our guys play. I know they're ready to get started. It seems like camp has gone on forever and ever. We've been watching Marshall film for a long time. I know our guys are going to play exceptionally well on Sunday. We're really looking forward to taking that trip down there and ready to go.

Q. Coach, I know you said in Media Days that Jake Replogle is going to be one of the better players in the Big Ten. How would you say he's grown and improved most as a player since he stepped on campus?
COACH HAZELL: He's so much stronger right now than previous years. He's up to 280 pounds. He's playing with a great motor as he always did. But just being able to have the additional 30 to 40 pounds that he's playing with with still the quickness and power that he's playing with, I think that helps him be a much better player.

Q. And what about J.J. Prince and his academic success off the field? Can you just elaborate on J.J. and the importance of having players on your team like that, the model you developed for players?
COACH HAZELL: J.J.'s a special guy. He really is. I can't wait to get him back. He's getting really close to getting back from shoulder surgery. But you talk about his off-the-field prowess as a student, and he's been phenomenal since we've been here. You can't get enough of those guys in your program. He's done a great job for us.

Q. What do you value most about Danny Ezechukwu and what do you expect out of him and your returning linebacker starters this year?
COACH HAZELL: It's nice to have Danny back as well. He hurt his knee a couple weeks ago, but he's back to pretty close to a hundred percent and ready to go for Sunday. But Danny's a guy that's very passionate about his job. Every day he comes to work he wants to learn and get better. He's a big kid, he can run, and just one of those solid, inside players that you have to have at this level.

Q. I guess, first, how is Ja'Whaun Bentley doing? Where do you see him at this week? Do you think he'll be able to play?
COACH HAZELL: In terms of the training report this morning, he's doing very well. We'll see how he is moving around today at practice, but we feel like he's going to be ready to go and be close to a hundred percent when Sunday rolls around.

Q. Then with Marshall, they had a very successful season last year. They have a new quarterback. What do you see in them both offensively and defensively that you need to be concerned about?
COACH HAZELL: Well, we've had a lot of time to watch Marshall film, and one of the things about Marshall from last year is they can strike quickly with their offense. Lot of big plays, both in the run game and the pass game. They play a great defense with their four-three front and move around and like to pressure a lot. So we have to do a good job, one, of stopping the running back, and then two being able to handle their pressure game from our offensive standpoint.

Q. Then their defense against your offense, what does it look like from that standpoint?
COACH HAZELL: Their defense against our offense?

Q. Yeah.
COACH HAZELL: Yeah, like I said, the pressure game by their linebackers, they like to play a lot of man-to-man coverage so we anticipate man early in the football game. We're going to have to beat man-to-man coverage early.

Q. And what can a non-conference schedule like this, I mean traditionally Purdue has played a solid non-conference schedule. When you see something like that, how challenging is it? How motivating is it? And second part of that, obviously it's going to change a little bit with the Big Ten having nine Big Ten games starting next season. But from this particular schedule, how challenging is it, how motivating is it?
COACH HAZELL: It's always good to play a good opponent early before the season before you get into the Big Ten. Marshall has won a lot of games in the last few years, so it is a good challenge for us. Especially to be able to go on the road and handle those situations in those types of environments. So it's a good challenge for us to open up the season. Then you look at the Big Ten next year, they start to play nine-game schedules, which will become very difficult for all the teams in the Big Ten.

Q. Is that something that as a coach you like? Not every conference plays nine conference games. Is there a fairness issue? Basically, I guess, what are your thoughts on that nine-games versus an eight-game?
COACH HAZELL: Well, I think like I said, it will be very challenging for a lot of the teams in the Big Ten, but that's the direction that the whole country's going to have to move towards now with the new playoff system. It's going to continue to get ramped up as we move forward. You might see more teams in the playoff system. We'll have to wait to see for that. But I think more and more conference games you can play, the better it helps your chances to move along in the playoffs at the end of the season.

Q. The last thing, you've obviously had to discipline some players over the years and including this season. How difficult is it to discipline players in an era where everything you do can be photographed, be videotaped? Just your challenges and how you approach disciplining players in this 21st century era we're living in?
COACH HAZELL: Well, it's a constant decision that you have to make upon discipline as far as players. When someone steps out of line, you have to make sure the behavior is corrected as quickly as you can, and you try to teach the rest of the guys by the mistake that that previous guy has made. But discipline hasn't changed very much across the board in terms of you have to do it. A lot of times you don't like to do it, but it's a necessary evil that you must do to make sure guys do what you're asking those guys to do.

Q. You've said throughout the summer and at media day you talked about the significance of this opener and the fact that you want to get started on the right foot. But to energize a fan base and to build some confidence in your own guys, this is a huge opener for Purdue University. Could it be a springboard into the kind of season you're trying to achieve?
COACH HAZELL: Absolutely. I told our players that on Sunday night. I said this is a game that (Indiscernible) and we're actually doing a mock thing with our team doing that. We had a little (Indiscernible) at the (Indiscernible) on Sunday night, and they had to write a note on what they're going to contribute to this football team.

It's a very important game for our program. They all know it. But yet we're relaxed. We're very confident about who we are right now, and I like where our guys are, where our heads are.

Q. A lot written and talked about with the battle for the quarterback position and wide receiver's development. However it looks like kind of quietly your running game could be improving even though you had those two speed guys last year. Could you talk about this trio and development especially heading into week one how important it is to run the ball on the road?
COACH HAZELL: I think it's very important, especially for our offensive line. That gives those guys so much confidence to be able to lean on people and be able to double team people up front. You get those two backs in behind them and they're seeing things extremely well. Those guys don't miss very many reads, D.J. and Markell that's where we're a better running football team. Those guys are hitting at a high percentage of their reads, and where we were hit or miss last year, we might hit the big home run, but we may miss two or three which should be on the safety while these guys are getting to that second and third level. With all the misdirection and things that we're doing, that will call big runs for us.

Q. You have three or four really good backs. You talked about even at media day about how you think you guys are going to be writing about D.J. What has he done through spring and fall to put himself in the position he's in right now?
COACH HAZELL: He's done a little bit of everything. In terms of his pass protection has gotten so much better. But he gets out in the routes very easily, but also he's able to make that run, stay on his feet. He has the balance, he has the power, he has all the things that you're looking for in a good running back.

Q. For me I'm doing a story for the Associated Press and they wanted me to ask you about this. With the nine games next year and the Big Ten getting away from playing the FCS schools, Marshall's not, but what's your thought on that, just not going to play those guys anymore?
COACH HAZELL: Yeah, like I mentioned, I think most conferences are going to have to move towards that in years to come. Lot of times teams like some of those FCS opponents can get themselves loosened up, I don't think that's going to be the case any longer after this year.

Q. You had mentioned that you're confident with who you are. Who are you?
COACH HAZELL: Who are we? We're a team that's very close. We're a team that's going to play hard. We're a team that's executing at a high level, and we're a team that quietly is confident.

Q. So I guess maybe this is kind of a follow up. How do you hope that confidence shows up in all those areas about executing and all of that?
COACH HAZELL: Yeah, I think the biggest thing from Sunday's game is our poise. You know, it's a game that you're playing a good opponent and you're on the road, but we have to show up with poise because both teams are going to go back and forth in that opener. There are going to be some plays made against us, and we have to understand that. But this is a much more -- even though it's still a relatively young team, it's a much more mature team and football smart savvy team.

Q. You said you watched a lot of film on Marshall. How much have you seen of Birdsong though? Because obviously he hasn't been their quarterback. Have you went back and watched film on him?
COACH HAZELL: We've had a lot of time to study Marshall, and I absolutely have gone back to watch JMU quite a bit on him as he's played there, yes.

Q. How does he change their offense?
COACH HAZELL: Well, the last guy was really special. Not saying that he's not. We'll have to see on Sunday, but the last guy made a lot of plays just by pulling it down and extending the play. We have to find out how well we can move out of the pocket. If you're going to move him out of the pocket, and how much he likes (No Audio).

Q. Their running back is a former tight end who went and rushed for 1700 yards last year. How much of that is what you've seen as a product of maybe the system they ran and how much was it just that he's a talented guy?
COACH HAZELL: He's a very talented guy. He's very strong, and I think that's probably his best attribute besides hitting and balancing off of it. He's a big guy, and he's got better quickness and better speed than you think he does but another guy that doesn't miss a whole lot of reads. And they run really one particular play, and it's kind of an inside dive zone play that hits along the midline. And the offensive line does a good job of fitting up on players and he runs through those guys.

Q. From where you are as a defense, we've looked at the individual rushers the last two years, I think he allowed 18 100-yard rushers last year. Why will that not happen this season if you get a good chance to prove it right away?
COACH HAZELL: I think we've got a great plan for Sunday's game, especially the run game defensively. There are certain things that we have to do to stop the run game. And based on what they do offensively, basically with the dive zone, if there is a way, we have to be able to stop them. That's where our whole game plan has to evolve around.

Q. With their defense, they have six new starters or they lost six starters from last season. So do you anticipate them being a different defense or just adding pieces to what you've seen?
COACH HAZELL: I don't think they're going to change very much. They did have a very good defensive tackle last year that was outstanding, was always in the back field. But they have some good players, obviously, across the board. But I don't see their scheme, especially early in the football game, change very much.

I think we're going to come out and they're going to test us to see if we can beat man-to-man coverage. We're going to play one high safety and play man across the board. Sometimes they'll bring a fifth defender, and sometimes they won't, and we have to be able to handle those situations.

Q. Are you guys excited to see that from the jump, because that's obviously something you didn't do well enough last year and you think you've made strides in that area.
COACH HAZELL: Absolutely. I think our receiver corps is much better than where we were last year in terms of beating man-to-man coverage. But there are other things we can do to help that as well.

Q. I don't know if you saw this, but I think it was last year that one of the Virginia Tech coaches mentioned the cost of attendance could be used for disciplinary to withhold or whatever you want to do to fine those guys. What are your thoughts about that?
COACH HAZELL: I haven't thought about that much. I did see that as well and it was brought to my attention by someone else. But that's something that you have to look at down the road whether or not it applies or not.

Q. What were some of the best answers on the eggs?
COACH HAZELL: We're not going to read them until the end of the week.

Q. Just a couple injury things. What is the latest with J.J. Prince?
COACH HAZELL: J.J. will start practicing at a hundred percent today, so he's clear to practice today. He probably -- well, we know he's not available this week, and we'll figure out if he's going to be available for us next week against Indiana State.

Q. Da'Wan Hunte, is he available next week?
COACH HAZELL: He is. Da'Wan should be pretty close to a hundred percent today. They're putting a special kind of harness on his shoulder which will protect that shoulder, but he's ready to go.

Q. So you'll travel him most likely?
COACH HAZELL: Oh, yeah, he's playing. He's playing in the nickel package, so we better travel him.

Q. We haven't seen Corey Clemens, obviously, because he's had the head injury. What is his status going forward?
COACH HAZELL: He's released today to do some activity. He's not done much activity because of concussion. But today will be his first day we'll see him out there moving around. Now will he be in the offensive formation? He probably will not be, but we'll have to try to get him back into shape.

Q. What kind of progress has Domonique Young made throughout camp and going into last week that's put him in such a good position to be a contributor for you?
COACH HAZELL: I just think you take a guy like that that has so much range and so much size, he's a lot bigger than you think. You look at his lower body and how big his lower body is, but his ability to go up and make plays is something that we've been after the last two years. Being able to have him on the field and Greg on the field and Yancey playing at the level he's playing at and Anthony playing on the outside, now you've got a chance with that type of range and speed. So he's made huge strides throughout.

Q. Are he and Phillips right now basically slashed at that spot or which do you anticipate starting?
COACH HAZELL: Well, probably we'll start either one of them. We'll probably start Domo and at the end of the game probably, like I say, we're going to run 80 snaps, they're going to both have 40 snaps or close to that.

Q. What is the next step for him?
COACH HAZELL: I think he's got to keep getting better and learning the game. He's still a relatively young player in terms of our offense and things that we're asking him to do. So he's got to continue to grow along those lines. But I think the sky's the limit for that guy.

Q. Is Robert Gregory most likely your starter at free safety, and if he is, why do you think he's won that job?
COACH HAZELL: Robert Gregory is our starter at free safety. And I think he's done the things that we've asked him to do in terms of staying in your zone and then coming down and supporting the run and we lowered him as a safety. We bring him down into the box and he's been a very physical player for us.

Q. It's been a long journey for him through several different positions. Do you sense from him that he's eager to be on the field or to have this opportunity and how has he handled that?
COACH HAZELL: Well, I think he's handled it very well. I know he's very eager. He walks around the facility different, just with a better confidence, more confidence within himself. I think that one of the things about Robert is he was always one of those guys that you weren't sure about, is he going to do it? But now I think he's really bought into what we've asked him to do, and because of that, he's excelled at that position.

Q. He's a little bit of an intriguing player because he brings you something different in that he's a big, physical, potentially physical safety, something you haven't had?
COACH HAZELL: He could get squared up on somebody in the hole, most of the time those guys go backwards. He's a very physical hitter and that's what you love. Those kind of things can energize defense, those types of big kids.

Q. Which freshman will play this week for you?
COACH HAZELL: I would say probably Markus Bailey at the Sam position behind Jimmy Herman, and probably David Rose will be in some type of activity at one of the corner spots or maybe some special teams. Two guys that you most likely will see, other than obviously Markell.

Q. Makowski?
COACH HAZELL: Yeah, and Makowski as the snapper.

Q. Do you change anything with the game being on Sunday? What does it change for your schedule this week and what's it change for your schedule next week?
COACH HAZELL: Yeah, there are some changes we're making this week. We'll practice today, Wednesday and Thursday, and then we're going to come out on Friday and do kind of like a clock management walk through. All the different scenarios of clock management, so that's going to change a little bit. We'll take off sometime around 2 o'clock on Saturday afternoon. Then on Sunday obviously we play the game.

But on Monday our staff will come in nice and early, grade the film and get right into the Indiana State game planning, but after Monday's practice will be a normal week for us, Tuesday through next week will be a normal week.

Q. It's supposed to be hot in Huntington.
COACH HAZELL: It is.

Q. It helps that it's supposed to be hot this week here. What are you doing in prep for playing when it could be 93Â°?
COACH HAZELL: Well, we told our guys Sunday night that if they wait until Thursday to start hydrating, it's too late. So we're sending them out text reminders all the time about making sure they're hydrating throughout the course of the week all the time.

We have to do a good job as a coaching staff of get being some early subs in the game to get some guys some blow so in the fourth quarter when I need those guys to be fresh, they're ready to go.

Q. It has been a relatively mild camp. Will this week help in preparation for Sunday?
COACH HAZELL: I think so. But you still have to be smart. You can't leave your guys on the practice field. You got to make sure that you get the work that you need done this week. You keep them healthy and try to keep them off the ground. You stay hydrated and you're fresh going into the game on Sunday.

Q. Jimmy Herman, is he good to go?
COACH HAZELL: Yeah, we have to be careful with him today because what will happen is that thing will get tired pretty quickly. So you've got to make sure we're cautious with him today. But training said this morning they feel really good about him.

Q. With your starting linebackers kind of nicked up, how do you go about the depth of that position? You talked about playing guys early in this heat, is that something that we'll probably see with those back-up linebackers in the game early?
COACH HAZELL: I was talking probably more for the offensive line and the receivers, but you might see Markus Bailey, based on Jimmy's health or you could see Andy Garcia who you feel really good about playing the Will linebacker, those are the kind guys that you'll probably see relatively early.

Q. Do you worry about the starters conditioning, because those guys haven't played in a lot of 11 on 11 situations in the last couple weeks?
COACH HAZELL: They'll be gassed a little bit. I think they'll be gassed because of anxiety as well as the lack of conditioning. But we've tried to get them on the bike as much as we can. It's not the same, but we still have a little bit of cardio for those guys.

Q. What are the challenges for a week-one opponent when they have different personnel? Is it different than a normal game week when you have six, seven days to prepare? What are the challenges going in? You haven't seen some of these players from Marshall play yet.
COACH HAZELL: Yeah, that's always a challenge and you're not sure exactly what you're going to get scheme-wise. You've got a pretty good idea. You're not sure exactly what the new players are going to look like. You have a pretty good idea because you go back and you watch them on film. But a lot of that first quarter of the football game will be adjustments and making sure that you don't make that critical mistake early in the game and you try to adjust as you go.

Q. Is game 1 a bigger adjustment for coaches throughout the game than maybe other games during the season?
COACH HAZELL: I think only because there's a package, you have to keep it nice and cropped, nice and small because you want the guys to execute at a high level and try to keep the mistakes down to a minimum and because of that, a lot of coaches coach a little bit more, but it will be interesting to see how it unfolds in the first quarter. That's going to be a big quarter for us.

Q. Obviously Austin has started a game before, but this will be his first season opener starting at quarterback. How do you envision him handling that?
COACH HAZELL: I'm very confident right now in Austin. I think he's done a great job. I really believe that all the things that we talked about him doing, but now I think he's starting to settle down. He's a hyper guy a little bit sometimes. He's starting to settle down.

We're always talking big picture now, not just this play or this play. We're always talking situational football and how to manage that situational football and not hurt the team because of those situations. And I think he's really starting -- his eyes are starting to open to those situations.

Q. You talked around Big Ten Media Days about the added depth of the offensive line. How much are you going to be able to utilize guys like Martesse Patterson and Kirk Barron here in week one?
COACH HAZELL: You'll see those guys, Martesse specifically you'll see him early and probably a lot. We'll move some parts around so we can get Moose and him on the field at the same time. It might be at left guard for Moose, and it might be at right guard for Martesse, and we might put Moose at the right tackle start with Martesse at the right guard. So Martesse will be kind of solid at the right guard and the left tackle spot. We'll move Moose around a little bit. The other guy you'll see a lot, not a lot, but Kirk Barron will play a series early and maybe a series late, just to give Kugs a blow because we need to have Kugs ready to go in the fourth quarter and the rest of the game because he's a special guy.

But you'll probably see Barron for a series or two throughout the course of the day and Martesse will probably for four or five series.

Q. There was a lot of talk about selecting that top six group of wide receivers. How tough was it to put six guys down on the depth chart?
COACH HAZELL: I thought they separated themselves after a while. You could probably go seven or eight of guys that can play in that room. But I thought those top six were pretty good players. Actually we're at seven in the slot with Danny, and Posey and Trae that would make seven with those four on the outside.

Q. You mentioned you've noticed Austin settled down a lot. Once the announcement was made officially, did you notice the settling down of the rest of the team? Was there any tension before, I guess?
COACH HAZELL: I'm sure there was a little bit of tension, but those guys all have their own jobs to do, all the other players you're trying to worry about making sure their execution is good. But I think it's somewhat settling to know who your starting quarterback is and you don't have to keep answering the question.

Q. Do you know Bill pretty well from your Eastern days?
COACH HAZELL: Bill and I have worked together twice. Bill worked at Eastern Illinois with me, and we also worked at West Virginia together, so, yes, I know Bill extremely well.

Q. Does the communication shut down because you're playing each other?
COACH HAZELL: We have not talked in a while, just because we're both so busy not because we're playing each other.

Q. You also have a connection with Holliday, right?
COACH HAZELL: Yeah, Doc and I worked together at West Virginia back in the late '90s. He was coaching the receivers at the time, I was coaching the running backs under Don Nehlen.

Q. Just with the game starting on Thursday, games on Friday, games on Saturday, you guys have to wait until Sunday, just how do you calm them down from being antsy and being one of the last teams to finally play a game?
COACH HAZELL: That's a great question because I told our guys on Sunday night that we have to eliminate the stress, because they are so amped up and ready to go right now. I said you can't be like that right now. You have to try to relieve as much stress as you can, and all that concentration has to be those three-and-a-half hours on Sunday. So there is a lot of football going on starting Thursday night and we have to be somewhat relaxed to get the ball off on Sunday.

Q. Then with the connections between Marshall and Purdue, you guys were talking about it, but Austin's brother plays on the golf team. How weird is that?
COACH HAZELL: There are a lot of connections between here and Huntington, which makes it fun. There are a lot of good old stories that you can share with some of those guys.

Q. I just want to piggyback off Ruben's first question, being the only game on Sunday, what's that mean to you and the team to have all eyes and the spotlight will be on you guys playing that day?
COACH HAZELL: I think it's fantastic to be the only game on the TV. When it was first addressed to me a long time ago I was all on board for that because I think it's a special, special situation that not a lot of teams get. I can't wait till 3:05 on Sunday.

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