Coach Hazell stepped in front of the mic today to go over this weekends game against Marshall. Below are some of the highlights of the press conference.
On the health of Danny Ezechukwu:
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.
On the health of Ja'Whaun Bentley:
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.
First Impressions of Marshall:
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.
His line of thinking regarding discipline:
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.
On which freshman might see the field for their first action:
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.Yeah, and Makowski as the snapper.
How coach feels about Austin Appleby:
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.
On the fact that Purdue is the only game on Sunday:
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.