Gold and Black is a multi-platform media company that covers Purdue athletics like no one else.
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/339722
ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 24, ISSUE 6 13 f Gold and Black: Do you find that you're doing that with a lot of guys? Hazell: "Yeah, I do. It might be one word. It might be one sentence. It might be an idea on a board where I step into the defensive line room and I draw up a circle. 'He's a tackle.' And I'm talking to those rush guys. I say, 'This guy should never block you. He's not athletic enough to block you. So don't rush down the middle of that guy.' Just little things like that where you can get them thinking and make them under- stand, we've got this scheme but it real- ly comes down to winning that one-on- one matchup within the scheme." Gold and Black: You're going to hope to see that pay off more in actual games this year. But in the spring, when you saw guys maybe get it and you saw it show up, there's a little bit of pride there, right? Hazell: "Oh absolutely. Because then it's reinforced. It's reinforced to them. It's reinforced to me. You high- five them and you move on to the next play. It's in them. You just have to find a way to get it out of them." Gold and Black: How do you learn that as a coach? Hazell: "You can watch and look at guys and say in your own mind (to yourself), 'You're not getting as much as you need out of that guy and you have to get to him somehow.' Or you're looking at another guy and you're saying, 'He's giving me that and a little bit more.' All those buttons, you've got to find out which ones are the ones you've got to push." Gold and Black: Do you finally feel like you have guys in the best spots position-wise now after you have had a year-plus to evaluate? Hazell: "I do. I really do. I think obviously us using Raheem Mostert outside (at receiver) was not the best thing for us. We saw that. Where he's playing at right now (at running back), it helps him, it helps us. Same thing with Akeem Hunt, though. I think Akeem can be that dual threat guy. Dolapo Macarthy, that's money in your pocket that you found that was in your suit pock- et that you wore a year ago that you hadn't worn again. (Robert) Gregory on defense is found money. Anthony Brown (to cornerback from safety), found money." Gold and Black: How do you feel about the of- fense? You have a lot of skill position guys back, but you're still pretty young. Hazell: "We're young, but that's OK. There's a lot of guys who are bouncing around. They feel like they're pretty good. Whomever becomes the quarterback is go- ing to be crucial for that guy to get the rest of the guys around him going. I know they will." Gold and Black: You have a lot of expertise when it comes to the receiver position. Do you like that group and why? Hazell: "I think most of them have the ability to make plays. We've got a fast group. They're deep. I'm anxious to see some of the younger players, to see if they can help push some guys, but I think this could be a really good group. We've got to get them to do the details." Gold and Black: Can you move some of your piec- es around to try to utilize more speed, say maybe putting one of those guys at the X position that DeAngelo Yancey plays? Hazell: "I think you have to. I think you've got to get Yancey off the outside at times so you don't take him out of the offense because a lot of teams will roll up into the boundary and play man-to-man coverage, sometimes giving help over the top, sometimes not. But all of a sud- den, you take your own guy out of the offense because you stick him in that position. So all of a sudden, you put somebody outside him and it's a whole different world for the defense. So now you can involve him in the of- Tom Campbell DeAngelo Yancey likely will need to get moved around from his X receiver spot, Hazell said, to take advantage of Purdue's speed and his abilities.