After one Zweifel skipped town before he even settled in, UW-River Falls coach John O'Grady has done all he can to make sure another Zweifel won't do the same.

"I sure hope he has found a home (at River Falls)," O'Grady said of Michael Zweifel, a sophomore wide receiver. "I'm pretty confident he won't leave."

Michael's father Stan was hired as the Falcons' assistant head coach in April 2007 but resigned three months later to become the athletic director at Beloit Memorial High School. Stan Zweifel left Beloit last spring to become the offensive coordinator at NCAA Division II Minnesota-State Mankato.

But Michael Zweifel appears happy at River Falls, having blossomed into one of the biggest weapons in Division III.

Saturday, he will have the chance to shine against second-ranked and reigning Division III champion UW-Whitewater in a Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game at Ramer Field in River Falls.

"It's no different preparing for them than it is preparing for someone else any other week," Michael Zweifel said of Whitewater, where his father was the assistant head coach and offensive coordinator from 1991 to 2006.

"I look at it as just another week."

Michael grew up in the Warhawks family, hanging around players and helping his father run camps during the summer.

"It was a great experience growing up in Whitewater," said Michael Zweifel, a former Whitewater High School standout. "Whitewater's a great college football program and I grew up watching a lot of great college football players like Derek Stanley and Jim Leszczynski. How they perform on the field and how they act off it; the whole atmosphere is great.

"But I love it (at River Falls). They guys on the team are great. I love the offensive system."

Michael Zweifel, who was named a d3football.com preseason All-American after catching 97 passes for 1,056 yards and nine touchdowns as a freshman, credits those summer days with his dad for his success.

"I was at those football camps from fourth grade until I was a senior in high school," said Zweifel, who was named WIAC Player of the Week last week after catching 16 passes for 139 yards and two TDs in a win over UW-Stevens Point.

"A lot of what I learned there I apply to what I do now. I took in a lot of information during those camps, and I continue to use it."

O'Grady won't argue that, given what he sees everyday from Zweifel, who has caught 41 passes for 419 yards this season.

"He's brought a lot of maturity about the game to this program," O'Grady said. "To do what he did as a freshman, it's like he had three years of experience. And maybe he did with all the experience he had with his dad talking about the game and getting advice from him."

O'Grady isn't sure what a win over the Warhawks, who are riding a 23-game WIAC winning streak, would mean to Michael. But he's certain it would be meaningful.

"(Whitewater) was a big part of his life because it was such a big part of Stan's life," O'Grady said. "I'm sure inside it would be special for him. He won't verbalize it, but I would assume it would be very special."