Five Stories: Part 5

This is it, the fifth and final player in my 5 part series, Five Stories.  Each story examines how different Penn State players handled the fallout from the Jerry Sandusky scandal and the ensuing NCAA sanctions.  I think it’s pretty obvious who my final player is.  Today we’ll take a look at one of the finest young men to ever come to Penn State.  He kept his commitment, held together his recruiting class, and showed us all the meaning of loyalty.  Of course I’m talking about none other than freshman phenom Christian Hackenberg.

Hackenberg’s family is from Pennsylvania, but he attended high school at Fork Union Military Academy in Virginia.  In the midst of the Sandusky scandal and the death of Joe Paterno, Hackenberg made his way to State College for a junior day hosted by new head coach Bill O’Brien.  O’Brien was immediately impressed.  Fresh off coaching Tom Brady in the Superbowl, he knew that the best way to return Penn State football to glory was to find an elite quarterback and build the team around him.  Clearly, he saw something special in Hackenberg and offered him a scholarship that very day.  My initial reaction to the news was, “Hackenberg, what a perfect name for a quarterback.”  Shallow reasoning I know, but there turned out to be a lot more to this kid than just a fancy name.  The more I read about him, the more I liked him.  Here was a gifted athlete with a great head on his shoulders.  As the #1 quarterback recruit nationally, he had offers from essentially every school in the country and could’ve easily gone anywhere.  Yet, despite the ongoing scandal, he chose Penn State.  More importantly he chose his school for reasons like academics and a great coaching staff, not flashy uniforms or shiny trophies.  Hackenberg instantly bought into whatever it was Bill O’Brien was selling.  Penn Staters wanted him, O’Brien wanted him, and sure enough, we got him as he became the first ever Penn State recruit of the O’Brien era.

Soon, Hackenberg was joined by an impressive list of other talented high school players all willing to sign on and play for the Nittany Lions.  Hackenberg was the key, though, and a major part of the recruiting strategy, one that many big time programs utilize: land the star player and then get him to recruit for you; the rest will join in time.  The plan worked perfectly and things were looking great for the class of 2013.  Then, as with all of these stories, July 2012 happened.  The NCAA handed down their sanctions and the first thought that went through most people’s minds wasn’t if the class would fall apart, but when?  Sure enough, some players like Tommy Shutt and Noah Spence (who both went to Ohio State) did leave.  However, shockingly the 2 biggest stars, Christian Hackenberg and #1 ranked tight end Adam Breneman, stayed committed.  A group of recruits traveled to Penn State within days of the announced sanctions.  They sat with their parents in the football meeting room and fired questions at O’Brien.  The new head coach did his best to answer all the questions he could as honestly as he could.  Whatever was said in that room may never be known, but it was clearly enough for the recruits.  All but one of the recruits who visited that day stayed committed.  It was in that moment, and with that decision, that Christian Hackenberg proved he was a true Penn Stater at heart.  He was loyal, mature, thoughtful, and most importantly, his word was his bond.  He had committed to O’brien and Penn State, and no bowl ban was going to break that commitment.  There were no surprises on signing day.  O’Brien pulled in a fairly decent class, in spite of everything.  He had proven his recruiting chops and Hackenberg was the prize for his efforts.

The 2012 season played itself out, when suddenly, with Matt Mcgloin’s graduation, everyone realized that there was only one scholarship quarterback left on the roster: Steven Bench, a Georgia native who had been part of the patchwork 2012 recruiting class O’Brien inherited from Joe Paterno.  When O’Brien’s top junior college target chose Kansas State, he turned his focus to California and snagged QB Tyler Ferguson.  Still, with practically zero experience between his quarterbacks, O’Brien knew he couldn’t afford to redshirt Hackenberg.  Instead, the freshman would have to compete from day one in a 3-man race for the starting job.

Neither Bench nor Ferguson impressed in the Blue/White game.  Anticipation grew for Hackenberg’s arrival.  Bench, upon hearing that he was essentially demoted to second string, transferred to South Florida.  Anticipation grew even more.  When Hackenberg did finally arrive in June, O’Brien pledged to make a decision on his quarterback by the mid-way point of camp.  For whatever reason, this didn’t happen.  It wasn’t until a mere day before the first game against Syracuse that O’Brien finally chose.  The 18 year old true freshman had won the job. 

Admittedly, Hackenberg hasn’t been perfect this season.  He is a freshman after all, and even if they didn’t want to believe it, every fan knew there would be at least some growing pains.  However, in the grand scheme of things Hackenberg has been brilliant.  He’s on pace to match or even surpass Matt McGloin’s league-leading stats from a year ago.  He’s showed off his cannon for an arm and an incredible football IQ.  In interviews he’s been more humble and well spoken than most professionals.  Like his mentor Bill O’Brien, he’s been the perfect embodiment of Penn State’s ideals and a phenomenal face for the current program.  Now if he could just cut back on some of those interceptions…

Alright folks, that’s going to do it for this series.  I really hope you’ve enjoyed it and that it helped pass the time during the bye week.  I’ll pick it back up on Friday with the normal prediction post for Penn State’s big prime time game against #4 Ohio State.  Here’s hoping we can ruin their undefeated season!  Go State!