Jump to content

Thanks for visiting BtownBanners.com!  We noticed you have AdBlock enabled.  While ads can be annoying, we utilize them to provide these forums free of charge to you!  Please consider removing your AdBlock for BtownBanners or consider signing up to donate and help BtownBanners stay alive!  Thank you!

Recommended Posts

Was talking to a fellow IUFB fan today and he said he heard rumors that Penn St. QB Christian Hackenberg could transfer to another school if he decides not to go pro after a rough season that has hurt his value. Apparently he has graduated (or will have soon) and will have immediate eligibility wherever he decides to go. Has anybody heard anything to confirm this possibility? I know we just picked up Lagow, but a senior Hackenberg in CKW's offensive system could be deadly. He was considered to be a #1 pick just a year or two ago and coming back one more season could boost his value back up there. We're obviously still a long ways from this ever becoming a real possibility, but I need some happy thoughts after yesterday's ending? Would you want him over Lagow? Would he want to come here? Thoughts?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

On the sixth play of his 37th and most recent college game, Christian Hackenberg threw an interception which, for the endless Hackenberg debate, could serve as a starter's pistol.

This was the first possession of a Week 12 game at Michigan State, one of the best teams in the country.

Penn State had only run a few plays, but all of them worked.

 

The Nittany Lions were for once "on schedule” — moving the ball, moving the chains, putting a drive together.

It was first-and-10 at the MSU 31 — nearly field-goal range. Pre-snap, Hackenberg looked to his right and saw wide receiver Geno Lewis with MSU corner Arjen Colquhoun in tight man coverage.

And everyone who's been paying attention to this team, this offense, this quarterback, knew what the play was going to be: a "shot down the field.''

Hackenberg began his throwing motion well before he could have known if Lewis would be open.

Ideally the ball should have been thrown outside Colquhoun, between Lewis and the sideline, virtually assuring that if Lewis didn't catch it, no one would.

It wasn't. It was thrown to Colquhoun's side. He maintained his ground and made a fairly easy interception.

And … go:

Why did Hackenberg bet a promising drive on a throw that would amount to a jump ball even if made accurately? Why did he decide where the ball was going before it was even snapped?

Was the throw an example of accuracy issues or just the low-percentage nature of the play?

How much of all of the above is on Hackenberg, and how much on: A. the play-call and offensive approach; B. the (arguably) paint-by-numbers way Hackenberg's been coached to read the defense pre-snap; C. Hackenberg's offensive line's spectacular inability to protect him; D. the limitations of Penn State's other offensive weapons; E. The phrase "take a shot down the field'' being used as a get-out-of-blame free card; or, F. some impossible-to-quantify combination of all of the above?

Extra credit: What would the reaction be if the same throw, under the same circumstances and at the same career point, was made by Anthony Morelli?

Hackenberg came to Penn State as a five-star recruit who could have gone about anywhere else. He did it amid the Sandusky scandal, his commitment to then-coach Bill O'Brien coming before the NCAA sanctions but outlasting the sanctions and O'Brien, now in the NFL.

He has thus become, more than anyone else, a bridge from Penn State's past, over the residue of scandal and into its future.

Hackenberg has the size (6-4, 225), body type and pure arm of a classic drop-back QB.

He doesn't turn 21 until February, and he has started and played almost every offensive snap of his three seasons, making him almost certainly the most experienced-for-his-age major college QB ever.

He will leave Happy Valley with school records in most of the raw "counting'' stats: passes, completions, passing yards, passing touchdowns, etc.

On a percentage basis, in the stats that measure efficiency, his career numbers are worse than Morelli's. Since his Big Ten Freshman of the Year season in 2013, Hackenberg's completion percentage, pass-efficiency rating and yards per attempt have been in the bottom third of FBS QBs.

The offenses Hackenberg has directed have spanned the spectrum from dysfunctional to … horrifically dysfunctional.

All true, free of context. But context-free truth is never Truth.

The offensive system of head coach James Franklin and recently fired offensive coordinator John Donovan weren't as suited to Hackenberg as O'Brien's. The system and a persistent lack of protection not only slowed his development but, arguably, caused regression.

Yet he will probably play his final college game Saturday vs. Georgia in the TaxSlayer Bowl. He will probably leave a year of college eligibility behind to turn pro, and will probably be a first- or second-round pick in the NFL Draft.

Is he ready? If not, why not?

Opinions, um, vary.

"He had a lot of forced throws and poor decisions from a very clean pocket, one that was much cleaner than he's ever going to see on Sundays,'' ex-NFL scout and NFL.com analyst Daniel Jeremiah wrote after watching Penn State's 23-21 loss to Northwestern on Nov. 7.

Hackenberg completed 21 of 40 passes that day for 205 yards, no touchdowns and one key interception.

 

"His accuracy, touch and awareness are all question marks,'' Jeremiah wrote. "His ball placement and decision-making are not very good.

"(NFL people) will tell you that touch and accuracy are two of the toughest areas to improve in. Those things are two of his biggest problems."

On the other hand, Trent Dilfer, and former NFL QB and current ESPN analyst, looks at Hackenberg and sees "franchise-quarterback potential.'' Specifically, he sees Dallas Cowboys' Hall of Famer Troy Aikman.

"Once he gets out of that situation, which is not a good situation, at Penn State, scouts and GMs and coaches will drool over Christian Hackenberg," Dilfer said in an interview Sept. 30.

"He's very, very similar to (Aikman). They're the same type of body, thrower, personality, competitors. You go back and look at Troy Aikman coming out and look at Christian Hackenberg, they're very similar.''

One pundit calling Penn State a bad situation doesn't mean much. But when there's a second critic, one who quarterbacked the Nittany Lions to a national championship ...

"He needs to be retooled, re-coached in terms of fundamentals,'' ABC/ESPN's Todd Blackledge said last week.

"People talk about his accuracy — accuracy has more to do with your feet than anything else. In terms of footwork and fundamentals I'd say he's regressed. Part of that is protection breakdowns and not trusting your protection, but I don't know how well he's been coached in that part of it.''

There's a new offensive coordinator at Penn State now — former Fordham coach Joe Moorhead, who is a quarterback's guy and will change the offense drastically with or without Hackenberg. Cynics will argue Moorhead was hired, in part, to convince Hack to stay.

To say Penn State has been bad for Hackenberg would be flat wrong. People around him say there has been dramatic growth, from a cocky 18-year-old to a guy widely respected on campus for the loyalty and pure toughness he's shown by picking himself up, pushing through everything and getting on with it, over and over and over.

Then there's the spectre of O'Brien, coaching the Houston Texans to a probable division title in two weeks with essentially no quarterback at all.

O'Brien remains part of Hackenberg's inner circle, with Hackenberg's father Erick, Dilfer, "quarterback whisperer'' George Whitfield, and a few others.

This story ending in an O'Brien/Hackenberg reunion seems almost too contrived. But the notion that O'Brien sees Hackenberg as his Tom Brady isn't as simplistic as it may sound.

"They're probably the one team that will be willing to move up for Hackenberg," Senior Bowl Executive Director Phil Savage said in a recent interview.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
CKW doesn't seem to be a fan of fifth year graduate transfers. Have we ever taken one?

Indiana coach Kevin Wilson has qualms about a player who "almost becomes his own agent, reading the waiver wire: 'Hey, that quarterback got in trouble. Let's go there.'"

"But then you have the player-welfare argument: doing what's best for the kids," Wilson said. "It's one reason I like playing freshmen. The day of five-year football is kind of gone."

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/college/ct-graduate-transfer-quarterbacks-spt-0830-20150828-story.html


I would much rather have Lagow anyways.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

×