Penn State Sports Magazine
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M A R C H 2 0 2 3 71 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M Six months later, the NCAA announced a range of harsh sanc- tions, including the loss of 40 scholarships and a four-year bowl ban. Penn State would have to get its scholarship roster down to 65 players by Sept. 1, 2014, so instead of signing 25 players as originally planned, the team would be able to bring in only about 15. The Lions had been assembling a promising class, with a number of four-star prospects such as tight end Adam Brene- man, offensive lineman Brendan Mahon and defensive end Gar- rett Sickels joining Hackenberg among the commits. Now, the staff was worried about keeping them on board, knowing that its margin for error had been greatly diminished by the NCAA's scholarship reduction. In July, shortly after the sanctions were announced, O'Brien and his assistants welcomed the families of the committed play- ers to Beaver Stadium for a meeting to discuss the program's cloudy future. "We had really good relationships with these kids who had committed to us," O'Brien explained. "They called, and they were upset. They were upset because the Penn State that they had committed to changed relative to the sanctions. They all got in their cars, and they drove here to State College and they sat right in this room. It was a very private meeting, a very emotional meeting. "I stood right here, and I an- swered probably 50 to 75 ques- tions as best I could. If I didn't know the answer, I just told them, 'Look, I don't know the answer to that, I'll find out as fast as I can.' I think it was important that our whole staff was in here, too, and were able to meet with the families. "I think that was an important day for us at Penn State and the football program, because it was an honest, somewhat emo- tional, tough, but very productive meeting." In the end, nearly all of those prospects signed with the Nit- tany Lions. Breneman, Sickels and Mahon joined Hackenberg in the class, and all went on to become starters, though Brene- man's career was later waylaid by injuries. Hackenberg had come in looking to play right away, and he got his wish, beating out Tyler Ferguson and Steven Bench for the starting quarterback job in preseason camp. He ended up enjoying his most productive season that fall, completing 58.9 percent of his attempts for 2,955 yards, with 20 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. After PSU finished 7-5, he was named Big Ten Freshman of the Year. A New Era When O'Brien left in 2014 to become head coach of the Hous- ton Texans, Hackenberg stayed at Penn State. At his introductory press conference, new Penn State coach James Franklin hailed the sophomore as the cornerstone of what he would be trying to build. "If you have a quarterback, you've got a chance," Franklin said. "We feel very, very good about the quarterback we have in our program right now." By that point, though, the scholarship reductions had hin- dered the Lions in a few key areas, the most glaring of which was the offensive line. While the NCAA had started to relax its penalties, lopping two years off the bowl ban as part of its re- prieve, the Lions struggled to take advantage, barely attaining postseason eligibility in 2014 and '15. Hackenberg was frequently under heavy duress. During Franklin's first two seasons, Penn State surrendered a combined total of 83 sacks. Hackenberg's final game was against Georgia in the 2016 TaxSlayer Bowl. He suffered a right shoulder injury when he was tackled after a short run in the second quarter, and while he stayed on the field for six more plays, he was in obvious pain and soon disappeared into the locker room for X-rays. After the game, Hackenberg announced he was leaving Penn State to enter the NFL Draft. "I don't really know how it's going to turn out," he said. "All I know is that … every time I had the opportunity to represent the university and the football program, I tried to do it to the best of my ability. It was an honor to be part of such a special group of guys and do something at such a special place." Looking back, Hackenberg's last drive as a Penn State quar- terback was like watching eras collide in real time. He handed off twice to Saquon Barkley, threw three completions to Chris Godwin, then gave way to McSorley. All three of those players would prove instrumental in the turnaround that, unbeknownst to anyone at the time, was just around the corner. Fully Committed Hackenberg was gone by the time the turnaround occurred in 2016. A second-round selection by the New York Jets, he was in the midst of his rookie year when the Lions stunned the college football world by winning the Big Ten title and earning an ap- pearance in the Rose Bowl. While it's easy to appreciate the spectacular playmaking of McSorley, Barkley, Godwin and others, which led the Nittany Lions back to the top of the conference just four years after the NCAA levied its sanctions, it bears mentioning that Hackenberg and his fellow 2013 recruits kept the program from falling into an abyss during its most difficult years. In the end, perhaps O'Brien summed it up best. On signing day back in 2013, he reflected on what it meant to land such high-level Power Five prospects amid the fierce headwinds that the program was facing. "I think overall, this is a great day for Penn State," O'Brien said. "People may look at me and say, 'Why do you say that? We're in the middle of these sanctions.' Well, this is a great day for Penn State because … we signed a number of kids who com- mitted to us early and stayed committed to us when they could have gone elsewhere. That says a lot about Penn State. Not any one coach or anything, but a lot about Penn State." ■ "It was an honor to be part of such a special group of guys and do something at such a special place." H A C K E N B E R G