After an up-and-down career at Penn State, Christian Hackenberg has decided that it’s time to go to the NFL.
The 2016 NFL Draft just got another top-tier quarterback in the fold as, after the Taxslayer Bowl on Saturday, Penn State Nittany Lions quarterback Christian Hackenberg has announced that he will be entering the mix.
BREAKING: #PennState QB @chackenberg1 has just declared for the #NFLDraft.
— FightOnState.com (@FightOnState) January 2, 2016
Really, this announcement will come as no surprise to anyone. From the moment that Hackenberg committed to Penn State we all figured that he’d be leaving before his senior year, although the circumstances were anticipated to be a lot different.
Hackenberg committed to Penn State prior to the huge sanctions dropping down following the Jerry Sandusky scandal, but despite the blow the school was given, he decided to keep his commitment to then head coach Bill O’Brien, who is now the head coach of the Houston Texans. During his freshman season in 2013, Hackenberg was phenomenal, throwing for 2,955 yards with 20 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.
From there, though, is where things would start to go downhill.
Following his freshman season, O’Brien left to become the head coach of the Texans and James Franklin stepped in. Unfortunately, 2014 was the year where Penn State really started to feel the brunt of the scholarship sanctions, so the offensive line was just a tad deplorable. Hackenberg was running for his life for most of the past two seasons, and his Penn State career came to an early end on Saturday when he left the game against Georgia with a shoulder injury.
Now, though, it’ll be off to the NFL to see if he can live up to the hype that he was given out of high school.