UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — In the summer before his ever-important junior football season, when NFL Draft pundits pegged him as a potential first-round pick, Christian Hackenberg found solace on a basketball court.
Just across the street from Beaver Stadium in Penn State’s Intramural Building, Hackenberg and a handful of his football teammates joined a group of 25 students — who will worry about internships and job placement instead of NFL Draft stock — for 75 minutes every weekday afternoon for basketball class with instructor Michael Morse.
“At any point Christian could’ve overtaken the game, he could’ve kind of done whatever he wanted,” Morse said. “I’ve had LaVar Arrington in class, I’ve had Allen Robinson in class, I’ve had Sean Lee, Nate Stupar and NaVorro Bowman.
“I’ve had some studs and I mean it sincerely when I say Christian out of everyone I had is something special.”
Those who follow Penn State knew that long before Hackenberg stepped on the hardwood.
Penn State’s star quarterback could be entering the homestretch of a career unlike any in the program’s history, one marked by unprecedented NCAA sanctions and a coaching change.
Saturday’s game against Michigan might be the last time No. 14 jogs out of the Beaver Stadium tunnel, past a White-Out crowd and takes his place under center in Happy Valley. Stores downtown already started marking their blue and white No. 14 jerseys 50 percent off, assuming Hackenberg declares for the NFL Draft after the season to end an era with a pro-style passer who already holds school records for passing yards (7,924), completions (650), attempts (1,151) and 200 and 300-yard passing games.
“If you think about the impact that Christian Hackenberg has had on our program the last three years and where this program would have been without him, I think it's pretty significant,” coach James Franklin said this week. “I think that's the thing to me that probably isn't talked about enough.”
Since arriving on campus in 2013, Hackenberg has started every game for the Nittany Lions, working to earn the trust of his teammates. He wasn’t as outspoken as previous quarterback Matt McGloin. He played with a roster that was impacted by scholarship limitations and a bowl ban, all stemming from NCAA sanctions in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal.
The spotlight followed the former five-star prospect from Palmyra, Va., to Penn State, as has a competitive spirit that drives Hackenberg.
That competitive nature drives some of his teammates crazy off the field, but rallies them behind him on it. It’s why defensive end Garrett Sickels says Hackenberg is unbearable to play against in Xbox. It’s why Hackenberg couldn’t let up in summer basketball class, even with the training staff urging him and his teammates to take it easy after they showed up for football workouts drenched in sweat.
“We went at it,” Hackenberg said with a laugh. “It's just something that I wouldn't expect to end up any other way.”
Away from the field Hackenberg wants to blend in and hangout with friends like any college kid. It’s what Hackenberg wanted teammates to see in him from Day 1 when he showed up as a rosy cheeked, bright-eyed freshman an hour early to workouts, spent extra time throwing to his receivers and said he didn’t want any special treatment. He aimed to earn the trust of the guys in the locker room, whether they were upperclassmen, underclassmen, scholarship players or walk-ons.
He brought that same attitude to Morse’s class last summer.
“He is really gifted and yet in the flow of games he involved kids that were far less talented,” Morse said. “He made others feel like they were part of the team.”
There were dunks, 3-pointers and moments when Morse had to just shake his head in disbelief at the athleticism — and that no one was hurt — but what impressed him most was who Hackenberg was when no one was looking.
Morse saw a 20-year-old he called a “gentleman’s gentleman” who approached guest speakers after class, thanking them for their time and complimenting their lessons.
Hackenberg joined fellow football teammates and basketball classmates DaeSean Hamilton and Anthony Zettel to visit one of Morse’s friends, who was battling Parkinson’s Disease and cancer.
“He made this guy that he’d never met before in his life feel like a million bucks,” Morse said. “Anthony ended up telling ghost stories, they were bantering back and forth. … This guy wrote me a letter to thank me for one of the best nights of his life.”
That’s the side of Penn State’s quarterback only few get to see and to know.
“It goes back to the whole thing about him being just a genuinely good guy,” said linebacker Von Walker, a former walk-on who is now a team captain. “He doesn’t care who you are or what you do.”
It’s why Hackenberg goes fishing with defensive tackle Zettel —who is also Hackenberg’s nemesis on the golf course — hunts with defensive end Garrett Sickels and rooms with offensive lineman Brendan Mahon. Mahon joked that he might not have the cleanest roommate, but said his quarterback, when he isn’t watching film around the clock, is always there to answer his football questions.
“The guys love Christian and they respond to him,” quarterbacks coach Ricky Rahne said. “You can see that on the football field, yes, but you can see that on Friday night snacks at 9 o’clock when everyone is just kind of hanging around and telling stories and that sort of thing. You can really see the bond he has with his teammates.”
Hackenberg’s response shouldn’t come as a surprise then when asked this week what he wants to be remembered for at Penn State whenever his collegiate career comes to a close.
“I just want to make sure, in terms of teammates' eyes, that they knew that I went out there and left it all on the field, played with a fiery competitor inside of me, and really, really let it all hang out,” he said. “That's kind of how I try and play. That's how I try and live my life. So that, at the end of the day, is something that I hope happens.”
Audrey Snyder: asnyder@post-gazette.com and Twitter @audsnyder4.
First Published: November 20, 2015, 5:00 a.m.
