Penn State's Christian Hackenberg seeks senior moment
The junior quarterback, who won't reveal if this will be his final home game, is instead focused on winning for senior teammates.
NINETEEN PENN State players will be honored Saturday in Beaver Stadium, before they play their final home game, against Michigan.
Christian Hackenberg will not be one of them.
Doesn't mean the junior quarterback will spurn the NFL and return for his final season in 2016. Just means that nothing is certain right now.
Hackenberg was asked during a news conference Tuesday afternoon if he has thought about whether this will be his last home appearance.
"Not really," he said. "I'm just focusing on it one week at a time, doing what I need to do to make sure I'm the most prepared I can."
Then he talked about sending the seniors out the right way, and facing the No. 14 Wolverines(8-2) in their first year under coach Jim Harbaugh, Saturday at noon (ABC). But Hackenberg's situation has been in the back of the minds of PSU fans since the beginning of the season, and will remain there until there is some resolution.
He enjoyed a brilliant season as a freshman, under then-coach Bill O'Brien, but backslid last year, in James Franklin's first season in charge. Hackenberg has been better this fall for the Lions (7-3), especially of late.
Over the last seven games he has thrown 12 touchdown passes and just one interception, along the way setting PSU career records for completions (650), passing yardage (7,924), 200-yard games (20) and 300-yard games (nine). His next touchdown pass will be his 46th, which will equal Matt McGloin's all-time mark.
"I think he's doing some good things," Franklin said. "Some of the run checks he's been able to get us in to create big, explosive plays for us, I think, (have) been important."
Franklin also believes Hackenberg's contributions cannot be measured by mere statistics.
"I think he's grown probably as much as any player in the country," he said, "in terms of leadership, in terms of adversity, in terms of all the things that he's been through in a very, very short period of time and how he's handled it."
Just in case, Hackenberg was asked how he wishes to be remembered when his time at Penn State is through, and he said he would want his teammates to understand that he "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."
The senior class, which includes defensive end Carl Nassib (Malvern Prep), has waded through the Jerry Sandusky child sexual-abuse scandal and resultant NCAA sanctions, the firing and death of coach Joe Paterno and the transition to first O'Brien and then Franklin.
"They're the glue that kept this program together," Franklin said of his seniors. "They're the glue and the foundation that stood strong when Penn State needed them the most."
Nassib, a walk-on who never started a game on any level until this season, leads the nation in sacks with a school-record 15 1/2, as well as tackles for loss (19.5) and forced fumbles (6). On Tuesday he was named one of four finalists for the Lombardi Award (given to the nation's top offensive or defensive lineman or linebacker) and was named one of 10 semifinalists for the Burlsworth Trophy, given to the most outstanding player in the country who began his career as a walk-on.
Earlier this month, Nassib was named a semifinalist for the Bednarik Award (given to the nation's top defensive player) He was also named a midseason All-America by four media outlets.
Nassib and Co., coming off a bye after losing at Northwestern on Nov. 7, will on Saturday face a Michigan offense featuring quarterback Jake Rudock. The graduate transfer from Iowa threw for a career-high 440 yards and a school-record six touchdowns in last Saturday's 48-41, double-overtime victory at Indiana. One of the TD passes, a 5-yarder to Jehu Chesson with 2 seconds left in regulation, tied the game. Another, a 25-yarder to Amara Darboh in the second OT, won it.
Rudock shared Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week honors with Chesson, who caught a career-high 10 balls for 207 yards and four scores, the latter tying a school record. Darboh finished with eight catches for 109 yards, and tight end Jake Butt had seven receptions for 82.
"I think Michigan has been really playing well on defense all year long," Franklin said of a unit that is second in FBS in yardage allowed (268.7 per game) and sixth in points yielded (14.8). "The offense is really starting to come on now."
PSU is looking to finish unbeaten at home for the first time since 2008, but the greater motivation is crafting a going-away present for the seniors.
And, perhaps, Hackenberg.