They all got after it years ago in that northeastern Pennsylvania home, the crush of competition, the reward of victory, defining the lives of four young boys.
It’s who you are and what you’re made of.
How are you going to respond?
“From the time we could walk, we were competing,” Christian Hackenberg says. “If you think about it, everywhere you look in life, you’re competing in some way, shape and form.”
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Want to know why a high school quarterback who could have played anywhere in the country chose to play in college football’s version of Siberia? Want to know why a 20-year-old, who had every heavyweight school with every imaginable advantage begging him to play, decided to throw it all away and embrace the untenable at NCAA-exiled Penn State?
Because how many guys in the history of college football are given the opportunity to save a beaten down, bellwether program? You want competition?
How about you vs. suffocating NCAA sanctions?
“The weight on his shoulders since he got here has been unimaginable,” said Penn State coach James Franklin.
Here’s the best part of this constantly evolving story: Christian Hackenberg didn’t even like Penn State growing up. Had no dreams of playing for Joe, or Success Without Honor is an Unseasoned Dish, or the white jerseys and black shoes, or any other idyllic fantasy of all things Nittany.
He chose Penn State because he wanted the toughest road; he wanted to do what no one else could claim to have done. He wanted the competition no other situation could bring.
Do you really think booing fans and mindless talk radio gab after a tough sophomore season is going to change all that?
“Anyone who thinks Hack had a bad season has no idea what they’re talking about,” said Penn State wideout DaeSean Hamilton.
Before we go any further with the how and why of who in the world would actually choose this thankless job, some perspective on the guy who actually did. Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota are considered the top quarterback prospects for the NFL Draft.
Winston won a national title and the Heisman Trophy; Mariota won a Heisman Trophy and led his team to the championship game of the College Football Playoff. Meanwhile, we have Hackenberg, who after a breakout freshman season, seemingly stumbled to a regressive sophomore season — one that had many outside the program wondering where it all went wrong.
Only it didn’t.
“If you’re asking me right now who has the best upside to play the position in our league — physical, mental, emotional — at the highest level of the game, it’s an easy answer between those three,” one AFC scout said. “It’s Hackenberg — and, frankly, it’s not really close.”
So the obvious question is, what happened? How did a guy who looked destined for greatness as a freshman in 2013, suddenly become a guy chasing redemption as spring practice began last weekend?
Penn State happened, that’s what.
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Two years ago when Hackenberg arrived at Penn State, then-coach Bill O’Brien sat in a quarterbacks meeting room with his new freshman star and was blown away by his advanced understanding of the game. Later that day, when Hackenberg got on the practice field for the first time and started throwing darts from one hashmark to the opposite sideline — throws some quarterbacks in the NFL can’t make — O’Brien confided his biggest fear.
“I don’t think anyone realizes what we have here,” O’Brien said. “Now, can we keep him off his ass every other play going forward?”
Year 1 wouldn’t be easy, O’Brien said. Year 2 would be brutal. The offensive line, the area hit hardest by NCAA scholarship limitations, was patchwork in Year 1, and a youth-filled breakdown waiting to happen in Year 2.
Officially, Hackenberg was dropped 44 times last season, the most sacks endured by any quarterback in college football. Unofficially, he was knocked down three or four times that number.
Zero protection, zero push up front and zero run game — Penn State averaged 2.94 yards per carry — translates to a whole lot of problems in the passing game. Or, in the only thing that matters for those gleaning from the outside: 12 TDs, 15 INTs.
His completion percentage dropped, as did his average yards per pass. He’ll be the first to say he held the ball too long, and didn’t do enough to help him and his team despite the odds.
The reality is, it’s a wonder he escaped the season without significant injury.
“He got killed,” Franklin said.
But that’s just another excuse in the Hackenberg house, words that hold little solace while growing up and learning lessons as the son of a former college football player. You don’t like it? Get better.
You don’t want to walk away with your head down? Compete harder. Christian’s dad, Erick, pushed him, and Christian pushed his three younger brothers.
You better believe he’s going to push his teammates.
“I’ve never seen a guy who wants to win more,” said Penn State tailback Akeel Lynch.
It was late last October when Hackenberg found himself walking off the field at Happy Valley, head hung low. Penn State had just blown a chance to upset Big Ten favorite Ohio State, and Hackenberg — who, yes, got killed by the Ohio State rush — ended the game on the ground after a fourth-down sack.
“I’ll tell you what, that No. 14 (Hackenberg), my gosh, a hell of a player,” Ohio State coach Urban Meyer said afterward. “We kept hitting him, he kept coming back.”
Because what are you if you’re not competing?
Maybe it’s not all about the pressure of being the savior of Penn State. Maybe it’s just about finding a way to reach the level of expectations set as a child — the same expectations that got him here in the first place.
“It drives me every day,” Hackenberg said. “If I hold myself to those high standards, it’s easier for me to hold everyone else to the same thing.”
Remember, it’s who you are and what you’re made of.
Now go respond.