Amidst the situation and scandal at Penn State within its football program, the first commit for the new head coach of the Nittany Lions, Bill O'Brien, is standing firm in his pledge to head to Happy Valley after this senior year.
Fork Union Military Academy rising senior quarterback Christian Hackenberg committed to Penn State in February and still can't wait to play for the former New England Patriots offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.
O'Brien took the Penn State job in January.
"It's a relief for me," said Hackenberg. "It is a weight off your shoulders. The recruiting process is crazy now. I'm happy I got it out of the way. I felt like I found a very good home at Penn State with the new staff, 'cuz that's the guys who started recruiting me is the new staff, so I got to know those guys really well, pretty quickly. I felt like I made a great decision: academically, athletically, and socially."
Hackenberg would only change his mind if the Nittany Lions received the death penalty from the NCAA.
But the top ranked quarterback in the country in the class of 2013 according to ESPN wants to play for the man who's coached Tom Brady for the last three years.
"That's one thing that I was really looking forward to, just getting into that system," said Hackenberg. "I feel like it fits my skill sets very well. With the recruiting class we got, and the guys that are already up there, he's sort of filling those voids, the spots that he was envisioning at the Patriots, at this level, which is neat. You can sort of see it unfolding in front of you, so it's pretty cool. That system is highly effective. I've talked to a couple guys who've played in it in the League (NFL), and they love it. It's just very simple but highly effective."
Hackenberg is spending this weekend in southern California at the Elite 11 Quarterback Camp, competing to be labeled the best signal caller in the country at the top QB camp in the nation.
