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..the 2nd round QB,.. a sneaky success ? ? ?


kelly

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When the NFL draft finally kicks off Thursday night, we have a pretty good idea that quarterbacks Jared Goff and Carson Wentz are going to go with the first two picks, probably in that order -- and that's about where the certainties end. While we know trades are the norm, it's still possible that, with the top two slots already traded for, the rest of the teams picking in the top 10 could hold onto their picks, as they did last year. Players like running back Ezekiel Elliott and linebacker Myles Jack could come off the board during the first few picks or sweat their new locations into the middle of the first round. There's all sorts of subterfuge going on. It'll be fun.

There's even more uncertainty when it comes to the other quarterbacks in this year's class. After Goff and Wentz, there's a group of three quarterbacks --Connor Cook, Paxton Lynch and Christian Hackenberg -- who are generally considered the second tier of the position in this year's draft class. ESPN draft analyst Todd McShay has each of these three passers among his fourth and fifth tiers, suggesting it's at least possible they could find their future homes during Friday's second round.You can make logical cases for and against drafting a quarterback in the second round. The anti-quarterback argument says you're unlikely to come away with a truly top-tier passer, because if these quarterbacks were sufficiently disposed to turn into stars, they wouldn't make it past the first round. Late-round picks are obviously also unlikely to turn into stars, but the opportunity cost is far lower. When a team uses a sixth-round pick on a quarterback, they're usually passing up the chance to take a special-teamer or a player who isn't going to make their team. When they use a second-rounder on a quarterback, they forego the chance to draft, say, a defensive lineman with a something close to a 50 percent chance of turning into a three-year starter.

The flip side is all about value. Quarterbacks who deserve to land in the first round can fall to the second round because teams drafting at the bottom of the first round are often pretty good, and they're often pretty good because they already have a pretty good quarterback. NFL teams who are close to the top almost always prefer to draft a player at a position of weakness than to draft a quarterback who might sit for a year or two. The last time an NFL team with a winning record drafted a quarterback with one of the last 10 picks of the first round was when the Packers chose Aaron Rodgers in 2005. (And if you think that's a sign more teams should do it, keep in mind that the three previous instances of a team trying that move yielded Jim Druckenmiller, Tommy Maddox and Todd Marinovich.)Even teams trading into/down to that range at the bottom of the first round haven't fared well. Sure, the Vikings came away with Teddy Bridgewater with the last pick of the first round in 2014, but consider the other quarterbacks who have been drafted by quarterback-needy teams from picks 22-32 since 2000: Johnny Manziel, Brandon Weeden, Tim Tebow, Brady Quinn, Jason Campbell, J.P. Losman, Rex Grossman and Patrick Ramsey. Rodgers is the lone success story, and he obviously entered a much different situation than those other players, with a long-term waiting game ahead of him.

The second round appears to be different.

Specifically, the first half of the second round appears to have developed into a bit of a sweet spot for finding and developing quarterbacks. Just going through picks 30-45 when they occurred in the second round (given that the league hasn't always been 32 teams), you'll find four NFL starters in Derek Carr, Andy Dalton, Colin Kaepernick and Drew Brees. Geno Smith might technically qualify as a fifth, although I don't think he'll actually be the starter for the Jets in September. That's out of just nine passers taken since 2000, with the other passers including Pat White (not drafted as a quarterback), John Beck (drafted at the age of 26, a move that rarely works out), Kevin Kolb (effective but oft-injured) and Drew Stanton (a career backup).Again, compare that to the players taken in the bottom half of the second round over that time frame in chronological order: Jimmy Garoppolo, Brock Osweiler, Jimmy Clausen, Brian Brohm, Chad Henne, Kellen Clemens, Tarvaris Jackson, Quincy Carter and Marques Tuiasosopo. This isn't an artificial cutoff, either; if we go into the drafts from the 1990s, the best quarterback from the top half of the second round is Brett Favre; the best passer from pick 46 on is Kordell Stewart.

Even if we expand our list of first-round picks to include players taken from selections 17-32 inclusive, the additions of Joe Flacco and Chad Pennington to the pool are countered by the arrivals of Josh Freeman and Kyle Boller. There's really not much of a drop-off between the bottom of the first round and the top of the second round, whereas the gap between the two halves of the second round is enormous. (Note that these splits don't overlap; when picks 30-32 were in the first round, they're included in the first-round group, and the same is true in the second round.)

Success Early In Round 2SPLITAVG STARTSCMP%Y/ATTBottom of first round (picks 17-32)61.458.5%6.93Top of second round (picks 30-45)62.359.0%7.00Bottom of second round (picks 46-64)21.055.6%6.46Top of third round (picks 65-80)28.657.6%6.87

 

Is there some empirical difference between players going at the very end of the first round and the top of the second round? I doubt it. Basically, what history seems to suggest is that there's a dramatic drop-off point in terms of passer quality once the teams who are most likely to be in need of quarterbacks have selected in the second round.

In a nutshell : If organizations that need a quarterback have passed on you twice, chances are you aren't a very good one.

All that information brings us back to the quarterbacks lurking in the second tier of this year's class behind Goff and Wentz. It's not out of the question that Cook, Hackenberg and Lynch could all come off of the board before the middle of the second round (or sooner). Lynch has popularly been thought of as the most interesting of those three passers, but Hackenberg has the prototypical size and arm strength that tends to rise on draft boards as we approach the end of April, while Cook has recently been hotly linked to the Browns with their second selection.Cleveland, of course, has been responsible for many of those failed quarterbacks in the first round: Manziel, Weeden and Quinn all failed to launch after making their way to the Browns in the bottom half of the opening round. But we have to remember scouting/drafting and developing can be entirely different components, and those making the decisions in Cleveland are an entirely different group than years past. If the Browns draft Cook, they'll have an excellent offensive mind guiding his future in Hue Jackson, a coach who helped another second-round pick (Dalton) take a big leap forward.

The often overlooked aspect to this strategy for fans is cost. The break-even point on performance is lower. Let's say the Browns take Cook with the first pick of the second round and he turns into Drew Stanton. That might be disappointing, and the opportunity cost of not using that pick on a starter elsewhere would be meaningful, but it wouldn't be a wasted selection. Cook would be on a four-year deal for a little more than $6 million total over his rookie contract.

Compare that to a typical veteran backup quarterback, such as Browns second-stringer Josh McCown, and you'll note that McCown's cap hit over the next couple of years is just over $5 million per season. Even Stanton himself is at a combined $6.5 million over the next two years. It wouldn't take a lot for Cook to deliver some modest return on investment, and he would obviously have the upside to deliver much more over the course of his deal if he turns into even a below-average starting quarterback. If he's somehow a steal, and starts early, you get a dream scenario of simply having a really cheap player at a typically high-cost position for a good amount of time, such as the Raiders are experiencing with Carr, and (though he wasn't a second-rounder) what Seattle experienced with Russell Wilson.

Of course, nobody wants to be making these sorts of guesses. You would rather take Rodgers and let him sit for three years, or have Peyton Manning andAndrew Luck fall into your lap with the first overall selection, or see Tom Brady turn into the best draft pick in the history of football. The chances of getting one of those things to happen are remarkably slim, and you'll probably get fired before one of those moves actually occurs. For those general managers and head coaches who have to try to find a quarterback another way, the gambit of taking a quarterback in the second round doesn't appear to be a bad idea. Just make sure he's worth taking before the halfway point.

>  http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/15391775/taking-quarterback-early-round-2-makes-lot-sense-some-teams-nfl

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-- Day 2 won't lack for drama, either.

With the 20th pick in the second round (51st overall), the New York Jets on Friday could be staring at quarterback Christian Hackenberg and/or pass rusher Noah Spence, two of the most polarizing players in the draft.

For different reasons, of course.

Spence, once projected as a first-round pick, slid through the first day because of off-the-field issues. He flunked two drug tests at Ohio State (both for Ecstasy) and was booted out of the school and out of the Big Ten, landing at Eastern Kentucky.Hackenberg, regarded as a potential top pick after an impressive freshman year at Penn State, hurt his pro stock with two infamously mediocre seasons. Some scouts love his raw talent, while others think he's a basket case.

The Jets hosted both players for pre-draft visits so they've performed their due diligence. My advice: Buyer beware.

Even though they drafted linebacker Darron Lee in the first round, the Jets still need an outside 'backer to play in their 3-4 scheme -- and Spence projects into that role. But he's a gamble even in the second round. He reportedly sent his most recent 20 drug tests to every team, trying to prove he's clean, but the risky-reward factor still is in play. There's also the matter of his speed. He ran the 40 in 4.8 seconds and, according to one NFC scout, "How many 4.8 guys do you see sacking the quarterback on a consistent basis? Not many."

As for Hackenberg, he has piqued the interest of general manager Mike Maccagnan, who attended his pro day. The Jets could use another quarterback in the pipeline, but the second round is too early. They have too many other needs to be flirting with a boom-or-bust quarterback. Offensive line, cornerback and tight end are among the most pressing positions.

The highest-rated available players on Todd McShay's board are linebackersMyles Jack and Reggie Ragland, but they'd be duplication for the Jets because they already drafted Lee. Other names to watch:

Boise State outside linebacker Kamalei Correa, tight end Hunter Henry, defensive tackle Jarran Reed and Virginia Tech cornerback Kendall Fuller.

The Jets also own the 20th pick in the third round (83rd overall). They're looking to acquire extra picks so don't be surprised if there's a trade or two.

>      http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york-jets/post/_/id/60066/jets-could-gamble-on-lb-noah-spence-or-qb-christian-hackenberg-on-day-2

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-- Leave it to the New York Jets to shake up the draft. Their controversial selection of quarterback Christian Hackenberg in the second round will be talked about for days, weeks, months ... dare we say years  ?

Opinions on Hackenberg are all over the spectrum. Get this: A year ago, in his "Way-Too-Early" mock draft for 2016, ESPN draft analyst Todd McShay projected Hackenberg as the No. 1 overall pick. The Jets got him at 51.

A sampling of comments on Hackenberg, taken from interviews before the draft :

Jon Gruden, former coach/ESPN analyst: "I just have to keep going back to his true freshman season. I know two years have gone by -- two disappointing seasons in terms of his production and expectations -- but as a true freshman he's the Big Ten Freshman of the Year under Bill O'Brien. ... He's a Penn State, two‑time captain. I love that. He's just been beat up too many times, a ridiculous number of sacks in the last couple of years. Too many plays had no chance from the get‑go. But I think he's put together, he's smart, he's tough. He's a lot better athlete than you think.

"He just has this presence about him. He has the loudest, most commanding snap count that I've heard (since) Andrew Luck. He has a lot of playing experience in two different systems. I think he competes his butt off. I think he wants this real bad. ... I like this kid a lot. I think he's got the NFL size, the strength in his arm, and the desire to be great that you need to have at this level. He's just got to regain his confidence ... and make the throws he made as an 18‑year‑old freshman. But he was surrounded by way too many negatives at Penn State. All the sanctions, the coaching changes. I think they had a lack of personnel. I don't think the offense suited him, and expectations have been soaring since he stepped on campus."

Bill O'Brien, former Pen State coach, current Houston Texans coach:"Christian can throw the football. He's got a strong arm. He's a big guy. He had the ability to learn quickly when we had him at Penn State."

Bill Polian, former general manager/ESPN analyst (at the scouting combine): "Hackenberg has got mechanical issues that I think need to be straightened out. That's a result of the terrible beating he took at Penn State this year. I've never seen a quarterback survive the kind of beating that he took this year. The fact that he did is to his credit, but he needs some developmental work, because when you take a beating like that, your mechanics go all to heck."

Mike Mayock, NFL Network analyst (in February): "As far as Cardale Jones, he and Hackenberg, as I said earlier, I've got as my wild cards, and they both scare me because they're really talented, big arm, big-body kids that you want to believe in, but the tape is really bad. So I don't know how long either of them, Hackenberg or Jones, will take to go from where they are today to what you would need in a functional NFL quarterback."

Mel Kiper, ESPN analyst: "He looked like maybe Tom Brady (as a freshman). Second and third year, James Franklin comes in, you don't have big-time receivers and the offensive line is horrible."

McShay: "He's one of the hardest evaluations in the draft. You have to believe in your quarterback coach and coordinator that they can rebuild him, if you will."

>     http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york-jets/post/_/id/60120/the-christian-hackenberg-enigma-from-potential-greatness-to-bad-tape

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The Hackenberg Riddle

On track to become a top-five pick after his dazzling freshman year, the Penn State QB filled NFL evaluators with doubts over the last two seasons. With the draft just three weeks away, NFL teams are still grappling with the question: Who is the real Christian Hackenberg?

Christian Hackenberg started with his blooper reel. There was a 10-day period in early January when the quarterback didn’t throw a football. While he let the mild shoulder sprain he suffered in his final collegiate game heal, he watched every errant throw and bad decision of his three-year Penn State careerHe sat in front of a video screen in Dana Point, Calif., home of his quarterback tutor, Jordan Palmer, Carson’s younger brother. There were more of these plays than Hackenberg would have liked. More than NFL teams would have liked, too. The idea was to dissect each one, and ask: What went wrong? And how was he going to fix it?

Turns out, those were the exact same questions NFL talent evaluators would ask a few weeks later at the scouting combine in Indianapolis. One NFL head coach said he spent the majority of his team’s 15-minute formal interview with Hackenberg going through film of his unflattering plays.Hackenberg will make the kinds of throws that separate professional passers from amateurs, the 20-plus yard deep outs and post-corner routes launched from the opposite hash mark. Then there are the bubble screens thrown at a receiver’s feet, or deep passes launched over the target’s head and out of bounds. These are the moments that confound NFL evaluators. Is Hackenberg the overachieving true freshman who surprised even Bill O’Brien by being able to run the coach’s Patriots-derived offense by opening day; or the erratic pocket passer who threw more interceptions (15) than touchdowns (12) as a sophomore, and completed just 53.5 percent of his passes as a junior?

“A mystery,” is how one NFL senior personnel executive whose team scheduled a private workout with Hackenberg puts it. Depending on if you like him or not, the executive adds, you can see what you want to see on his film.

Hackenberg, unsurprisingly, sees it more simply. “I think I ran a pro system my freshman year, and operated in it really well, and I don’t see how you get worse from that,” he says.

NFL teams don’t see how either. That, in a nutshell, is the very riddle they’re trying to crack.

* * *

There’s no tougher job in football than projecting a quarterback’s ability to play at the next level. Being in the crosshairs of this high-stakes evaluation is nothing new for Hackenberg. At Virginia’s Fork Union Military Academy, he beat out a senior for the starting job as a sophomore and led the team to a state title that year. Hackenberg quickly became one of the prized college recruits in the class of 2013.

Alabama coach Nick Saban visited the Christian military boarding school in the hills of central Virginia to watch Hackenberg practice. The quarterback chose Penn State and O’Brien, but the Crimson Tide kept calling. They reached out in 2012, when the severe NCAA sanctions in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal were announced that summer, mandating a four-year postseason ban for Penn State (this was lifted early in the 2014 season) and a reduction in scholarships from 85 to 65. They reached out to people close to Hackenberg again in 2014, after his freshman season, when O’Brien left to coach the Houston Texans.

• INSIDE GRUDEN’S QUARTERBACKS CAMP: The MMQB goes behind the scenes as the ex-coach-turned-analyst puts Carson Wentz through the made-for-TV wringer both in the classroom and on the field

Neither time did Hackenberg’s vow to Penn State waver, for better or for worse. And there was a lot of both. At age 18, he was the post-scandal, post-Paterno face of the program in a town where the process of moving forward is still awkward. Under those circumstances, the promise of his freshman year was amplified. Here was a confident, big-armed kid playing with 75 percent of a roster who took Michigan to overtime with a 36-yard rainbow pass that only Allen Robinson could high-point, and who went into Camp Randall Stadium to beat the BCS-hopeful Wisconsin Badgers with a near perfect passing line: 21-for-30, 339 yards, four touchdowns, no interceptions.

“He was ahead of his years at 18 years old, more than any other kid I’ve been around, really,” says Charlie Fisher, Hackenberg’s position coach as a freshman. “That Wisconsin game put an exclamation mark on his growth.”That was also his final game under O’Brien. There’s never a guarantee that a quarterback will  continue  to develop, but what O’Brien’s staff had seen from Hackenberg was a player who got better every week making decisions in a complicated offense. He had to make both half- and full-field reads, and could change plays before the snap, switching between run and pass or choosing the side of the field to which the play would be run based on the alignment and strength of the defense. There were some mistakes he got away with, and some flaws O’Brien wanted to coach out of Hackenberg after that first season—for example, like a lot of big-armed QBs, he needed to improve accuracy on his touch throws. But he didn’t have the chance.

By Hackenberg’s sophomore year, the coach he had come to State College to play for was gone, and his supporting cast had totally changed. Robinson was playing for the Jacksonville Jaguars. Guard John Urschel and tackle Garry Gilliam were also off to the NFL, two of four starters lost on the offensive line. Because of NCAA sanctions it was a patchwork unit: Donovan Smith was the only scholarship offensive tackle who was not a freshman, and the guard spots were plugged by two converted defensive linemen. For Hackenberg, a sophomore funk set in.“For a while, Christian shut down, I think, with everybody,” says Micky Sullivan, his high school coach. “I would call him once a week and leave a message, sometimes twice a week, and I wouldn’t hear from him. He was struggling because he took so much responsibility, and the results weren’t good. He just kind of turned into himself.”

Hackenberg’s 454-yard passing outing in the 2014 season opener against Central Florida proved to be an anomaly. There’s no question that the offense brought by new head coach James Franklin from Vanderbilt was a big departure from O’Brien’s system. It leaned on spread concepts and the quick passing game, and seemed built for a mobile, zone-read quarterback rather than a pocket passer like Hackenberg.Complicating the execution of any scheme was the porous offensive line. There were times when Hackenberg would take a three-step drop and immediately be pummeled by the likes of Joey Bosa. When he did have time to throw, he often seemed hell-bent on making something happen, forcing the ball into places where he shouldn’t have or holding on to the ball too long as he strained for a big play.“I wanted everything, and I wanted to fix things so bad, and I wanted to be better so bad that at times I took risks that I really wouldn’t take,” Hackenberg admits. “It was just a desire to get something going; to get some type of momentum moving forward. That led to a lot of issues my sophomore year, and a lot of frustration that, ultimately, I brought upon myself.”

The blooper reel got a lot of material that year. But some NFL talent evaluators also see on his film a player who was trying hard to make it work. Penn State finished the 2014 season in the Pinstripe Bowl against Boston College, which had the 11th-ranked defense in the nation and ran a complicated system that threatened an inexperienced offensive line. Hackenberg and new quarterbacks coach Ricky Rahne spent the month leading up to the bowl game devising a system based on film study linking specific blitzes to certain BC defensive personnel groups. Come game time, Hackenberg was able to recognize where pressure was coming from before the snap and send the protection that direction. He threw for 371 yards and four touchdowns in the win, and was only sacked twice.Penn State’s offensive identity was a moving target for most of Hackenberg’s sophomore and junior seasons (Franklin fired his offensive coordinator, John Donovan, in November of last season). Hackenberg broke 12 school freshman passing records his first season in Happy Valley, but five games into the 2015 season Franklin publicly deemed the offense’s identity one of running the football and managing the game. If they were going to run, Hackenberg focused on making the right run reads. During a rainy win against Rutgers last September, Rahne recalls Hackenberg checking out of one run play, and when Rutgers changed its defensive look, he checked back into the original play. The result was a 75-yard touchdown run by tailback Akeel Lynch.

While he let the hits and the offense’s struggles get to him more than he liked as a sophomore, people around him noticed his resolve not to let that happen again his junior season. Hackenberg actually had his lowest frequency of interceptions in 2015: One per every 59 pass attempts, compared to every 32 attempts as a sophomore and every 39 attempts as a freshman.

• RISING PROSPECTS: BRAXTON MILLER AND KEIVARAE RUSSELL: Robert Klemko’s Thursday draft column analyzes how two late-bloomers are making the most of the post-combine process. Plus more draft notes 

Is he coachable? That’s a question a lot of NFL teams ask about players, and the most common one Rahne has heard. His answer is a simple one: He learned two offenses in three years, with different terminology and pass concepts and footwork.“The only times we ever had any issues is when he was more frustrated with himself than anything,” says Rahne, Hackenberg’s quarterbacks coach for two seasons on Franklin’s staff. “The same thing you see from No. 12 in New England, that when he is not playing well, he gets upset. If that’s the worst thing you’ve got is that he’s hard on himself and wants so desperately to be successful, you can coach that.”

Two years ago, when the runaway hype over his freshman season had analysts talking about him as a future top-five pick, it seemed inevitable that Hackenberg would leave for the NFL a year early. But his next two seasons raised more questions than answers. Things didn’t go the way Hackenberg had wanted, right down to his Penn State finale.He left the Jan. 2 TaxSlayer Bowl, a 24-17 loss to Georgia, with the shoulder injury. The last minutes of his college career were spent on the sideline, wearing sweats and a headset. When he met with the media after the game, he didn’t begin by declaring his NFL intentions, nor did he have any remarks prepared. His announcement was something of an impromptu one. Midway through his interview, he started thanking people: O’Brien for bringing him to Penn State, Rahne and Donovan, the strength staff, trainer and even the video director. In the much-scrutinized relationship between Hackenberg and Franklin, the seeming Freudian slip was easy fodder for internet headlines: “Christian Hackenberg thanks everyone but his coach.”

“I’m sure ‘Hack,’ in hindsight, wishes it would have gone a different way,” Rahne says. “But it didn’t. In the heat of the moment, things happen, and you wish you could take ’em back, but you can’t. But I know those sort of things were handled behind closed doors, and I know they are a lot better now. It was an emotional time for him, and he made a mistake, but he owned up to it, and you move on.”

Two NFL teams who met with Hackenberg at the combine said they specifically asked Hackenberg about his omission. His answer was the same one he gives publicly: He found Franklin afterward, and thanked him one on one.No one, not even Hackenberg, tries to hide the fact that his relationship with Franklin was different from the one with O’Brien. As a five-star high school recruit, he chose O’Brien. And O’Brien was the offensive coordinator and a fixture in the quarterbacks room, whereas Hackenberg spent less time with Franklin, who devoted his attention to recruiting and rebuilding a viable roster after the sanctions.

• CONNOR COOK DEFENDS HIMSELF: The Michigan State quarterback on why he didn’t need the captain title to be a leader

Two weeks ago The MMQB’s Robert Klemko reported that two personnel sources told him Hackenberg had shifted blame to Franklin when their teams asked about his declining production his sophomore and junior seasons. But four high-ranking club officials who were part of their team’s interview process with prospects, speaking for this piece, said that was not how Hackenberg responded in their meetings.“His answer was that he didn’t play as well, and there were things he needed to get better at,” one head coach said. One senior executive said he was impressed that Hackenberg didn’t throw Franklin under the bus, despite questions that set him up to do so. Another team decision-maker said he could read between the lines that Hackenberg and Franklin weren’t especially close but that Hackenberg did not blame his coach. During Hackenberg’s 12 formal interviews at the combine, some teams pushed that button harder than others, and some may have interpreted his answers differently. Hackenberg doesn’t believe he left any room for interpretation.

“It was a very easy answer for me. There are some things that I have to get better at, and that’s the way I approached it going into the interviews,” Hackenberg says. “It’s the greatest team game on the planet, but you have to be able to uphold your end of the bargain. I did that at times, and at times I didn’t. That’s the messaging I wanted to get across, is here’s where I could have gotten better. I own everything I put on tape. I did it. It wasn’t anyone pulling the trigger but No. 14.”The point of Hackenberg’s pre-draft tutoring with Palmer, starting with that blooper reel, was for him to fix the mistakes that give NFL teams pause. His biggest flaw at Penn State was consistency; being able to make those great NFL throws, but not being able to do it play in and play out. His cannon arm is one of his most appealing attributes, but his deep pass accuracy lagged behind—in 2014 he completed just 33.3 percent of passes that were 20-plus yards, 89th in the nation; in 2015 his deep completion rate was 39.7 percent, 71st in the nation, according to Pro Football Focus.

Hackenberg spent two-and-a-half months out in Orange County, working from 5:45 a.m. to noon to correct the root cause of his accuracy issues: failing to start each pass from a good throwing position. At times that was because he was under pressure, with defenders in his face or at his feet. He was sacked 103 times in his college career. Other times sloppiness was to blame. He was taught different footwork in each of his three seasons at Penn State, muddying his mechanics and his muscle memory.

• IS JARED GOFF THE NEXT TIM COUCH? The uncanny links between this year’s potential Browns savior and the 1999 version

“Did the pressure have an effect on his fundamentals, at times, the last two years? Yeah, I think it did,” Rahne says. “And that was something I should have done a better job at correcting. That’s my job as a coach, to make sure he doesn’t fall into those bad habits, and that’s something that I own. But do I think it’s going to affect him over the next 11, 12 years of his NFL career? I don’t, no.”To rebuild Hackenberg’s throwing foundation, Palmer began each session with 10 minutes of this drill: He’d toss a football on the ground, so that it would bounce in an unpredictable direction, and Hackenberg would have to grab the ball and snap into the same starting position, with knees bent and two hands on the ball. Another drill Palmer taught Hackenberg helped him activate his hip while he was throwing, so he could put the power of his core and lower body behind each pass, and then simply use his arm to follow through. Hackenberg texted Rahne about this drill, raving about how much it helped his accuracy.

For Hackenberg’s March 17 pro day, Palmer designed a workout that made Hackenberg look less like a project and more like an NFL-ready quarterback. The script included throws from pretty much every drop used in NFL offenses, including quick game, three-step, five-step and out of pocket from the shotgun, and three-step, five-step, seven-step and play-action under center. Palmer took ubiquitous pass concepts from NFL playbooks, like sluggo/seam, and had Hackenberg throw a five-yard hitch not in isolation but as part of the progression of that pass concept. A red-zone session highlighted accuracy on throws that were back-shoulder or over a defender’s head, and they ended by showcasing his arm with a few deep throws that traveled 60-plus yards in the air.

• FOR JIHAD WARD, IT WAS THE JOURNEY: The Illinois defensive line prospect is still fueled by the his grueling days at a New York City juco

 

“The reason Christian’s pro day went so well, and it looks different than it did last year, is because for two-and-a-half months Christian got to focus on himself,” Palmer says. “It’s my job to make sure teams look at that and go, ‘Wow, if he was with Jordan for two months, I can’t imagine if I got him for four years.’ ”

* * *

 

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Micky Sullivan, Hackenberg’s coach at Fork Union, has a favorite story that illustrates his player’s confidence in himself. After Hackenberg’s senior season, he was invited to play in the Under Armour All-America Game in Florida. Herm Edwards was the coach of Hackenberg’s team, and the day before the game he asked the captains to walk out to the middle of the field. Hackenberg walked out. The only problem was, he wasn’t a captain.

“His expectations were, ‘I’m that guy,’ ” Sullivan says. “Nobody has to vote, nobody has to decide—I’m that guy.”When he gets to the NFL, though, for the first time since the beginning of his sophomore year of high school Hackenberg will likely not be that guy. Most people around the NFL see him as a developmental player, best suited for a team with an entrenched veteran starter whom he can learn behind. Maybe somewhere like Kansas City—GM John Dorsey is a Fork Union grad—or Dallas. There’s also the wild card: O’Brien’s Texans, one of the dozen teams who scheduled a formal combine interview with him. Houston signed Brock Osweiler to a $72 million contract, with $37 million guaranteed, so they almost certainly will not take a quarterback in the first two rounds. But if Hackenberg is there in the third, or the fourth?And that’s the question: How long will Hackenberg last? Three executives told The MMQB they graded Hackenberg as a third-rounder, but your draft stock is not the average. It’s where the team that regards you highest grades you.

• X FACTORS AT THE TOP OF THE DRAFT: Growing interest in Paxton Lynch and Jalen Ramsey—and a potential major move by the Rams—could shake up the top of the draft.

There’s a divide between those who see a player held back by a lack of talent around him and an ill-fitting offensive system, and those who believe great players figure out how to be great regardless of circumstance. Teams are still trying to collect more information to crack the Hackenberg riddle: He visited with the Cowboys last week, and the Eagles and three other clubs so far have scheduled private workouts and visits with him.Said the NFL head coach: “Everybody thinks he struggled the last two years, and he has. I can see him being evaluated down a little bit, because he hasn’t progressed. But is the talent there? Yes it is. He needs to focus on his fundamentals and getting his confidence back, because he’s not playing with the confidence he did as a younger player.”Said the senior personnel executive: “If you draft him in the second round or higher, it’s because he’s 6-4, has a good arm, has upside, and you know he can learn. But of course there’s a concern, because you always want to see it on tape first.”

At the combine, Hackenberg said his “biggest fear” is not being able to reach his full potential. For any NFL team considering drafting him in the first two rounds, the feeling is mutual.

>     http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2016/04/07/christian-hackenberg-penn-state-nfl-draft

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Need to Know Facts About Christian Hackenberg

There Is Much More to the New Jets Quarterback Than His Public Reputation

Good Genes

Hackenberg comes from an athletic family — his father, Erick, played football at the University of Virginia and Susquehanna University and his mother played volleyball at Lehigh University. Furthermore, while she may not be related by blood, his girlfriend, Tatum Coffey, played for the Nittany Lions’ lacrosse team.

 

He Loves the Tri-State Area

Christian Hackenberg’s first ever college start in 2013 took place at his new home — MetLife Stadium. He led the Nittany Lions to a 23-17 win over Syracuse, throwing for 278 yards and two touchdowns. The following season, he threw for 371 yards and four touchdowns in a 31-30 Pinstripe Bowl victory over Boston College at Yankee Stadium. Seems he already feels at comfortable at home.

 

He Survived Boot Camp

OK, not actual boot camp, but Hackenberg thrived in Jon Gruden’s QB camp. In fact, Gruden said, “I’ll be shocked if Hackenberg is not a first-round pick.” While he may not have been selected in Round 1, his talent was not overlooked.

“Hackenberg threw for 3,000 yards as an 18-year-old kid in an NFL offense that is hard to execute,” Gruden writes. “I do not think people are giving him enough credit for that. The alert signals they had when Bill O’Brien was coaching him were straight out of the New England Patriots playbook.”

 

Before becoming the head coach at Penn State, O’Brien was the quarterbacks coach for Tom Brady and the New England Patriots.“For a freshman to be given that type of autonomy at the line of scrimmage is unusual," Gruden continued. "When you see the same plays from the same formations that the Patriots are running, with the same audible mannerisms, you are like, ‘Wow, this is cool.’ ”

 

He's an Ordinary College Kid

Hackenberg has a normal college life off the field and he takes full advantage of that. Across the street from Beaver Stadium is Penn State’s intramural sports building. Every weekday afternoon, he and some of his teammates partook in basketball class with 25 students. Instructor Michael Morse highlights his humbleness along with his athletic ability.“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.”

 

While Morse’s jaw dropped as Hackenberg dunked and drained three-pointers, what Morse really admired was his desire to help others. “He is really gifted and yet in the flow of games he involved kids that were far less talented. He made others feel like they were part of the team.”

 

His Competitive Nature Is Anything but Ordinary

 

Whether Hackenberg is on the gridiron or not, his competitive switch is constantly on. Hackenberg’s teammate, Garret Sickels, cannot stand playing Xbox with him. Against the trainers’ wishes, Hackenberg would not let off the gas in summer basketball class. While he may be competitive off the field, his work ethic on the field is second to none.As a freshmen, Hackenberg showed up an hour early to workouts and spent extra time with the receiving corps. He wanted to earn the trust of everyone on the team and refused special treatment because of his five-star rating coming out of high school. His roommate said when he is not watching tape, he is always available for football questions.

 

Five-Star Recruit, Zero Ego

Hackenberg was given all the reasons to have an ego bigger than Beaver Stadium, yet  it is nonexistent. He consistently attends guest speakers on campus, talking to them afterwards, complimenting their lessons. Additionally, he uses his stardom to affect lives in a positive way.

 

Hackenberg’s basketball instructor has a friend suffering from Parkinson’s disease and cancer. Along with two teammates, he decided to visit Morse’s friend.“He made this guy that he’d never met before 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."

 

>    http://www.newyorkjets.com/news/article-randylangefb/Need-to-Know-Facts-About-Christian-Hackenberg/454945d9-42f8-4baf-8280-cc6856134a22

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