Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/233832
THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME "Never make predictions, baseball great Casey Stengel once warned, "especially about " the future. Sage advice from the man known as "the Professor" during his four decades " as a major-league player and manager, and it's served almost everybody in sports pretty well over the years. Save for Joe Namath and Muhammad Ali, you'd be hard pressed to name a major figure who didn't view predictions as a fast track to disaster. • The media, of course, are a different story. Predictions? We love 'em, especially in late December and early January, when everyone is fixated on the bright promise of a new year. At BWI, we're as eager as anyone to have our say, but we're also mindful of Stengel's admonition. The essays that follow are not predictions. Not exactly. They're simply a look ahead at a few storylines that will be in the news over the next 365 days. It would be premature to guess at how they'll all play out – even the people at the heart of these stories can't answer those questions – but one thing's certain: We'll all be talking about them in 2014. For Christian Hackenberg, 2013 was only the start To call Christian Hackenberg's first season at Penn State a success would be an understatement. Named the Big Ten's Thompson-Randal El Freshman of the Year, Hackenberg was also an honorable mention All-Big Ten selection, breaking several Penn State freshman single-game and season passing records in the process. "He's had a remarkable year, coach Bill O'Brien said via " news release. "To come here as an 18-year-old freshman with such high expectations and to be able to learn this offense and do the things we have asked him to do, I think he got better every game. He's got a chance to have a very special career at Penn State." Take note of O'Brien's last line. Given the possibility that the Nittany Lions' postseason ban could be lifted a year or two early, Hackenberg's performance as a true freshman only hints at the possibilities for his sophomore, junior and senior seasons. It doesn't take a lot of chutzpah to suggest that Hackenberg will probably surpass 3,000 yards passing, complete more than 231 passes and beat his mark of 20 touchdown passes as a sophomore. But it does take some chutzpah to suggest that he will have a chance – with wideout Allen Robinson at his side – to earn All-America recognition. And yet that expectation isn't entirely unreasonable. Given the opportunity to study O'Brien's system throughout the winter and spring and put on some weight under the direction