Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/433715
the 19-year-old sophomore answered each with poise, calmness and thought. He responded with phrases like "It's not over yet," "moving forward" and "I wouldn't rather be anywhere else." Asked outright if there were any chance he might finish his college career some- where other than Penn State, he looked up at the surrounding reporters and po- litely suggested that the matter was me- dia fabrication with no basis in fact. "Moving forward, this is where I'm at," he said. "This is where I want to be. This is the team that I love, the guys that I love, the university that I love, and I wouldn't rather be anywhere else." Feeding into some of that speculation was Hackenberg's sideline demeanor when interacting with offensive coordi- nator John Donovan – animated conver- sations that television cameras so often caught – at times throughout the season. But Hackenberg and the coaches downplayed any negative effect stem- ming from those instances. They were framed instead as a constructive, if heated, dialogue. "He's frustrated, he wants to win and that's the bottom line," Donovan said. "He's a competitive son of a gun." That competitive drive, coupled with the team's struggles during a four-game losing streak, proved to be a combustible mixture. However, it doesn't appear as though the offense's growing pains are going to drive away Hackenberg, one of the most important players in the pro- gram's recent history, given the timing of his commitment. "He's just a competitive guy who gets his juices flowing," Donovan said. "He can get frustrated at times. We get it. There are certain ways you've got to handle yourself because you know the camera's on you. The team's looking at you and you need to be positive when you need to be positive and you can't al- ways show frustration." Although it might have taken time, Hackenberg said he now understands that aspect of his role. He said going through those midseason struggles and challenges "was the best thing that could possibly happen to me. I learned a lot." Asked what he learned, specifically, he replied, "It's just adjusting to the situa- tions and understanding how each one is going to be different. That's not just a good rule for football, that's a good rule for life." The basketball team wore them, so why not the football team? That was the reasoning spread across social media in early December a9er the Nittany Lion basketball team wore its "throwback" black-and-pink uniforms for non- conference games against Bucknell and Virginia Tech. And the conversa- tion was sparked by one of the more prominent football players. "I have a question," junior corner- back Jordan Lucas wrote on Twitter. "Why can't the football team honor the school's original colors too?" It created some debate, as one would expect when it comes to dis- cussing changes to Penn State's iconic uniforms. It also led the student-run website Onward State to create a mock-up image of sophomore run- FOOTBALL Hoops uniforms have Lions thinking pink NEW LOOK Anthony Zettel in a mock-up im- age depicting how a pink- and-black uniform might look. Photo by Steve Manuel