Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/663838
develop UCF's Blake Bortles into the third overall pick in the draft. Palmer said that the biggest knock on Hackenberg has been that his passing mechanics were inconsistent at Penn State. The work they did together in Dana Point, Calif., was aimed at helping Hackenberg refine his form. To hear the QB coach tell it, that work has paid off. "I definitely feel like he's peaking at the right time. I think you're going to start to hear a buzz nationally… about Christian Hackenberg trending upward," Palmer said. "I think a lot of these guys like [NFL Network draft analyst Mike] Mayock who have been on him are going to start getting some tough questions when this tape goes around the league, and the people who were here today will start talking about what they saw. I think you're going to start hearing a lot of buzz around Christian being talked about in a different way than he was talked about two or three weeks ago." Palmer said Hackenberg threw well on the run and connected on some "really good deep balls," displaying accuracy and touch. He added that he and the rest of Hackenberg's camp came away from the day feeling satisfied. "I think the general response was that people were really pleased with the ac- curacy. The ball was right up on the re- ceiver's face," Palmer said. "We put him in a position where he did throw every throw. He did nine different play ac- tions, which is about as many as there are in any NFL system. The ones that he missed were a little here, a little there. But they were definitely catchable balls. So I think it was a great day. It was an A." A minor drama arose in late March when the website MMQB reported that some NFL scouts had cooled on Hack- enberg after meeting with him individu- ally. The story by Robert Klemko alleged that in those meetings, Hackenberg had blamed James Franklin for his struggles during his sophomore and junior sea- sons at Penn State. "You don't want to hear a kid say that," one personnel eval- uator told Klemko. P R O D A Y R E S U L T S 2015 GRADUATES NAME POS HT WT BENCH VERT BROAD 40 PRO 'L' Tarow Barney DT 6-2 1 ⁄8 304 31 reps 30.5 in. 9 ft., 5 in. 4.99 4.70 – Kyle Carter TE 6-3 3 ⁄8 243 13 35.5 10-2 4.64 3.39 7.02 Christian Hackenberg QB 6-4 5 ⁄8 222 – 31.0* 9-6 4.78* – 7.04* Austin Johnson DT 6-4 1 ⁄2 310 25* 26.0* 8-3 5.32* 4.75* 7.84* Brandon Johnson RB 6-2 228 22 39.0 10-7 4.43 4.20 6.68 Jordan Lucas Saf./CB 5-11 1 ⁄8 203 – 38.0 10-10 4.45 4.21 6.64 Angelo Mangiro OL 6-3 1 ⁄4 302 23 26.0 8-3 5.63 4.81 7.79 Carl Nassib DE 6-7 1 ⁄4 279 21* 28.5* 9-6* 4.84* 4.37* 7.27* Dom Salomone FB 5-9 7 ⁄8 239 36 30.5 9-0 4.85 4.50 7.38 Trevor Williams CB 5-11 1 ⁄4 191 16 35.5 10-5 4.45 4.19 6.75 Anthony Zettel DL 6-4 1 ⁄8 280 28* 30.5* 9-4 4.81* 4.39* 7.63* PREVIOUS GRADUATES Ryan Keiser Saf. 6-1 200 12 37.5 11-1 4.49 4.28 6.85 Jon Gingrich** DT 6-2 1 ⁄2 259 21 30.5 9-7 4.83 4.46 7.28 * Testing mark from NFL Combine ** Penn State wrestler THE DRAFT AT A GLANCE WHERE Auditorium Theatre // Chicago WHEN April 28-30 // Day 1 Round 1 Day 2 Rounds 2 and 3 Day 3 Rounds 4 through 7 TV ESPN and the NFL Network