Penn State Football: Hackenberg Healthy And Practicing Following Injury Scare

When you lose, it’s just a game. It doesn’t matter by how much or by how little. Teams move on to the next one. When Penn State’s freshman quarterback Christian Hackenberg left this past Saturday’s game in large part due to a nagging shoulder injury, there was cause for head coach Bill O’Brien to worry about games far beyond Saturday night’s loss.

But the bumps and bruises were just that and according to O’Brien his 18-year-old gunslinger is just fine.

“Hackenberg is fine,” O’Brien said on Tuesday. “He practiced yesterday. He’ll be ready to go.”

“He participated fully. He won’t wear a protective‑‑ other than, obviously, shoulder pads, but he won’t wear a protective device.  He’s good to go, as we sit here today.”

Hackenberg was thrown to the ground after the whistle when Penn State was called for a false start penalty. O’Brien reiterated on Tuesday that he didn’t think the contact was a dirty hit.

“I don’t think that was a dirty play at all,” O’Brien said, mentioning he doesn’t cry over spilled milk.. “I’m not sure the guy heard the whistle. It’s a very loud stadium, and he kept going. It wasn’t anything that was dirty. So I didn’t really point anything out. I just felt that that was just an unfortunate thing that happened.”

More importantly for Penn State’s future: “Christian, I think he’s a tough kid.  He’s fine.”

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