Christian Hackenberg Thanks Everyone But His Coach While Declaring For NFL Draft

Penn State lost to Georgia in a bowl game this afternoon. It was an ugly game made uglier by star Penn State QB Christian Hackenberg leaving the game in the second quarter with an injury. His backup threw a cool touchdown, but other than that, nah.

After the game, Hackenberg declared for the NFL draft. He’s a top-five quarterback according to most experts, and this would not be particularly notable on its own, were it not for a rather conspicuous absence in Hackenberg’s statement about leaving school.

You’ll notice that Hackenberg thanks a video coordinator, a trainer, a former coach, but not the team’s current coach, James Franklin. Hackenberg earned Big Ten Freshman Of The Year, but stagnated under Franklin, as did the Nittany Lions. Franklin let Hackenberg get sacked a ton after sustaining a, uh, “ knee gash” against Ohio State this year, and he’s been generally blamed for letting Hackenberg plateau in his last two years with the team.

Clearly, Hackenberg couldn’t wait to get out of State College and head to the NFL. Were he actually playing for Keegan-Michael Key, it might be different.

Photo via AP