Christian Hackenberg has no help at all

Nov 7, 2015; Evanston, IL, USA; Northwestern Wildcats defensive lineman Dean Lowry (94) is penalized after tackling Penn State Nittany Lions quarterback Christian Hackenberg (14) during the first quarter at Ryan Field. Mandatory Credit: Caylor Arnold-USA TODAY Sports

If you’re basing what you call an NFL prospect on what the player does statistically, Penn State quarterback Christian Hackenberg isn’t your guy. But the NFL has been fooled enough by players that ran up big numbers while they were in college. Prospects playing in gimmicky systems and with great talent around them often lead to gaudy stats.

There have been players that have slipped through the NFL’s cracks to be picked late and succeed in the NFL. Some of these prospects aren’t picked at all as they weren’t allowed to flourish in college. Bad system fits as well as playing at a school that has no talent often leads to lack of individual success for these prospects.

Such is the case for Hackenberg, who has absolutely no talent around him. He admirably stayed after the Penn State-child-abuse scandal and is playing with and under the aftermath of it. For goodness sakes, the best player on the team outside of Hackenberg on the team is a walk-on (Carl Nassib).

There are no immediate NFL prospects on his offense with the next best player to Hackenberg being freshman running back Saquon Barkley. And all that was apparent on Saturday as Penn State traveled to take on No. 21 Northwestern. This is the same Northwestern the beat No. 11-ranked Stanford.

Hackenberg was sacked hurried and hit all day, starting his day completing one of his first 10 passes. When he did have some time to get passes off, several of them were dropped by his receivers. But he did manage to completing 20 of his next 30 to give his team a one-point lead in the fourth quarter.

But under pressure in the fourth quarter, Hackenberg threw an interception that didn’t lose the game but it didn’t help. The intercpetion was only his third of the season to 13 touchdowns. Scouts were there in full force to see his big arm and deep ball accuracy but it’s hard to tell what swayed them.

Oakland Raiders quarterback Derek Carr was knocked for what he did against USC with his little Frenso State team and he fell to the second round. It looks like Carr has laughed last and laughed best with what he’s doing in the league now. Hackenberg is on a Penn State team that’s largely devoid of talent, taking on ranked teams himself.

All idications are that the scouts still love him but we never know.

But anything outside the top 15 will make him a steal.