Out of Hack? Have a coach in his ear

“That definitely helps,” Hackenberg told the Daily News about the concept. “Because I’ve been that guy that’s been up there and had a funky look and you’re just kind of like, ‘Ah, what do I do here?’ And then you go with the safest thing. So, it’s like combining what colleges are doing now with the whole look to the sideline before the snap. They got guys up in the booth relaying looks down. I think it’s similar to that, but just at a different and higher level.”

It’s smart, but hardly revolutionary. Dolphins head coach Adam Gase used a similar strategy with veteran Ryan Tannehill last season. Other teams have done the same.

Although it’s not ground-breaking, it seemingly makes sense to grow a young quarterback. But would it be right for Hackenberg and offensive coordinator John Morton/quarterbacks coach Jeremy Bates? Some aren’t convinced it would work.

How many offensive tacticians, after all, could tailor a successful scheme for a young quarterback so efficiently like McVay has done with Goff? The rookie coach had a next-level plan to strategically integrate different routes/throws to bring along the top pick in the 2016 draft at the proper pace. It’s truly been brilliant… and perhaps unrealistic to duplicate.

“In a way, you’re helping (the young quarterback),” Hackenberg said of having the coach assist at the line and smartly build a young quarterback’s portfolio of throws. “Look here. This is where the read’s going to be. If you do that a couple times, you’re going to program it in your brain…. It’s good to have that. ”

Hackenberg is also quick to point out that there are different ways to ultimately find success at his position, but there’s little doubt that he has the requisite football I.Q. to make it happen. Regardless of whether the Jets could — or should — replicate McVay’s approach, Todd Bowles & Co. absolutely need to look into Hackenberg’s past to extract the best out of him.

Hackenberg thrived in Bill O’Brien’s attack-based offense as a true freshman at Penn State. Let’s not get it twisted: O’Brien didn’t give an 18-year-old kid the same responsibilities as Tom Brady when he worked in New England, but it was fairly elaborate for a college freshman. Hackenberg had freedom to make runpass, pass-run, run-run checks at the line.

Although he wasn’t always perfect — he checked to a run against a Cover-Zero defensive alignment in his first college game against Syracuse — the coach’s trust helped build confidence.

“We won,” Hackenberg said of his first college start. “I played well, but he came back to me and said, ‘Hack, I promise you. At the end of this season, you’re going to go back and watch this game and laugh your ass off at how s---y you played mentally.’”

O’Brien’s concepts made sense to Hackenberg. Every concept had two key components: 1) a vertical element and 2) a secondary option coming into the quarterback’s view.

So, if Hackenberg didn’t pull the trigger on his primary read, he rarely, if ever, panicked, because his next option was designed to come into his field of vision based on O’Brien’s design. Half-field reads were pivotal to Hackenberg’s early development. There’s no telling how further along he’d be if O’Brien didn’t take the Texans’ job after the quarterback’s freshman year. Regardless, the potential is there.

But can the Jets bring it out of him?