Former PSU QB Hackenberg starts coaching at N.J. high school

Christian Hackenberg is entering the football coaching ranks.

The former five-star recruit and Penn State quarterback will lead his old position at Winslow Township High School in Atco, N.J., the school announced on social media Wednesday.

“Let’s take time give a warm welcome to Christian Hackenberg a former All-American, NFL QB and Penn State Alum. Hackenberg will be joining us as the QB coach here at Winslow Twp,” the program wrote.

Hackenberg was a second-round pick of the New York Jets in 2016 but never played a regular-season snap with them or other NFL during stops in Oakland, Cincinnati, and Philadelphia. He would later go on to start three games for the Memphis Express of the now-defunct Alliance of American Football before being replaced by former LSU star Zach Mettenberger.

Once the AAF folded, Hackenberg explored a professional baseball career, but it’s not clear if that ever materialized into anything.

The former highly-regarded recruit was the 2013 Big Ten freshman of the year but saw his completion percentage dip in the two seasons that followed before leaving school early for the NFL Draft after a Nittany Lions loss in the Taxslayer Bowl.

All told, he threw for 8,318 yards in blue and white while sporting a career touchdown-to-interception ratio of 48-to-31 over 38 games. While his career numbers never matched the hype coming out of high school, the now 26-year-old is credited along with Adam Brenenman, Brendan Mahon, Bill O’Brien, and many others with keeping the Penn State football program together and moving forward in the aftermath of the Jerry Sandusky scandal.

According to NJ.com, Winslow Township went 5-1 last season.