Penn State Nittany Lions

QB analyst: Hackenberg 'not in a good situation at Penn State'

Published Sep. 30, 2015 1:11 p.m. ET

foxsports

Questions about Penn State's offensive structure under head coach James Franklin and coordinator John Donovan have subsided somewhat since the Nittany Lions followed their dismal opening-day loss against Temple with three wins, but apparently not everyone is impressed.

Former NFL quarterback Trent Dilfer, who is now an analyst for ESPN, called what quarterback Christian Hackenberg faces at Penn State "not a good situation." Dilfer also predicted the folks who make decisions regarding who to take in the NFL Draft will love what they see when he is going through the draft process, be that next spring (if Hackenberg decides to leave school a year early) or in the spring of 2017.

"Christian Hackenberg, once he gets out of that situaiton, which is not a good situation, at Penn State, scouts and GMs and coaches will drool over Christian Hackenberg," Dilfer said before evoking the name of the quarterback who led the Dallas Cowboys to three Super Bowl championships in the 1990s.

"He's very, very similar to Troy Aikman," Dilfer said. "They're the same type of body, thrower, personality, competitors. You go back and look at Troy Aikman coming out, look at Christian Hackenberg, they're very similar."

Differ sees Hackenberg and California junior QB Jared Goff as the top two signal-callers who could go in the top five of the draft next spring if they skip their senior seasons.

"They'e really the two that have franchise-quarterback potential," Dilfer said.