The accolades keep rolling in for Christian Hackenberg, as Athlon Sports named Penn State’s freshman quarterback its National Freshman of the Week.

Hackenberg received the honor for his four touchdown performance on Saturday night against Michigan. The freshman signal caller went 23-0f-44 for 305 yards with four touchdowns (three passing) and two interceptions.

With 50 seconds left in the fourth quarter, Hackenberg drove the team 80 yards down the field in 27 seconds, including a 36 yard pass to Allen Robinson to bring Penn State to the one yard line. Hackenberg ran it in on the next play to tie the game and force overtime.

The game was Hackenberg’s third 300 yard, three touchdown performance. His three career 300 yard performance ties him with Daryll Clark for third most on Penn State’s all-time list. This isn’t the first time Hackenberg received Freshman of the Week honors — after the team’s games against Syracuse and UCF, Hackenberg was named the Big Ten’s Freshman of the Week.

Hackenberg wasn’t the only Nittany Lion to be honored this week, as C.J. Olaniyan was named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week by Athlon Sports. Olaniyan had a career high 8 tackles and 2.5 sacks for a total of -18 yards. The Michigan native also forced a fumble and defended two passes.

About the Author

Katie Blitz

I'm a freshman Public Relations major. I was born in Staten Island, but I prefer to say I'm from New York City. I went to Brooklyn Tech High School, a specialized high school, and I'm very proud of it. I'm a huge sports fan - mostly (and sadly) a New York Jets fan.