Bill O'Brien played a key role in saving the Penn State football team in the aftermath of the Sandusky scandal and subsequent NCAA sanctions earlier this decade. But according to the two most high profile recruits the former PSU head coach landed during his short stay in Happy Valley, he was less than honest in his approach with them.

On his recently launched podcast, “The Adam Breneman Show, Life In The Red Zone,” former five-star tight end recruit Adam Breneman interviewed his friend and former five-star quarterback recruit Christian Hackenberg. Both players committed to Penn State in early 2012, after O’Brien had been hired to replace Joe Paterno but before the NCAA sanctions hit.

When the sanctions hit that summer, both said they opted to stick with the Nittany Lions following an emotional meeting with O’Brien, other commits and many parents at PSU’s Lasch Building.

“The … thing that stuck with me is that he said he would see us through throughout the process,” Hackenberg said on the podcast.

“I remember him saying, ‘If you guys come, I will stay here for your entire career,’ ” Breneman added. “I vividly remember that. And we obviously know what happened after our freshman year, when Coach O’Brien left and went to the (NFL’s) Houston Texans. Bill O’Brien leaves and our world gets turned upside down again.”

Both former players credited O’Brien for keeping the Penn State program above water in the wake of the scandal and the sanctions. And both said had O’Brien NOT been the coach at PSU, they probably would have picked other schools.

“We had gone there for him at that point and he held that place together,” Breneman said.

Hackenberg became the starting QB as a freshman in 2013 and had the best season ever by a PSU rookie passer (2,955 yards and 20 TDs). Breneman caught 15 passes for 186 yards and three touchdowns. The team went 7-5 despite severe sanctions that included scholarship sanctions and the ability of players to transfer without penalty.

After the season, rumors floated that O’Brien — the former offensive coordinator of the New England Patriots — was looking at NFL jobs. The two star freshmen did not believe it.

“I remember talking to people, 'I promise you, Bill O’Brien is not gonna leave. Bill O’Brien will not leave us hanging like that after one year with us, I promise you, it won’t happen,’” Breneman said on the podcast. “Sure enough, come New Year’s Eve of 2014, ESPN breaks, ‘Bill O’Brien to the Houston Texans.’’’

“He was adamant that he was just in conversations with Penn State and he’s just trying to make it work with them, and if he’s in negotiation talks with anybody, he’s in negotiation talks with Penn State,” Hackenberg recalled of his conversations with O’Brien at the time. “So when I got that call on New Year’s Eve, I was blown away, dude. It was out of left field.”

Both players considered heading to other schools but ultimately decided to stick with Penn State.

“I was prepared to sacrifice anything to just make sure that we saw what we started through,” Hackenberg said. “I take pride in that, just being a man of your word and being loyal.”

Hackenberg played two seasons under James Franklin and became Penn State's all-time leading passer before declaring for the 2016 NFL Draft. He was a second-round pick of the New York Jets but is now out of the league after never throwing a regular-season pass. Breneman struggled with injury issues in his remaining time at PSU and retired from football before transferring to UMass for the 2016 and 2017 seasons. There, he won FBC All-America honors twice.

In the podcast, neither seemed to hold a grudge against O’Brien, who is still the coach of the Texans. But they were clearly hurt by the way he handled the situation at Penn State.

“You’ve got to respect a man for doing what he’s got to do,” Hackenberg said. “But at the same time, I just felt that we were very vulnerable at that point, and to do that in that situation was tough. After everything that was said, I just felt like for us, that was a big blow.”

This is only a small part of what is in the podcast. They talk about their respective recruiting processes and how they reacted when Franklin was named as O'Brien's replacement. They also give serious credit to the upperclassmen that helped them and give the lowdown on how they both exited the program. Hackenberg also talks about his NFL career and his remaining goals in football.

We highly recommend giving it a listen.