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Dual-sport star: Mac Hippenhammer to forgo spring football, play baseball

By Cameron Michael

PITTSBURGH, PA - SEPTEMBER 08: Mac Hippenhammer #12 of the Penn State Nittany Lions reacts after catching a 11 yard touchdown pass against the Pittsburgh Panthers in the fourth quarter on September 8, 2018 at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images)
PITTSBURGH, PA - SEPTEMBER 08: Mac Hippenhammer #12 of the Penn State Nittany Lions reacts after catching a 11 yard touchdown pass against the Pittsburgh Panthers in the fourth quarter on September 8, 2018 at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images) /
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Mac Hippenhammer forgoing spring football once again to focus on and play baseball in 2020.

For the second straight season, dual-sport star Mac Hippenhammer will forgo spring football and solely play baseball, Penn State baseball coach Rob Cooper announced last week. Hippenhammer will skip spring ball and likely slot in the outfield for the Nittany Lions, where he played 39 games a season ago.

Hippenhammer hauled in one catch for 15 yards this past season on the gridiron, appearing in nine games but logging substantial snaps in three outings. However, on the diamond in 2019, Hippenhammer played in 39 contests and fielded an on-base percentage of .350%, the fourth-highest percentage on the team.

He fills a void left by the departure of center fielder Jordan Bowersox who led the team in nearly every hitting category this past season. Hippenhammer leads the returning players with a batting average of .272 and came away with 34 hits on 125 at bats.

It still remains to be seen if this is a wise decision for his football playing career as he saw a significant dip in targets and snaps played from his freshman season of 2018 to 2019, having played in the Blue-White football game during his first spring.

Hippenhammer was also selected to the Academic All-Big Ten team for his efforts in the classroom in 2019. He committed to play for Penn State and former WR Coach Josh Gattis (now the offensive coordinator at Michigan) over fell Big Ten schools such as Iowa, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan State, Minnesota as well as Notre Dame, all who had offered him out of high school.

The Penn State Nittany Lions football team will head into spring ball with a bevy of returning receivers such as Jahan Dotson, John Dunmore, TJ Jones, Henry Fessler, Cameron Pica, Justin Weller, Cam Sullivan-Brown, Alex Berger and early-enrollees Jaden Dottin and KeAndre Lambert from their 2020 recruiting class.

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