Hayden Panettiere dating Scotty McKnight?

Hayden Panettiere has reportedly begun dating New York Jets player Scotty McKnight.

According to US Weekly, the Scream 4 actress recently hooked up with McKnight after meeting him through friend and Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez.

Panettiere and Sanchez were romantically linked earlier this month after being spotted out together in New York City, though she later denied the relationship and insisted that the pair are "just good friends".

Former Heroes cast member Panettiere split from Ukranian boxer boyfriend Wladimir Klitschko last month but said that she would remain close friends with the athlete.

She has yet to respond to the reports regarding McKnight, though she recently told US Weekly that the media is too quick to scrutinise her love life.

"Every person that I stand next to in this industry is a guy I'm going to be linked to - that's just inevitably the way it goes," Panettiere said. "When it's a long-term friendship like that, sometimes it starts getting a little bit frustrating for certain people. You don't want to put fuel into the fire but you don't want to stop living your life and doing what you want to do."