Tony Rojas knows the type of tradition he’s now part of at Penn State.
There’s only one school known as “Linebacker University,” and Rojas plays linebacker for it.
Last season was up and down for No. 13.
The highs were tremendous, with the top one being his pick-6 in the College Football Playoff quarterfinal against SMU that produced maybe one of the top crowd reactions in Beaver Stadium history. The lows were— literally— painful, with Rojas revealing that he played hurt toward the end of the season.
That injury carried over into spring ball, which Rojas missed as he was healing.
But James Franklin expects him to be ready before fall camp.
Height: 6-foot-2
Weight: 230 pounds
Hometown: Fairfax, Virginia
Before Penn State: Rojas came to Penn State as arguably the most hyped player in the school’s 2023 Class. The four-star recruit was a standout at both linebacker and running back. He won All-Metro Offensive Player of the Year as a senior. Rojas put up video game numbers offensively. He ran for 2,239 yards and 35 touchdowns. But his bread and butter was on the other side of the ball. Rojas ended his senior season with 72 tackles (14 for loss), 13 sacks, forcing five fumbles and broke up four passes. He committed to Penn State in July 2022. Rojas picked the school over Clemson, Georgia, Maryland and Virginia Tech, among others.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.2023: Rojas burned his redshirt, playing in all 13 games as a true freshman, appearing on both defense and special teams. He ended the season with 21 tackles (seven solo), a forced fumble, 3.5 tackles for loss and an interception. The forced fumble and interception each came in Penn State’s 51-15 win at Maryland Nov. 4.
Last year: Rojas earned honorable mention All Big Ten from the coaches. He ended the season with 58 tackles (35 solo), six tackles for loss, one sack, three interceptions and four pass breakups.
With that said, there were some flaws.
Rojas was excellent against the pass, getting a 90.9 coverage grade on Pro Football Focus, ranking fifth out of 704 linebackers. But per PFF he was equally poor against the run, getting a 43.7 grade, ranking 794th out of 807 players.
If Rojas can improve his run defense, he has potential to be a star.
A quote by Tony Rojas: “Man, I just feel like myself, my preparation, just leading into the games, I’ve been, you know, I just try to take the next step. Once the postseason started, it’s just, we’ve got to play our best football, and the coaches have a standard for us.
“And I feel like just my preparation each game has led to me having a pretty good games, so far.” — Rojas last January
