A key Penn State player missed practice Wednesday, and Nittany Sports Now can confirm it was because of an injury.
Tony Rojas wasn’t seen at the media’s viewing window, and sources told Nittany Sports Now that it was due to a knee injury suffered in practice Tuesday.
It’s not clear yet what Rojas’ status will be for Saturday’s game at UCLA, but it’s certainly something worth monitoring.
Rojas is one of Penn State’s most important defenders. He’s second on the team with 25 tackles, and he and Amare Campbell (37 tackles) have emerged as a formidable one-two punch.
FAMILIAR TERRIROTY
Photo by Matt Lynch, Nittany Sports Now
Injuries are familiar to anybody who plays football for an extended period of time, and unfortunately for Rojas, injuries have plagued him throughout college. Last season, Rojas played most of the year on one arm because of it. Through four games, he had been healthy in 2025, picking up two sacks against Villanova, which is more than he had all of last season. The analytics see Rojas as one of Penn State’s best defensive players. Rojas had a quality overall grade of 72.7 via Pro Football Focus. He’s also played the third most snaps on Penn State’s defense with 176, an average of 44 per game. In Saturday’s 30-24 double-overtime loss to Oregon, Rojas played a season high 70 snaps.
So, yeah, this would be a big loss.
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NEXT MAN UP?
Graphic by Penn State Athletics: Alex Tatsch
We don’t know yet what Rojas’ status will be for the UCLA game, but if he can’t go, somebody new is going to have to step up. Based on everything we’ve heard from Penn State’s coaching staff throughout the season, true freshman Alex Tatsch is that guy. Tatsch, a true freshman from Greater Latrobe High School in the Pittsburgh area, has only played in one game.
But based on what his defensive coordinator said two weeks ago, Tatsch is the next man up behind starters Rojas, Campbell and Dom DeLuca.
“I think (burning his redshirt is) a possibility for him,” Knowles said. “We evaluate everything, even the D squads when they’re going against our offense. We saw enough things with him in the skill level to show that he could possibly come in and compete this year as a freshman, the linebacker skills. So we thought it was worth the investment to start getting him meaningful practice snaps, meaningful game reps, because he showed those skills. So you really always have to choose who you’re going to invest those reps in, and we saw enough really good things on the practice squad and in other situations to think it was worth the investment.”
No. 7 Penn State takes on UCLA Saturday at 3:30 ET in Pasadena on CBS.
