Penn State football has lost one of its best players for likely the season, and as a result, others will have to step up.
Defensive coordinator Jim Knowles said two weeks ago that Penn State was “still searching” for linebacker depth, and that search is going to have to end faster than he or head coach James Franklin would have liked.
During the team’s Tuesday practice, Tony Rojas suffered a knee injury, and that injury was serious enough to be designated as “long-term,” with the expectation being that he doesn’t return in 2025.
Franklin talked with reporters about an hour after this news broke, and here’s a breakdown of the names he mentioned.
DOM DELUCA
This is the most obvious option since DeLuca is a fifth-year senior who is already getting a lot of playing time, picking up 95 snaps over four games.
The fact that DeLuca only played 17 snaps against Oregon (per Pro Football Focus) compared to 70 from Rojas and 75 from Amare Campbell shows how much Penn State stresses the 4-2-5 defense.
So either DeLuca will have to play way, way, way more, or other linebackers will need to step up behind him.
ALEX TATSCH
When Knowles and linebackers coach Dan Connor were asked about the position’s depth, Tatsch was the first name each of them mentioned behind Rojas, DeLuca and Campbell.
Knowles and Franklin also mentioned the possibility of Tatsch burning his freshman redshirt.
“We’re trying to bring Tatsch into the mix,” Knowles said two weeks ago. “You know, again, he’s a true freshman, so that’s difficult. But we think he has the skills to do it. So we’ve been really trying to get him into the mix to see how far he can progress this year.”
Not surprisingly, Franklin mentioned Tatsch as a guy who will have to step up in place of Rojas.
But there was another true freshman Franklin mentioned.
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CAM SMITH
Smith is a guy Connor said he “couldn’t say enough good things about.”
Aside from that, we haven’t heard a ton about the former blue-chip recruit from Philly in Year One.
When Franklin was asked about Smith Wednesday, he didn’t say much about his skillset specifically but did talk about the process of getting him more opportunities in practice.
“What’s helpful is that we have these Sunday scrimmages,” Franklin said, “so we have a chance to eveluate these guys each week. Early on, Tatsch was getting a little bit more time with the varsity. We’re giving Cam an opportunity now, as well, bouncing those guys back and forth between the (developmental) squad and the varsity. But they’re going to have an opportunity. This is how it is in college football. One of those guys hopefully will get some work this week. We’ll get a chance to evaluate him during practice and then hopefully some of those guys will get opportunities during the games on Saturday.”
THE OTHER GUYS
Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg starred in a movie called The Other Guys.
It wasn’t as funny as Anchorman, but it was still pretty funny, and if you haven’t seen it, you should.
Anyway, back to the topic at hand.
Anthony Speca has played more snaps at LB than anyone aside from Rojas, Campbell and DeLuca.
Keon Wylie has played only three fewer snaps than Speca and is a veteran in his fourth year.
So those two are certainly names to watch, although their not being mentioned by Franklin, Knowles or Connor when each of them talked about LB depth is a little curious.
No. 7 Penn State takes on UCLA at 3:30 ET on CBS in Pasadena Saturday.
