Penn State football’s new quarterback played in pain for much of 2025, and new coach Matt Campbell gave an update on Rocco Becht’s health as the spring season begins for 2026.
Every football player competing at the Division I level can say they’re tough.
Not every football player can say they played half the season with a torn labrum, and few can say they had to be, in Campbell’s words, “shot up every Tuesday and Wednesday just to practice” during the last month of the season.
That’s what Becht had to do in 2025, and the effects of the injury are still lingering.
WHAT CAMPBELL SAID
Photo by Penn State athletics: Matt Campbell
The outlook on Becht is overall positive. Campbell said that Becht is “a little ahead of schedule” in his progression, and also made it clear that the approach with Becht and all of Penn State’s players still recovering from injuries is “slow and right rather than fast and wrong.”
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.Therefore, Becht won’t be getting live reps during the spring.
“I think things like seven on sevens, three over two, routs on air, I think he’s going to get a lot of that work, which I think will be really, really good for him,” Campbell said.
Campbell then said that Becht has been throwing for “probably a little over three weeks.”
“It’s certainly huge to have him out there as an individual,” Campbell said. “It’s huge to have him out even today in group, and for those young quarterbacks to watch him and just to have his leadership on the field. That’s been big for us.”
MORE INJURY NOTES
Along with Becht, Campbell said receivers Chase Sowell and Brett Eskildsen, who each played for Campbell at Iowa State, aren’t expected to get live reps over the spring. Eskildsen was ISU’s leading receiver in 2025, ending the season with 526 yards and five touchdowns on 30 receptions. Sowell was right behind him, with 500 yards and two touchdowns on 32 receptions.
Penn State’s spring practice will end on Blue-White Weekend, scheduled for Saturday, April 25.
