Penn State Football: LB Tony Rojas is Generating Significant Buzz
Recently, Brad Crawford of 247sports wrote an article titled “The 11 college football players generating substantial buzz after spring practice.” One of the eleven players that Crawford mentioned is Penn State football’s freshman linebacker, Tony Rojas.
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He was a 4-star recruit in the 2023 class according to 247sports. Rojas also enrolled early this past January which allowed him to participate in the Blue-White game last month. It wasn’t hard to find him on the field as it seemed he made every play on the defensive side of the ball.
Crawford mentions in his article how “Intel from Happy Valley suggests he is going to crack the two-deep this fall as a freshman linebacker.” This means that the expectation is, even if Rojas doesn’t start he will be the next man up at either the SAM or WILL linebacker position. He will most likely rotate in heavily as that’s on par with defensive coordinator Manny Diaz’s style.
Last year proved that the Penn State football team and James Franklin will put the best player-makers on the field regardless of their class. Many of the players that helped lead the Nittany Lions to a successful season were from the 2022 recruiting class. Nick Singleton, Kaytron Allen, Drew Shelton, Abdul Carter, Dani Dennis-Sutton, Drew Allar, Omari Evans, and several others were able to contribute during their true freshman season in 2022.
Rojas will likely be able to do the same thing this fall. From his recruiting profile to his page on the Penn State football official roster, he has gone from 200 lbs to 214 lbs and will likely add more weight before the season arrives.
This is a highly recruited player, that has a nose for the football as a linebacker. It’s great to see young players fit into the mold at Penn State, especially at the linebacker position as the legendary LBU continues to grow.