While it’s been eventful off the field, with a move from Iowa State to Penn State, Rocco Becht has spent most of his final offseason in college football off the field. In December, Becht opted to get surgery on a torn labrum in his non-throwing shoulder, rather than playing in Iowa State’s bowl game while rehabbing a separated AC joint in his throwing shoulder.
Now, he’s not quite back to 100 percent for Spring football, but Matt Campbell is pleasantly surprised with the progress he’s made. Becht participated in 7-on-7 work for the second time during Tuesday’s practice, and has been intimately involved as Campbell and offensive coordinator Taylor Mouser bring their offensive system from Ames to Happy Valley.
“I think the fact that we’ve gotten this much out of him was way ahead of probably where we though we would’ve been, so I think that’s really big for him, and just to have his leadership out on the football field and in the locker room I think is critical, No. 1, for us,” Campbell told the assembled media at Penn State on Tuesday.
Rocco Becht is ahead of schedule in his recovery from two shoulder injuries
Campbell was answering a question about whether or not Becht would be healthy enough to play a game right now, and he was reluctant to provide an answer to that. However, that didn’t dampen the optimistic mood.
“Is he ready to play? That’s probably tougher for me,” Campbell said after lauding Becht’s work with his teammates. Then, Campbell added the line that should have Nittany Lion fans feeling confident heading into 2026: “He’ll be ready to rock and roll.”
Heading into the 2026 season with 39 starters under his belt, Becht is the most experienced quarterback in college football. Better yet, the last two seasons came with Mouser, who followed Campbell to call plays at Penn State as his offensive coordinator.
There will be a significant uplift for Becht’s teammates who have yet to play in Mouser’s pro-style system, but Becht is intimately familiar with it, so the time he has missed during the spring will hardly set him back. That’s especially true because his top five pass catchers from last season, Benjamin Brahmer, Chase Sowell, Brett Eskildsen, Gabe Burkle, and Carsen Hansen, all made the move from Ames to Happy Valley with Campbell.
The extra reps with Andrew Rappleyea, or an exciting young receiver like Koby Howard, would be nice, but he’ll have plenty of time to get on the same page with the rest of the offense now that he’s at least healthy enough to take part in 7-on-7s.
With Becht ahead of schedule, Penn State fans don’t have much reason for concern about the Nittany Lion offense in 2026.
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