Penn State revealed the newest star of Linebacker U in a breakout Week 1 performance

This offseason, Penn State moved its best defensive player and card-carrying member of St1x C1ty, Abdul Carter from linebacker to defensive end. Carter’s ability to get pressure on the quarterback last season made it clear that ultimately edge rusher is his best position for this season and his NFL career, but it was the emergence of Tony Rojas that allowed James Franklin and new defensive coordinator Tom Allen to make such a bold move. 

In Penn State’s 38-25 Peach Bowl loss to Ole Miss, Rojas, then a true freshman, played a career-high 20 defensive snaps, recorded four tackles, and most importantly earned the trust of his coaching staff as the team’s future off-ball linebacker. Then, in Week 1 of his sophomore year, Rojas rewarded that faith with a breakout performance. 

Saturday’s contest in Morgantown was a matchup of strengths, West Virginia’s run game against Penn State’s run defense. In 2023, the Mountaineers had the fourth-best rushing attack in the country, averaging 228 yards a game on the ground and this year’s team returned three 750-yard rushers. 

Penn State finished the season as the best run defense, giving up just 75.5 yards on the ground, but the Nittany Lions lost Chop Robinson and Adisa Isaac and moved Carter to the D-line. Then, with Rojas on the field for 47 snaps, Allen’s reconfigured defense won the battle, resoundingly. 

West Virginia’s ground-game triumvirate of DJ Donaldson, Jahiem White, and quarterback Garrett Greene was held to 89 yards. Rojas was a huge reason why. 

The true sophomore linebacker from Fairfax, Virginia totaled five tackles, only behind Kevin Winston Jr. and Jaylen Reed, and three run-game stops. Rojas was perhaps even more disruptive in the passing game, using his sideline-to-sideline speed to allow just one catch for one yard on three targets. 

Rojas also chased down Greene to clean up Carter’s scraps after the former linebacker generated pressure off the edge. 

It wasn’t a perfect debut as Penn State’s primary off-ball linebacker. On a crucial fourth-down Rojas failed to wrap up Greene near the sideline, allowing the opposing quarterback to slip past for a conversion. 

Rojas came into the season with just 122 defensive snaps of experience in his career and with a true sophomore running one of college football’s elite defenses there will be plenty of growing pains. Still, in his first start, it was obvious why Allen believed in Rojas enough to move Carter to edge rusher and he’ll reap the rewards of that aggressiveness all season long. 

It’ll take more than one stellar performance for Rojas’s name to be mentioned among the greats of Linebacker U. Still, even playing next to Kobe King, a proven veteran, Rojas is the best linebacker in Happy Valley and has plenty of time to keep getting better.