Rocco Becht film review: The good, the bad, and the question marks for Penn State’s new QB

At any level of football, one of the most difficult parts of a rebuild is finding a quarterback. So, when a coach takes over a new program in college football, if the QB from his previous school has eligibility remaining, it’s a good bet he’s going to tag along. 

That’s the case with Matt Campbell and Rocco Becht, who arrived in Happy Valley just weeks apart. And while Campbell is new to the Big Ten, he has the most experienced quarterback in college football heading into 2026 to help ease the transition. 

Becht started 39 games over his four years at Iowa State and has 9,274 career passing yards. That’s quite the resume, and it made Becht one of the most coveted players in the transfer portal this offseason, though there wasn’t much drama about where he’d ultimately end up. 

With so much tape on Becht, it’s pretty clear who he is as a quarterback and the things he does well. Still, however, a few questions are looming over his move to the Big Ten and just how high his ceiling and, subsequently, the ceiling of this Penn State offense will be this fall. 

So, I dug into the film to break down Penn State’s new QB, whose toughness and winning mentality will feel like a breath of fresh air after watching three seasons of Drew Allar. 

The good

You don’t need a huge arm to be a big game hunter

The arm isn’t the first thing that’s going to jump off the tape when you’re watching Rocco Becht. So why, then, was he top-10 in the country by yards per attempt on throws 20+ yards downfield in 2024 (16.3)? Well, a piece of that was his wide receiver corps, led by two Day 2 NFL Draft picks in 2025, Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel, but also in his most prolific and most healthy year (he dealt with dueling shoulder injuries in 2025), Becht threw with excellent touch and accuracy downfield. 

From 2023-2025, his three years starting in Ames, Becht has 44 big-time throws on 20+ yard attempts to just six turnover-worthy plays (per PFF). Those are the numbers of a huge-armed power thrower, not a QB whose listed size of 6-foot-1 and 208 pounds might be generous. 

Now, don’t get me wrong, Becht has a good arm. It may even be an NFL arm. He can fit it into tight windows over the middle with serious velocity and doesn’t appear to strain when throwing downfield. However, he’s not one of these huge toolsy QBs like Drew Allar was. A big part of his success is that touch, which is an underrated aspect of throwing the deep ball. He can drop it in a bucket as well as anybody, but it’s also his innate understanding of his limitations. 

While Becht isn’t going to easily drive the ball outside the numbers to the opposite hash 30 yards downfield, he makes those throws by manipulating the pocket and cheating in that direction. It’s not a trick that’s going to endear him to many NFL evaluators, but it’s made him one of the best deep ball throwers in college football. 

He also throws with great anticipation, something his predecessor at Iowa State, Brock Purdy, has ridden to becoming a franchise quarterback at the next level. That helps paper over any arm strength deficiencies in his game, which injuries may have exacerbated in 2025. 

Even when he’s not “cheating,” if you will, Becht can still generate real horsepower with his quick hips, and he’s not a max-effort thrower, so his mechanics stay pretty consistent. That also applies to Becht throwing on the move, which he’s showcased throughout his career. 

The best way out is through

Becht is the most experienced quarterback in college football heading into 2026, and it shows up when you watch his pocket navigation. Young quarterbacks, especially ones who have always been the best athlete on the field, tend to drift out of the pocket when they feel pressure. Some players can make it work in college, and Caleb Williams is making it work in the NFL because he’s an elite athlete who can beat defensive ends around the edge, with an elite arm, so the added yardage on his throws is negligible. 

Becht is not Caleb Williams, so he had to learn early that his best path out of the pocket is through the front door. Becht doesn’t always handle pressure great; there are a few too many ill-advised sacks on his tape, and his ball security leaves something to be desired, but he climbs the pocket as an experienced quarterback should. 

It allows him to keep his eyes downfield to find open receivers, and it’s one of the reasons he’s such an effective scrambler, finishing last year at 0.33 EPA/rush, which, if he qualified, would have been 10th best in college football. 

A short QB who is a short-yardage weapon on the ground

I said that Becht isn’t an elite athlete, and that’s true, but that doesn’t mean his legs aren’t a very useful element of his game at the college level. Last season, 36 percent of Becht’s carries went for a first down, which isn’t a staggering number. The year prior, his last fully healthy season, however, that number was 56 percent. 

Offensive coordinator Taylor Mouser primarily runs a pro-style offense, but in short-yardage situations, Mouser will break out the QB run game to move the chains, and Becht executes well. He can make defenders miss in open space and gets skinny through the hole to find some hidden yardage. 

Real QB play begins before the snap

Most coaching staffs are doing whatever they can to take responsibility off their quarterback’s plate. Mouser and Matt Campbell have continually added more to Becht’s, and he’s responded well. Unlike the clap cadence you see around college football, Becht will use a real vocal cadence to gather information pre-snap, slow the pass-rush, and even, at times, get a free five yards. 

That’s not all, though. Becht appears to have real agency pre-snap to get Iowa State into the right plays and protections, which is a real advantage over most college QBs. 

The bad

The feet don’t always move with the eyes

His feet can get stuck when going through his progressions, which leads to inaccuracies. Some pretty significant sprays on underneath throws when he’s working back to a checkdown. He’s very accurate when he’s in rhythm, but when his feet lose momentum, he’s in trouble. He needs to clean up that footwork to become a more consistent passer who relies less on hitting the deep ball. 

It’s not even just checkdowns either. In this case, he’s working back to the dig over the middle of the field, and just look where his feet plant when he throws this ball. They never work back with his eyes, so his hips don’t get involved as much in the motion. This throw is all arm, so it sails on him and turns into an interception. 

That’s not to say he struggles in the quick game. He’s a good RPO thrower over the middle of the field, and when he’s getting to a swing route or a flat to a tight end or running back out of the backfield, he’s reliably accurate and throws with good leverage, giving his receiver a chance for yards after the catch. The same understanding of leverage goes for exploiting holes in zone coverage. 

It’s also encouraging that he will work a full field read all the way back to his checkdown. But when he has that much time in the pocket, he just can’t let his feet get stuck, and that happens too often on his film. 

You don’t always need to put the cape on

Rocco Becht is a good mover. He’s likely never going to be such a precise passer or threaten all levels of the field as a pure pocket passer to remove the off-script creation element from his game. But he does tend to put the cape on a bit more often than Campbell would probably love. 

Becht is a gamer and has a bit of that never-say-die attitude that will endear him to the Penn State fanbase. Over time, it may also grow into a bit of a frustration if he isn’t willing to live to fight another down more often.

Last season, when he was on-schedule, often denoted as dropbacks under 2.5 seconds, Becht completed nearly 70 percent of his throws with a 78.2 percent adjusted completion rate, averaged 7.6 yards per attempt, and threw 10 touchdowns to three interceptions. On dropbacks over 2.5 seconds, a little less than half of his dropbacks, Becht’s completion percentage dropped to 48.2 percent, and he threw six touchdowns to six interceptions. His yards per attempt stayed the same at 7.7, but that’s with his average depth of target nearly doubling from 7.6 to 13.0. 

The question marks

How much did the injuries impact his game?

In 2024, Rocco Becht threw for 3,505 yards and 25 touchdowns. In 2025, his yards per attempt and completion percentage stayed nearly the same, but he threw for about 1,000 fewer yards and nine fewer touchdowns. 

So the big question is, what was the reason for that decline? One possible explanation is his shoulder injuries, one of which required offseason surgery that kept him out for much of spring ball in Happy Valley. 

Now that he’s healthy, will his arm strength and production start to tick back up to his 2024 levels, or are the limitations that we saw last season with an almost identical receiver group to the one he has this year at Penn State, just simply the limitations of his game? 

Was his huge 2024 season simply a product of Higgins and Noel? 

Along with good health in 2024, Becht had great receivers, two Day 2 NFL Draft picks in Higgins and Noel. This season, he’ll have his top five targets from last season on the roster, but none are the caliber of playmakers that Higgins and Noel were. So, especially with a step up in competition to the Big Ten, he could bang his head on the ceiling of his skill talent, as well as his own ability.

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