Amid Tumult, Injury and Defeat at Penn State, Tony Rojas Continues to Tackle It All

Penn State linebacker Tony Rojas, a midseason All-American, is the shining star of a defense — and a program — in flux as it struggles with being in the midst of a four-game losing streak wrapped around a roster and staff that have been totally rebuilt.

Rojas is a bit rebuilt himself. He started all 16 games in Penn State’s 13-3 2024 campaign despite an injured shoulder that required offseason surgery. Then, just four games into the 2025 season, before the team’s wheels came off, he tore his ACL. And that too required surgery.

Not the best of circumstances, to be sure. But wait, there’s more:

Since his freshman season at Penn State in 2023, Rojas has had three head coaches. Four defensive coordinators. Four linebacker coaches. And three assistant linebacker coaches. That’s a lot. So many, in fact, that his newest head coach can’t keep it all straight.

“That’s a guy who has been asked to play in five different schemes — or at least four different schemes — in Tony’s situation, four different years,” first-year Penn State head coach Matt Campbell said on Tuesday.

For Rojas, his Penn State career has to seem a bit like what Winston Churchill once called “a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.” But somehow Rojas — who was the top Nittany Lion to stay when there was a football regime change — has not only persevered, he has thrived.

And, as the 2026 season continues to march to its ever-darkening finish for Penn State, Rojas continues to get better. And better. Rojas posted double-digit tackles in PSU’s last three games — with 12 at Northwestern, 10 against USC and 12 at Michigan. He’s the first Nittany Lion since Micah Parsons in 2019 with 10-plus tackles in three-straight games.

Rojas leads Penn State in overall tackles (56), unassisted tackles (29), assisted tackles (27), tackles for a loss (10.5), sacks (5) and interceptions (2, tied with Josiah Zayas). He ranks in the top 12 in six different Big Ten defensive categories. No surprise, then, that he was named a first-team midseason All-American by On3 and a second-team selection by the Associated Press and Sports Illustrated. 

“Tony has worked really hard to come back from, in my opinion, a tough injury for anybody, especially a linebacker,” Campbell said. “The pace at which he’s coming back, there’s been some wild moments for Tony, for sure.”

Defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn, who was a three-year starter in the secondary at Penn State, had an up-close view of first-team All-American linebackers and teammates NaVorro Bowman and Michael Mauti. So he knows linebackers — especially at LBU.

“Tony definitely has the talent. He is one of the most athletic inside ’backers I’ve seen,” Lynn said on Tuesday. “Not just talking about Penn State, but just in general. You watch him do drills. You watch him do anything in space. He’s fluid. He’s fast. He’s explosive.”

Rojas has led the Nittany Lion D for seven games. His coaches want to see him do it for at least six more:

Lynn: “Tony’s had a great first half. I would say those [best] guys — they did it every single day, they did it every single week. And so far Tony’s done that, and it’s just continuing to do that through the second half. There’s still another level that I think he can reach, and we’re hoping that we can get him to do that in the next couple weeks.”

Campbell: “Great players play with an elite level of consistency. I think part of that is playing himself back into what that looks like on 50 snaps, and at times we’ve asked him to play 60 snaps in a game. That’s a lot. Yet I think he’s such a competitor, he doesn’t want to come out of the game.”

Rojas has played more and more as the season has worn on: His snap count started at 35 in the season-opener against Marshall, then went to 34 and 31, followed by much higher counts in Big Ten play — 56, 58, 56 and 55.

He says he’s healthy: “I was already comfortable and felt confident on my knee during [summer] camp, so once the season hit I was all good.”

THE DAN CONNOR FAN CLUB: Rojas credits much of his success at PSU to former Penn State two-time first-team All-American Dan Connor. Connor, who played at PSU from 2004-07 and then six years in the NFL, is the Nittany Lions’ all-time leading tackler. He spent a number of years playing side-by-side with another LBU great, two-time first-team All-American Paul Posluszny.

Connor has been a quiet force in the Nittany Lion linebacker room since he returned to Happy Valley in 2022. He’s been a defensive analyst, the lead linebacker coach in 2025 and now the assistant linebacker coach. While all around them was a whirl, Rojas and Connor stuck together.

“Coach Connor does an unbelievable job holding us to a standard, watching me in individual drills and correcting me,” Rojas said “…After plays, I talk with Coach Connor and ask what I can do better, what he saw. Mostly, he’ll come to me and tell me what I need to fix.”

Rojas says Connor is fairly shy. Rojas is not: “I’m approachable and teachable. Coach Connor knows that. I’m super-grateful to have had him for all four years. Whether it’s a practice or a walkthrough, I’m always asking questions. And he’s great — with me and the younger guys.”

The chief linebacker coach for Penn State in 2026 is Tyson Veidt, who spent the 2024-25 seasons as the defensive coordinator at Cincinnati. Prior to that, Veidt was the assistant head coach and linebackers coach under Campbell at Iowa State from 2016-23.

Rojas says Connor and Veidt complement each other very well: “Coach Veidt is the co-defensive coordinator, so he’s obviously very smart. He’ll tell us tendencies he sees from a defensive coordinator’s perspective. Having a coach like that and also having a coach who played linebacker [Connor] both in the room is super-special. You get both perspectives.”

Despite his own success in 2026, Rojas’ goals for the remainder of the season extend beyond personal statistics and national honors.

“I just want to win out,” he said. “Winning is my biggest thing. All those accolades don’t do a thing for me. I just want to win.”