Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1545675
6 8 A U G U S T 2 0 2 6 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M / / / / / / / 2 0 2 6 F O O T B A L L P R E V I E W / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M T ony Rojas couldn't walk. For months, the centerpiece of Penn State's defense couldn't make tackles. Expected to lead the na- tion's preseason No. 2 team, he couldn't do that, either. In Rojas' own words, "It sucked." The Nittany Lions were already reel- ing from a double-overtime loss to Or- egon in September when the veteran linebacker tore his ACL three days later at practice. The injury triggered a chain reaction of disappointments that few around the program could have imag- ined, Rojas included. Penn State lost at UCLA the following week, then fell by a point to Northwestern on Homecom- ing weekend, leading to James Franklin's dismissal. Rojas watched it all unfold helplessly. His knee wrecked, his team in a tail- spin and his head coach gone, Rojas was left to confront an avalanche of doubt and uncertainty. "That was probably the hardest part ever in my life that I've faced," he said. "Not probably. That's the triple worst- case scenario. It's not what any of us expected." Ten months later, the worst is behind him. Healthy again and expecting to be full-go for preseason camp, Rojas is ex- cited for a new era at Penn State with a new head coach and new defensive coordinator. Having reaffirmed his loyalty to the program in the offsea- son — he never seriously consid- ered leaving — he's set to be one of the central figures in the start of the program's next chapter. But first, the redshirt junior needed to make peace with everything that had led to this point. True Blue Emerging from last year's many trials, Tony Rojas stays the course with Penn State NAT E BAU E R | N AT E . B A U E R @ O N 3 . C O M