Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1546586
1 4 O C T O B E R 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 Point – Counterpoint QUARTERBACKS ROOM BOASTS DEPTH AND EXPERIENCE Greg Pickel: This year's Penn State football roster is a unique blend of newcomers and returnees. That makes picking the Nittany Lions' best position group a bit more challenging than in previous years. To me, though, the choice is clear. The Nittany Lions' quarterbacks room features one of the country's most experienced passers as well as a promising young backup. The veteran is, of course, Rocco Becht. A redshirt senior with 39 career starts to his credit entering the season, Becht showed tremendous poise and pocket awareness in his first two games with the Nittany Lions. He completed 34 of 45 pass attempts for 539 yards and 7 touchdowns in comfortable wins over Marshall and Temple. Behind him is redshirt freshman Alex Manske. After undergoing open- heart surgery in March to fix a dilated aortic root and dilated ascending aorta, Manske missed spring practice but returned to action this past summer and then took preseason camp by storm. He played 27 snaps in Penn State's first two games and completed 6 of 8 passes for 57 yards. "When I look at it, I just think, obviously it was tough going through it, but I'm just thankful that I was able to get it done and I was able to find [the abnormality]," Manske said in August. "I'm thankful for Penn State, and to be able to do the testing here to find that. Because if I didn't find that, you never know what could have happened." Manske appears more than capable of taking over for Becht should the need arise. Losing Becht wouldn't be good news for the Nittany Lions, but it's fair to say they have one of the more intriguing one-two punches at quarterback of any team in the country. For that reason, quarterback is my pick for the team's strongest position group heading into Big Ten play. PENN STATE'S LINEBACKERS HAVE COME A LONG WAY Ryan Snyder: Penn State has been billed as "Linebacker U" ever since the early days of the Joe Paterno era, but its linebackers have not always been a team strength in recent years. During James Franklin's 12-year tenure as the Nittany Lions' head coach, the position group featured relatively few stars. In fact, Penn State had more linebackers drafted in a four-year stretch from 2010 to 2013 (six) than in Franklin's entire tenure (five). And I'm including Micah Parsons among those five, even though he now plays defensive end in the NFL. Depth has also been an issue at times, and we saw that firsthand last year when Tony Rojas sustained a season-ending injury in late September. Fortunately for this year's team, Rojas has bounced back impressively. Through the Nittany Lions' first two games, the redshirt junior was leading the team with 14 tackles, including 2 for loss, and he had an interception against Temple. However, it's the play of senior Kooper Ebel and junior Cael Brezina that's caught my eye the most. Ebel is officially credited with only 5 tackles so far, but he's been excellent at taking on blocks to free up Rojas and others. He's also been effective in pass coverage, earning an above-average grade of 79.4 from Pro Football Focus. Meanwhile, Brezina was second on the team in tackles following the first two games with 11. He didn't have a single missed tackle through two games, per PFF. When you add in the progression we've seen from redshirt freshman Cam Smith, plus now having sophomore Alex Tatsch back on the field and healthy, this unit feels much deeper to me than it was previously. Penn State's secondary probably has more NFL-level talent, but the linebackers may have the biggest impact on how far this team goes in 2026. What Is The Nittany Lions' Best Position Group In 2026? Quarterback Rocco Becht made the 41st start of his career when Penn State visited Temple in Week 2. PHOTO BY STEVE MANUEL Iowa State transfer Kooper Ebel has been effective in pass coverage for the Penn State defense. PHOTO BY FRANK HYATT