Penn State football updates on Rocco Becht, Tony Rojas, Lift for Life
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STATE COLLEGE − They threw medicine balls and pushed sleds and pulled weights in the suffocating morning heat here.
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These Penn State football players came together on Wednesday, July 1 for their first Life for Life competition under head coach Matt Campbell.
And leading the way were a few hopeful stars who ran and performed all exercise tasks as they continue critical returns from injury.
Certainly, there were promising offseason updates for Nittany Lions like quarterback Rocco Becht, linebacker Tony Rojas and defensive end Max Granville.
They and other Lions who saw little or no spring practice work, like offensive lineman Anthony Donkoh and tight end Andrew Rappleyea, were full-go in the annual 90-minute workout competition between offensive and defensive players in Holuba Hall and on the outside practice fields.
Lift for Life coincided with the first day of the university's new apparel deal with adidas and the first of a series of pop-shopping events here for new gear. As always, Lift for Life raised money − an announced $20,000 this year so far − and awareness for rare disease research through the university's chapter of Uplifting Athletes.
The morning ended with a short player autograph session for fans who were admitted with a requested monetary donation.
And the best football news may have been the unrestricted work by those team leaders who have been in various forms of recovery since Campbell and staff arrived in December.
Becht, the most experienced returning quarterback in the nation, continued his strong recovery from offseason surgery on his non-throwing shoulder.
"We're working every single day to make sure we build up some of that resiliency so he can play healthy," Penn State strength and conditioning coach Reid Kagy said on Wednesday. "The biggest thing I preach about Rocco is he’s team-first and one of the toughest guys on the entire team. What he did last year for our team was incredible, what he’s going to do here is going to be incredible.
"Is Rocco getting faster? He is. ... He loves to talk about it," Kagy said. "He’s going to run the ball. He’s getting faster, he’s getting stronger. Rocco’s a leader ... and his toughness bleeds into the rest of the team."
Penn State football injury updates: Rocco Becht, Tony Rojas, Max Granville
Rojas, perhaps the defense's top playmaker, was lost after just three games in 2025. A leg contusion suffered during the excruciating loss to Oregon turned into a more serious injury the following week in practice.
On Wednesday, he was running and lifting and pulling weights without issue. He led one of the defensive groups with outspoken new team leader Armstrong Nnodim, a tackle transfer from Oklahoma State.
“Tony made a huge impact behind the scenes" in the spring, Kagy said. "He was creating relationships, he’s helping the other linebackers, he was in the meeting rooms. He was making an impact by (helping) others. That’s what’s great about Tony. I don’t think he cares that anybody saw the impact he was making or not, he cared this team felt that ..."
Granville, meanwhile, is a leading candidate to fill one of the two open starting defensive end spots. The redshirt sophomore, who looks lean at over 250 pounds, has transformed his body during this past winter and spring, Kagy said.
He's returning from an undisclosed lower-body injury that wiped out his entire 2025 season.
"I’ve been super-impressed with his work ethic," Kagy said.
"Coming back from injury is hard, you can get caught in a lot of spaces, you can get lost in the whole process of it and sometimes you can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. What Max is done from the time we’ve got here to now," is impressive, Kagy said.
Frank Bodani covers Penn State football for the York Daily Record and USA Today Network. Contact him at [email protected] and follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @YDRPennState.
This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: Penn State football updates on Rocco Becht, Tony Rojas, Lift for Life