Penn State quarterback Rocco Becht is ready to lead new era after trying season in 2025
With his dynamic personality and contagious smile, it’s easy to understand why Rocco Becht’s teammates at Iowa State and now at Penn State gravitate toward him.
He’s engaging, friendly and open even to strangers. Spend several minutes with him and it’s hard not to notice that or the seven colorful bracelets he wears on his wrists.
Each one means something special to Becht, but none more than the blue one with gold letters that says, “Share Your Ivan Smile.”
Ivan, Becht’s younger cousin, was born with Down syndrome. He died suddenly four years ago at the age of 6 from an undetected heart-related problem.
“There wasn’t a day that would go by without that kid smiling,” Becht said. “He’s honestly one of my biggest whys. He wasn’t able to do what normal people can do, but he always smiled. For me to go out there and play my heart out for him is something I strive for every single day.”
Becht is the most valuable piece on the Penn State roster and unquestionably the team leader because he plays quarterback and because there’s no proven depth behind him.
After undergoing shoulder surgery in the winter and transferring to Penn State to stay with new coach Matt Campbell, he’s feeling healthy again and flashing his charisma.
“We are so talented,” Becht said. “As soon as everything comes together, we’re going to be a pretty special team. I’m just happy to be a part of it and to lead these guys. I’m excited about what’s ahead.”
Anthony Becht, Rocco’s father, was a star tight end at Monsignor Bonner High School in Delaware County and at West Virginia. He was a first-round draft pick in 2000 and played 11 seasons in the NFL with the New York Jets, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, St. Louis Rams, Arizona Cardinals and Kansas City Chiefs.
Now the coach of the UFL’s Orlando Storm, he marvels at how his son conducts himself.
“He’s incredibly selfless,” Anthony Becht said. “He understands when you’re selfless, you get 10x reward on the back end. He’s gotten that. Guys follow him. Guys want to be around him. That’s huge, man. Those are big things when it comes to football.”
Campbell, offensive coordinator Taylor Mouser and quarterback coach Jake Waters all describe Becht as a connector, someone who can bring an entire team together with his magnetism. He has very little trouble unifying people, which is vital on a Penn State roster with 50 returners, 40 transfers and 19 incoming recruits. .
“He’s a very relatable person,” Mouser said. “He has no ego. He’s a guy who can come in here and talk to you, talk to me, talk to the players. He’s been around football for a long time. He’s been around a lot of different people from a lot of different places.
“He’s been around rich people, poor people, old people, young people and from here and there. He can connect with a lot of people. He has a great spirit about him.”
That spirit was tested last season by a series of injuries and losses.
“Last year was really hard,” Becht said. “I was mentally low on myself. I wasn’t physically right. I could barely throw. I had to get shot up (with pain-killers) before practices and before games so I could throw. I just didn’t feel like myself. I didn’t have confidence in myself.”
Over a four-week stretch, he tore the labrum in his left shoulder, sprained the AC joint in his right shoulder and sustained two concussions. He also blamed himself for Iowa State’s four straight losses after a 5-0 start.
On many mornings last fall, the fiercely competitive guy who hadn’t missed a game since becoming the starting quarterback didn’t want to get out of bed and didn’t want to go to practice.
“Ooohh, he was down,” said DeeAnn Becht, his mother. “It was tough. You have to find the strength. You have to keep fighting for what you love. It’s one thing if he didn’t want to do it anymore, but we know he did.
“You have to have those down moments, those harsh moments, because they make you who you are. They give you the strength to be a better player and to get back where you need to be. You just have faith in God and that boy has it.”
Becht snapped out of his funk and led the Cyclones to victories in their final three games and an 8-4 season. He finished his Iowa State career with 26 wins and 64 touchdown passes – both second in school history – and 9.274 passing yards, which ranks third. And he delivered in the clutch, directing seven game-winning drives in the fourth quarter and completing 23-of-30 passes on fourth down.
Before he arrived at Iowa State in 2022, Becht enjoyed an outstanding high school career at Wiregrass Ranch in suburban Tampa, Fla. But he didn’t receive much attention from the college powers perhaps because he’s only 6-1.
Mississippi and Wake Forest showed casual interest, but his final decision came down to Iowa State and Bowling Green. He chose the Cyclones because he wanted to play at the highest level possible and because he was impressed with Campbell.
“I probably had one or two conversations with him before I committed,” Becht said. “What the coaches and players at the time told me was all I needed to hear about the guy, who he is on and off the field. It’s the way he carries himself, the way he tries to create relationships and bonds with everyone on the team.”
Becht played sparingly as a freshman before winning the starting job the next season. He led Iowa State to a 7-6 record, including a Liberty Bowl victory over Memphis, and was named the Big 12 Offensive Freshman of the Year. In 2024, the Cyclones reached the Big 12 title game, where they lost to Arizona State, and edged Miami in the Pop-Tarts Bowl to go 11-3, the most wins in school history.
“That was a special season,” Becht said. “Whenever we went through adverse times and hard moments in games, nobody ever flinched. That just came from the relationships we had with one another and the work we put in together.
“To end it like that was pretty special. It was everything you could have asked for in a season.”
Iowa State had high hopes for 2025 with 13 returning starters. Expected to contend for the Big 12 title, the Cyclones opened 5-0 before Becht tore his labrum in a 38-30 loss at Cincinnati, a game in which he passed for 314 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for two more scores.
Consecutive losses to Colorado, BYU and Arizona State followed, deflating the season’s expectations. By then, Becht was beaten up physically and mentally.
But after many heart-to-heart talks with Campbell, Waters, his parents and longtime NFL quarterback Chad Pennington – his father’s former teammate – Becht cleared his head and played on.
“It was a tough year,” Waters said. “He thinks every time we lose that it’s his fault. He puts that much into it. He puts a lot of pressure on himself. He didn’t feel like he was playing the best he could, but he was giving us every opportunity to win.
“He said, ‘Don’t you ever take me out.’ He was literally doing everything he could just to practice. There were certain days he couldn’t even practice. He got one practice a week a couple weeks in a row there. He was doing whatever it took. That’s what you love about Rocco.”
Iowans embraced Becht because of his performances on the field and because of his concern for others off it.
In addition to his “Ivan” bracelet, he wears a blue one with white lettering that says, “Perry Strong,” in remembrance of the January 2024 shooting at Perry High School in Iowa that claimed the lives of a student and the school principal. Several months later, Becht conducted a football clinic that raised $7,000 for the school.
Last summer, a woman stopped him in the parking lot of a Hy-Vee grocery store. She told him that her niece was preparing for brain surgery. She had noticed that he wore wrist bands during games and gave him a teal one with white lettering that said, “Jaylee Strong.”
“If I get a bracelet from somebody that has great meaning to it, I’m going to wear it,” Becht said. “Even though I never met that woman’s niece, it still holds a place in my heart because it means something to other people.”
It’s easy to see why he’s able to lead others.
“He understands how to be a great human being,” Anthony Becht said. “I’m waiting for him to make a tragic mistake where I actually have to be a dad. He stays the course. He ain’t perfect. He makes mistakes. But he cares about people.”
Now Rocco Becht’s at Penn State, preparing for his final college season. As he goes, so will the Nittany Lions.
“He’s been through everything,” Waters said. “It’s his presence and his calm demeanor. He connects with everyone. When he’s out there, everyone thinks, ‘OK, we’re good.’ Just everything about him is invaluable to us.”
