One of the benefits of the current state of college football for teams: If you can find a coach, you can find a quarterback.
After Drew Mestemaker followed his North Texas coach Eric Morris to Oklahoma State, Rocco Becht is doing the same. The former Iowa State quarterback will join his coach Matt Campbell at Penn State, giving the Nittany Lions their 2026 quarterback.
Becht, who will be a redshirt senior next year, battled an injury for most of the 2025 season and saw his stats suffer for it. He’s hoping a surgery on what was diagnosed as a partially torn labrum will return him to form for another season in college football next year.
The move puts a button on the Drew Allar era for Penn State. Allar is expected to enter the NFL draft after he suffered a season-ending ankle injury in October against Northwestern. Becht and Campbell are hoping to right what was a disastrous 2025 for Penn State, though the season did end with a Pinstripe Bowl win over Clemson.
Redshirt freshman QB Alex Manske also committed to Penn State from Iowa State on Sunday to serve as Becht’s understudy.
Rocco Becht transfer portal ranking
ESPN lists Becht as the 16th-highest ranked player in the transfer portal. Becht’s injury limited him this year, but Penn State will undoubtedly expect a return to form.
Rocco Becht stats
Over the course of his career, Becht has amassed 9,274 yards on 714-of-1,177 passing (60.7% completion rate), with 64 touchdowns and 27 interceptions. He saw lower numbers in 2025, thanks in part to a partially torn labrum that required surgery in December.
- 2022: 7-of-15 passing, 65 yards, one interception (redshirts season)
- 2023: 231-of-367 passing, 3,120 yards, 23 touchdowns, eight interceptions
- 2024: 271-of-456 passing, 3,505 yards, 25 touchdowns, nine interceptions
- 2025: 205-of-339 passing, 2,584 yards, 16 touchdowns, nine interceptions
