7/14/2022 football Edit

Decision Day Preview: LB Tony Rojas

Dylan Callaghan-Croley • Happy Valley Insider

Editor

The long-awaited decision day for one of Penn State's top targets, four-star LB Tony Rojas is finally here. The Fairfax (VA) native has been at the top of Penn State's recruiting board for quite a while now and has been a priority target of James Franklin and the rest of the Nittany Lions coaching staff.

Rojas is set to announce his commitment at 4:00 p.m. on Thursday evening at Fairfax High School. You can watch on the Fairfax Athletics Sports Network Youtube channel.

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Entering Thursday, three schools will have their hats present at Rojas's table, Clemson, Georgia, and of course, Penn State. As of Thursday morning, all eight of the future casts put in for Rojas are in favor of the Nittany Lions.

Rojas's recruitment has been an interesting one to follow, to say the least. Earlier this year, it seemed Rojas could be on the verge of committing to Penn State's 2023 recruiting class sooner than later but instead held off on making any decision. After holding off on making any commitment decisions, Rojas saw an uptick in his recruitment.

In the spring is when both of his other two finalists began recruiting Virginia's No.2 overall prospect. In early March, Clemson offered Rojas after he attended one of the Tigers' Junior Days before receiving an offer from Georgia a little over a month later.

Rojas made trips to both Clemson and Athens over the next several months including an official visit to Clemson on June 3 and a trip to Athens in mid-June. In between those visits, he also officially visited Miami (FL) and Penn State.

Final Prediction:

Back on February 6, I put in a future cast for Rojas to land with Penn State. At the time, a commitment seemed like it could become sooner than later and all signs were pointing the Nittany Lions' way. As the rest of winter and eventually spring went on, I never got the sense that Penn State was in danger of losing out on Rojas. That being said, over the course of late May and early June, his recruitment certainly got tougher for the Nittany Lions and became a close one between Clemson, Georgia, and Penn State. At one point or another, it seemed like he could land at each.

With that being said, my future cast remains with Penn State. James Franklin and his staff have done a great job at recruiting both Rojas and his family over his entire recruitment and those relationships have gone a long way. The Nittany Lions' track record at developing players on the defensive side of the ball, especially at linebacker surely helps as well.

Landing Rojas would be a huge boost for an already deep 2023 Penn State recruiting class that entering Thursday is ranked eighth in the country while holding 17 commitments. The addition of the 6-foot-3, the 205-pound outside linebacker would be the third for the Nittany Lions in the last week after they added CB Elliott Washington and RB London Montgomery.