Four Penn State Football Players Who Could Be the Comeback Player of the Year

Three of those players are nominated for the Comeback Player of the Year Award, which recognizes the top player in college football who overcomes "injury, illness, or other circumstances. " A total of 96 made the award's preseason watch list, with Penn State among the programs with the most nominees (Washington and Notre Dame have four each).

Penn State's three nominees all are potential defensive starters and all-conference players. Meanwhile, there's a fourth Nittany Lion on offense to watch. Who are Penn State's top comeback players this season? Let's meet them.

Linebacker Tony Rojas

Rojas was off to a career-year start in 2025 when he sustained a torn ACL three days after Penn State's double-overtime loss to Oregon. The linebacker played a terrific game through pain vs. the Ducks, and his absence was a critical reason UCLA quarterback Nico Iamaleava ran for 128 yards and three touchdowns in the Bruins' 42-37 win the following week.

Since then, Rojas has vowed to return better and potentially faster. Though the second will be difficult to achieve, he's running well 10 months post-surgery and is probably the team's most freakish athlete.

Head coach Matt Campbell and defensive coordinator D'Anton Lynn view Rojas as a defensive tool they can deploy in multiple ways, from blitzing to coverage to edge contain in the run game. He's Penn State's best sideline-to-sideline player at full strength and can cover up mistakes elsewhere.

“I'm going to be a better linebacker this year,” Rojas said. “I feel more than 100 percent, and I just feel stronger, faster — I just feel better now. I'm just going to put it all on the table this year. I'm really just doing this for myself. Not really the outside noise. I'm proving myself right, and just knowing myself the past few years, I know I'm just going to put everything else for this year together. I think I'm going to put a show on.”

Safety Jeremiah Cooper

Iowa State Cyclones defensive back Jeremiah Cooper (4) hits Kansas Jayhawks running back Devin Neal. — Iowa State Cyclones defensive back Jeremiah Cooper (4) hits Kansas Jayhawks running back Devin Neal (4) during the fourth quarter at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. | USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect

Cooper is probably the best player on the roster whom Penn State fans haven't seen yet. The former Iowa State defensive back is working his way back into the defense after sustaining a torn ACL early in the 2025 season. In fact, Cooper and Rojas bonded over their rehabs last winter.

Cooper was a two-time, all-Big 12 safety at Iowa State, earning first-team honors in 2023. He shifted to cornerback before last season and played that position until the injury. That gives Cooper crossover ability in Penn State's defense to play some slot.

He's among Penn State's most veteran players, with 36 starts in three years, and was named the Big 12's defensive freshman of the year in 2022. Cooper has been ramping up his preparation during training camp and expects to be healthy this season. If Penn State gets the player he was from 2022-24, the secondary will be sound.

Defensive end Max Granville

No Penn State player begins this season with more unknown promise than Granville. The redshirt sophomore defensive end missed last season with a lower-body injury he sustained training at home in Texas during the offseason. He then missed spring practice with a separate back issue.

Now, Granville is healthy and working at full strength with a strong mindset. In talking about Granville and Rojas, Campbell simultaneously sounded optimistic and cautious.

"Both players are dynamic football players," Campbell said. "I would also forewarn that both players are working back from a long, extended period of time of actually [not] playing the game of football. We all want it to come back like 'that.'

"You’ve seen flashes of excellence. You’ve seen unbelievable athletic traits and ability, and yet you’ve also guys who are working their way back, and this isn’t going to just snap back. For both guys it will be a little bit of a process, but I feel like each guy has handled the really good and a couple downs and had the ability to keep responding forward. But I feel both guys have unlimited potential at their positions to be elite players."

Granville has been that waiting-to-burst player at Penn State for a while. He initially was part of the 2025 recruiting class but graduated high school early to enroll in 2024, when he moved up the depth chart and earned key snaps in the 2024 Fiesta Bowl.

Though he has played in just seven career games, Granville has been the talk of camp.

"He can do things that other other people right now on our team cannot from every position," defensive line coach Ikaika Malloe said of Granville. "He has strength, he has speed, he has quickness. His athletic ability for sure ... we have to use that in terms of what he can do."

Tight end Gabe Burkle

Burkle, a fifth-year senior, also is coming back from a torn ACL he sustained last November, so his return timeline is a bit longer than those of Rojas or Cooper. He hasn't practiced much yet in 7-on-7 drills but has begun sprinting and said he feels good. When he is healthy, Burkle will slot immediately into an offensive role.

At Iowa State, Burkle played in 38 games, starting 16, and carved a crucial role in the Cyclones' offense. Campbell has called him the "best blocking tight end in the country," and offensive coordinator Taylor Mouser has complete trust in him. In past third- and fourth-down situations, Mouser said he often called plays to Burkle.

"He's a huge piece of our success, because I think when you have a tight end like that, and you know what great tight ends look like here at Penn State, you have the ability to extend gaps and create gaps, help in pass protection and be an outlet in the passing game," Campbell said. "Those are huge assets. And Gabe is certainly one of those."

Though Burkle isn't among Penn State's three preseason nominees for the comeback player award, he could be by season's end. The Nittany Lions open the season Sept. 5 against Marshall at Beaver Stadium.

Sign up to our free Penn State Nittany Lions newsletter and follow us on social media.

Add us as a preferred source on Google