Penn State’s Rocco Becht ready to resume throwing after recovery from shoulder surgery

STATE COLLEGE — Drew Allar isn’t the only Penn State quarterback who is expected to throw on Saturday.

Veteran Rocco Becht, the Iowa State transfer who will lead Matt Campbell’s Penn State offense in the fall, said Wednesday his recovery from offseason shoulder surgery is progressing nicely.

The 6-foot-1, 210-pound redshirt senior quarterback dealt with a torn labrum in his non-throwing (left) shoulder and a right shoulder AC joint sprain in 2025.

Becht had surgery to repair the labrum in December. He said he is hopeful of participating during the second half of Penn State’s spring drills, possibly a bit earlier.

Becht was a three-year starter for Campbell at Iowa State. His shoulder injuries limited him to 2,584 passing yards and 16 touchdown passes.

A year earlier, Becht threw for more than 3,500 yards with 25 touchdown passes.

Despite the injuries, Becht did not miss an Iowa State game last season.

Becht said he expects to start throwing Saturday for the first time since he had his labrum surgery.

“I’ll throw about 20 to 30 balls (Saturday) and that will be my starting point moving forward,” Becht said during a PSU player availability.

Allar, the Lions’ former quarterback, is expected to throw Saturday at the NFL Scouting Combine for the first time since he broke his left ankle in PSU’s upset loss to Northwestern last October. Allar had surgery on the ankle later in October.

Becht said his injuries, combined with a four-game Iowa State losing streak last season, proved to be challenging to overcome. But even with Becht’s injuries, the Cyclones won their final three games to finish 8-4.

“I had to look at my family and some friends and talk to them, to kind of get myself out of it,” Becht said of his mid-season funk. “I had to deal with a torn labrum in my left shoulder and an AC joint sprain in my right. It’s not the easiest thing to do.

“The only reason why I played this season out is because I wanted to do it for my team. I felt like it was my responsibility to give them everything that I had.”

Becht added: “The process has been going really well. (My) shoulder’s feeling great. Right shoulder is fully healthy, and left shoulder is almost there.”