Rocco Becht
American football player (born 2003)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rocco Becht (/bɛkt/ BEKT;[1] born November 12, 2003) is an American college football quarterback for the Penn State Nittany Lions. He previously played for the Iowa State Cyclones.
Wesley Chapel, Florida, U.S.
Becht with the Iowa State Cyclones in 2024 | |
| No. 3 – Penn State Nittany Lions | |
|---|---|
| Position | Quarterback |
| Class | |
| Personal information | |
| Born | November 12, 2003 Wesley Chapel, Florida, U.S. |
| Listed height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) |
| Listed weight | 210 lb (95 kg) |
| Career information | |
| High school | Wiregrass Ranch (Wesley Chapel, Florida) |
| College |
|
| Awards and highlights | |
| Stats at ESPN | |
Early life
Becht attended Wiregrass Ranch High School in Wesley Chapel, Florida.[2] During his career, he passed for 5,343 yards and 65 touchdowns. He committed to Iowa State University to play college football.[3]
College career
Iowa State Cyclones
Becht played in three games his first year at Iowa State in 2022, completing seven of 13 passes for 65 yards, and took a redshirt. He entered his redshirt freshman year in 2023 as the team's starting quarterback.[4]
In his first start, he completed 10 of 13 passes for 113 yards with two touchdowns.[5][6]In the 2023 season, he took over as the starting quarterback as a result of Hunter Dekkers leaving the university after a gambling probe. Becht guided the Cyclones to a 7–5 record (6–3 in the Big 12) before losing in the Liberty Bowl to Memphis, 36–26. He threw for 3,210 yards for 23 touchdowns and 8 interceptions that season.
In 2024, he sent his team to the Big 12 championship game at Arlington, Texas against first year Big 12 and surprising 10–2 Arizona State Sun Devils. Iowa State ended up losing that game, 45–19 where he threw for 214 yards, 2 touchdowns and one interception. In the Pop Tarts Bowl against the Miami Hurricanes on December 28, 2024, he ran into the end zone for a touchdown with 56 seconds left, winning a come from behind game 42–41, in Orlando, Florida. He also threw for 270 yards and 3 touchdowns in that game.
Following the 2025 season, Becht entered the transfer portal with 26 career wins as a starting quarterback, the most of any active FBS quarterback at that time.[7][8]
Penn State Nittany Lions
On January 4, 2026, Becht committed to the Penn State Nittany Lions.[9] His commitment comes after Penn State's hiring of Matt Campbell, who was the head coach at Iowa State throughout Becht's college career.
Statistics
| Season | Team | Games | Passing | Rushing | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Record | Cmp | Att | Pct | Yds | Y/A | TD | Int | Rtg | Att | Yds | Avg | TD | ||
| 2022 |  Iowa State |
3 | 0 | — | 7 | 15 | 46.7 | 65 | 4.3 | 0 | 1 | 69.7 | 1 | 2 | 2.0 | 0 |
| 2023 | Iowa State |
13 | 13 | 7−6 | 231 | 367 | 62.9 | 3,120 | 8.5 | 23 | 8 | 150.7 | 62 | 63 | 1.0 | 3 |
| 2024 | Iowa State |
14 | 14 | 11−3 | 271 | 456 | 59.4 | 3,505 | 7.7 | 25 | 9 | 138.1 | 98 | 318 | 3.2 | 8 |
| 2025 | Iowa State |
12 | 12 | 8−4 | 205 | 339 | 60.5 | 2,584 | 7.6 | 16 | 9 | 134.8 | 86 | 116 | 1.3 | 8 |
| 2026 | Penn State | |||||||||||||||
| Career | 42 | 39 | 26−13 | 714 | 1,177 | 60.7 | 9,274 | 7.9 | 64 | 27 | 140.2 | 247 | 499 | 2.0 | 19 | |
Personal life
His father, Anthony Becht, played tight end in the National Football League.[10]