Penn State has four players worth circling in the comeback conversation this season, and three of them are already on the preseason watch list for the Comeback Player of the Year Award. That award goes to the top college football player who overcomes "injury, illness, or other circumstances. " Among the 96 players named to the preseason list, Penn State is tied near the top of the sport with Washington and Notre Dame, which also have four nominees apiece.
The Nittany Lions’ trio of nominees are all defensive pieces who could wind up as starters and all-conference players. There’s also one offensive name outside the official list who still belongs in the conversation. Here’s a look at the four players who could define Penn State’s comeback story.
Rojas is the headliner after what looked like a breakout 2025 start got derailed by a torn ACL three days after Penn State’s double-overtime loss to Oregon. He played through pain in that game, and the next week his absence showed up in a big way when UCLA quarterback Nico Iamaleava ran for 128 yards and three touchdowns in the Bruins’ 42-37 win.
Even with the setback, Rojas has kept the same tone about his return. He says he wants to come back better and maybe faster, though that second part might be a stretch. Ten months after surgery, he’s running well and still looks like Penn State’s most eye-popping athlete.
Matt Campbell and D’Anton Lynn see him as a flexible weapon on defense, someone who can blitz, drop into coverage, or hold the edge against the run. At full speed, he’s the kind of sideline-to-sideline linebacker who can clean up mistakes around him.
“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.”
Cooper is the one Penn State fans may know least, but he might be the most proven player of the group. The former Iowa State defensive back is working his way back from a torn ACL suffered early in the 2025 season, and he and Rojas leaned on each other through rehab last winter.
Before arriving at Penn State, Cooper built a strong résumé at Iowa State. He was a two-time all-Big 12 safety, earned first-team honors in 2023, and then moved to cornerback before last season, where he played until the injury. That background gives Penn State some real flexibility, including the chance to use him in the slot.
He also brings plenty of experience. Cooper has 36 starts in three years and was named the Big 12’s defensive freshman of the year in 2022.
He’s been ramping up throughout training camp and expects to be ready this season. If Penn State gets the version of Cooper it had from 2022-24, the secondary should be in good shape.
Then there’s Granville, who might have the widest range of outcomes and the most intrigue attached to him. The redshirt sophomore defensive end missed last season because of a lower-body injury he suffered while training at home in Texas during the offseason, then sat out spring practice with a separate back issue.
Now he’s healthy and back at full speed, and the confidence around him is growing. Campbell sounded encouraged but realistic when discussing both Granville and Rojas.
"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 one of those names Penn State people keep bringing up for a while. He was originally part of the 2025 recruiting class, but graduated high school early and enrolled in 2024, when he climbed the depth chart and earned important snaps in the 2024 Fiesta Bowl. He’s played in only seven career games, but he’s been one of the stories 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."
Burkle rounds out the group as the lone offensive name to watch. The fifth-year senior is also returning from a torn ACL, which he suffered last November, so his path back is a little slower than Rojas’ or Cooper’s.
He hasn’t done much in 7-on-7 work yet, but he has started sprinting and says he feels good. Once he’s fully healthy, he should slide right into an offensive role.
Burkle’s track record at Iowa State explains why Penn State wants him back so badly. He played in 38 games there and started 16, becoming an important part of the Cyclones’ offense. Campbell has called him the "best blocking tight end in the country," and offensive coordinator Taylor Mouser has trusted him in key moments, especially on third and fourth downs.
"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."
Burkle is not one of Penn State’s three preseason comeback award nominees, but that could change by the end of the season. Penn State opens Sept. 5 against Marshall at Beaver Stadium.
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