Penn State continues to rise in On3 Consensus Team Recruiting Ranking

Nearly one year to the day Thursday, Penn State landed its first recruit.

The player was Ashburn (Va.) Broad Run four-star interior offensive lineman Alex Birchmeier, who remains the top commit in the 2023 Nittany Lions recruiting class.

But the group around him has grown, and it got stronger Thursday with the commitment of Fairfax (Va.) four-star linebacker Tony Rojas.

Rojas’ commitment saw Penn State jump up to No. 9 in the 2023 On3 Consensus Team Recruiting Ranking, leaping Tennessee in the process.

Rojas is the No. 109 overall recruit in the 2023 cycle, according to the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

That makes him the fifth-ranked prospect in the Nittany Lions recruiting class.

Tony Rojas chose Penn State due to the relationships he built

Tony Rojas is the eighth-ranked linebacker in the 2023 On3 Consensus. He also the second-ranked player from Virginia in the class behind Birchmeier.

He told On3 Director of Recruiting Chad Simmons that he really valued the relationships he has formed with Penn State.

“The relationship I have with the coaches is just great from a player-coach perspective,” Rojas told On3. “It is about family at Penn State. I know most of the coaches there, I am comfortable with them, and that has always been important to me.”

He currently has an On3 NIL Valuation of $119k. The On3 NIL Valuation is an index that looks to set the standard market value for both high school and college-level athletes. The NIL valuation does not act as a tracker of the value of NIL deals an athlete has completed to date. It rather signifies an athlete’s value at a certain moment in time.

“Tony is not just a pass guy or a run guy,” Fairfax (Va.) High head coach Trey Taylor said. “He is a big athlete that can run. He is versatile and he is only going to get better when he gets to the next level.