Rock Ya-Sin

Golden Nuggets

• Nickname, "Rock" was given to him by his high school coach
• Two-sport athlete, competing in wrestling and football
• Speaks Arabic fluently and considers learning the language to be a passion of his

Golden Nuggets

• Nickname, "Rock" was given to him by his high school coach
• Two-sport athlete, competing in wrestling and football
• Speaks Arabic fluently and considers learning the language to be a passion of his

Goldmine

• In high school, Ya-Sin won back-to-back wrestling state championships and was heavily recruited to compete in Division I wrestling. Ya-Sin was encouraged by his mentor and wrestling coach, Keith Johnson, to start playing football in the 11th grade. "I just told him to try it," Johnson said. "He was a wrestler, and wrestling was only going to take him so far. Wrestling helps you with discipline. He already had the discipline. He'd already won the state twice. Let's try football and give him another avenue.
• Rock picked up football easily and had offers to play Division I coming in quickly. The one that stood out was Presbyterian, be- cause their assistant coach, Tommy Spangler, not only came to watch Rock play football, but to a wrestling match as well. "That's unheard of to see a football coach come and watch a wrestling match," Johnson said. "(Spangler) said, 'that boy is tough.' He really liked Rock. It was a warm atmosphere, so he went on to Presbyterian."
• The time invested by Spangler did not go unnoticed, and resulted in three successful years for Ya-Sin with the Blue Hose.

College

• Appeared in 45 games (35 starts) in one season (2018) at Tem- ple and three seasons (2015-17) at Presbyterian College(SC) and registered 142 tackles, 7 INTs, 31 PDs and 3 FRs. In 2018, earned a First-Team American Athletic Conference honors after appear- ing in 12 games (11 starts) and registering 47 tackles, 2 INTs and 12 PDs. Transferred to Temple from Presbyterian College. As a junior, started in all 11 games and earned All-Big South honors after reg- istering 49 tackles, 5 INTs, 8 PD and 5 FRs. In 2016, appeared in all games (5 starts) and registered 31 tackles, 9 PD, 1 FR and 1 TD converted from an INT. As a true freshman, appeared in 11 games (2 starts) and registered 15 tackles and 2 PD.