He made his senior debut with neighbouring SD Indautxu,[1] being loaned twice to the Segunda División team and being relegated as many times; he also played in this competition with the former's reserves, again dropping down a level in the 1969–70 season after losing a play-off against Villarreal CF.

[2] José Ángel made his debut in La Liga on 24 January 1971 when he came on as a late substitute in a 2–1 away victory over Real Zaragoza,[3] and he went on to start six further league games for Ronnie Allen's team, adding four appearances in the Copa del Generalísimo.

[4] The following season he contributed 37 appearances in all competitions, helping the side to ninth place in the league and victory in the domestic cup, with the player taking the field in the final in Madrid, a 2–0 defeat of CD Castellón.

Although the result itself was an embarrassment, it did prompt the club to pursue the opposition's star player José Ignacio Churruca, who would play an important role for the team in the coming years.

[8] After signing with Racing de Santander in the summer of 1977, Rojo was a regular in his three seasons in Cantabria, narrowly avoiding top-flight relegation in the first (under Nando Yosu)[9] but finishing second-bottom in the second.