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T H E C L A S S O F 2 0 1 9 >> WHAT HE DID Born in Baton Rouge, La., and raised in Flower Mound, Texas, Cain was an immediate success at Guyer High School just outside of Dallas. During his freshman and sophomore seasons, he to- taled 2,721 rushing yards and 32 touch- downs. Following his sophomore season, he headed to IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., where he was paired in the back:eld with Trey Sanders, who would go on to become the top running back recruit in the country and a future Alabama signee. Cain rushed for 985 yards and 13 touch- downs in his two seasons with the Ascen- ders, and he added 230 receiving yards as a senior. IMG compiled a combined 16-1 record during Cain's tenure in Bradenton. WHAT HE WON Rivals.com gave Cain four stars, ranking him the No. 5 running back in the country, the No. 12 recruit in Florida and No. 73 prospect nationally. At Guyer, he won second-team Associated Press All-State honors as a sophomore. At IMG, he was named a MaxPreps sec- Rivals.com NOAH CAIN RIVALS ★★★★ | POS RB | HT 5-10 | WT 209 | HOME Flower Mound, Texas | SCHOOL IMG Academy (Fla.) P enn State has put itself in position to have one of the most talented running back rooms in the country for the fore- seeable future, but four-star freshman Noah Cain isn't afraid of it getting too crowded. In fact, playing alongside other tal- ented running backs won't be anything new for Cain, who a>er his sophomore year transferred from Denton Guyer High School in Texas to IMG Academy, where he spent the next two years split- ting time with Alabama commit Trey Sanders. Cain's father, Terence, said his son views Penn State's strength in the back:eld as another opportunity to get better. "Iron sharpens iron," Terence Cain said. "Just like it was at IMG, Penn State has a solid running back room. You want that. … If we were just worried about keeping a No. 1 ranking or getting the bulk of the carries, we could have stayed at Denton Guyer for that. But that's not what we were concerned about. At the end of the day, if you're not getting bet- ter, you're not improving, [a ranking] means nothing." Cain rushed for 985 yards and 13 touchdowns in his two seasons with the Ascenders en route to a pair of MaxPreps second-team All-America selections. He was also named the team's co-o;en- sive MVP as a senior. It was also at IMG where the Cains de- veloped a relationship with Ja'Juan Sei- der, who spent a year as the running backs coach at the University of Florida before taking the same position with Penn State in 2018. Seider's arrival has not only helped the Nittany Lions on the :eld, but also in recruiting, as his strong roots in the Southeast have exposed Penn State to a previously untapped pool of high-caliber players. Cain is one of the :rst players to illus- trate Seider's impact. In past years, the Lions may not have had a real shot to sign a highly sought-a>er running back with roots in Texas and Florida. But Sei- der and Cain had already established a connection when the veteran assistant coach joined James Franklin's sta;, and one of the :rst things he did was en- courage Cain to take a look at his new place of work. "If it wasn't for Coach Seider, who knows?" Terence Cain said. "He made sure to reiterate, 'Hey, you guys want to make sure you come visit Happy Valley. You want to come and see it.' And I'll tell you what, we're glad we did." Cain added that the rest of Penn State's coaching sta;, especially the strength and conditioning coaches, le> the family with no reservations that Happy Valley was a perfect for the highly touted running back. Penn State's tradition of running the ball didn't hurt, either. "For his style of running, it's a good system fit. Penn State is a run-first RB's early arrival could lead to early impact U P C L O S E & P E R S O N A L CLICK HERE to see video of Cain in action. |

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