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A T T H E 2 0 2 0 N I T T A N Y L I O N S portant to him. Noah is a guy who loves football. Part of the issue with him is that… he wanted to play every single week, even the first week [after the injury]. "If we didn't have the depth that we had, we probably would have. But he just wasn't right. And each week we were kind of [thinking], well, he'll be ready the next week. And it just kind of lingered for him. So with the combina- tion of that and the depth that we had at the position, it just didn't make sense. I think it was just one of those things. He needed time off of it, and as aggressively as he approached getting back, it just wasn't enough for him to be 100 percent." Franklin said that Cain's aggressive approach to rehabilitation helped him get back to full health in time for the bowl game. And now, having overcome his injury, he's heading into an off- season in which the competition at running back only figures to intensify. There are certain aspects of human nature that come into play when one is asked to put personal goals aside for the good of the team, and Cain acknowl- edged that reality. But he said the approach that Penn State took during the 2019 season ultimately worked out well. "At the end of the day, there are going to be some games where some dudes aren't happy and some games where everybody gets a touch," he said. "You never know when you've got so many guys who want the ball. Coach [Ja'Juan] Seider and his staff do a great job keeping everybody in- volved and making sure a guy isn't left out. It may be a game where one dude touches the ball more than others, but it's a part of it, and at the end of the day, we all want to get to the next level in one piece. I think we've all got the opportunity to showcase how good we can be." ■ STRONG START Despite missing most of the Lions' last five regular-sea- son games with an injury, Cain finished his freshman year with 443 yards to rank second on the team. Photo by Steve Manuel

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