Blue White Illustrated

EVERYTHING TO GAIN C O V E R S T O R Y Sophomore running back Noah Cain is eager to build on a debut season in which he showed the potential to become an elite ball carrier oah Cain knew what he expected of himself before even arriving at Penn State. A January enrollee in the Nittany Lions' Class of 2019, the run- ning back had lofty goals coming off an accomplished two-year career at IMG Academy in Florida. But even then, the chasm between getting "some playing time" in a crowded Penn State backfield and realizing he could become a signifi- cant contributor to the Lions' offense was substantial. Then came last year's spring game. After capping his first few months in the program with a 54-yard, two-touchdown performance in the Blue-White Game, Cain believed he could play with anybody. Once he had memorized the playbook, he saw the game move at a slower pace. And once that pace slowed, immediate suc- cess felt close at hand. "I felt like, all right, now it's time for me to try to earn a starting job and start play- ing my game like I was doing in high school," Cain said. "Once I got caught up with the offense, I was just expecting myself to go in there, play early, and just earn my keep." Cain did that and more. Bursting onto the scene as the third tailback in a four-man combo that also included Ricky Slade, Journey Brown and Devyn Ford, Cain immediately played in the season opener against Idaho and cashed in with 44 yards and two touch- downs on nine carries in his college debut. By the time the Nittany Lions wrapped up their three-game nonconfer- ence slate, his stat page had broadened, with 88 yards and four scores on just 16 carries. Cain's performance had been one of the more encouraging developments in Penn State's 3-0 start, but to that point in the season he hadn't created enough separa- tion to earn more carries or an earlier in- sertion into games. Entering the Big Ten schedule, Penn State listed Slade, Brown and Cain as "co-starters" on the depth chart, and the pecking order didn't change even after Cain enjoyed a break- out 105-yard, one-touchdown perform- ance in a win against Purdue and a 102-yard, one-touchdown contribution at Iowa in which his fourth-quarter pro- duction, punching in a crucial score then bleeding the clock, sealed the decision. But while those efforts didn't vault him to the top of the depth chart, they reinforced Cain's belief in himself, and his teammates couldn't help but notice. "Put it like this: Noah is confident. Very, very confi- dent," Ford said this past spring. "So when he's on the field, that's his focus, that's all he's going to do. That's just him, and you've got to respect that. I respect that. That's Noah. He's going to perfect his craft and be the best person he can be." That "best person" finally emerged as the coaching staff's clear favorite by the time the 7-0 Nittany Lions arrived in East Lansing last October to take on Michigan State before heading into a bye week. Leading the Nittany Lions in rushing with 329 yards and six scores on just 62 carries to that point in the season, Cain was re- warded with his first career start. The bubble burst quickly, though. Hobbled by an ankle injury late in the first quarter, Cain was sidelined for the remainder of the game. Worse, he would- n't appear again in either of Penn State's next two games after the bye, at Min- nesota or against Indiana, and had just one carry at Ohio State before leaving that game and sitting out the regular- season finale against Rutgers. Cain admitted that it was hard to push through, having gotten a taste of success only to spend much of the season's second half on the sideline. "To finally get my first start and having a setback, an injury, that put me behind a few weeks. Next thing you know, it's two months and I can't get back until the bowl game," Cain said. "So I was climbing that ladder, but I also had ad- | QUICK START Cain finished as Penn State's third-leading rusher last sea- son with 443 yards on 84 car- ries. His eight rushing TDs were the most ever by a Nittany Lion freshman. Photo by Steve Manuel N

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