Blue White Illustrated

"I think the atmosphere, for it to be basi- cally just a practice, was what stood out the most to me. The crowd showed a lot of love for their hometown team." Fleming added, "It was packed for just being a spring game. PSU has crazy fans." Penn State also hosted running back MarShawn Lloyd of Hyattsville, Md.; cornerback Luke Hill of Washington, D.C.; and defensive tackle Tre' Williams of Oaksdale, Conn. Of the 2020 atten- dees, we believe that the Lions sit in the best position with Lloyd, but the sta8 is o8 to an excellent start with all 7ve of the rising sophomores. In the Class of 2021, Penn State hosted athlete Derrick Davis of Monroeville, Pa.; running back Evan Pryor of Char- lotte, N.C.; and offensive lineman Lan- don Tengwall of Laurel, Md. Both Davis and Tengwall earned offers from the staff earlier this year, while Pryor learned that he, too, had a verbal scholarship offer from the Nittany Lions while on campus that weekend. All three prospects have now taken at least two visits to Happy Valley. ■ Lions improve standing with highly regarded 2019 RB Penn State hosted one of the coun- try's top running backs last month, as Rivals100 prospect Noah Cain paid a visit to University Park on April 28. A native of Denton, Texas, Cain is at- tending IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., where he has grabbed the atten- tion of schools all across the country. Auburn, Georgia, Florida, LSU, Miami, Ohio State, Oklahoma and Texas A&M are just a handful of the programs that have received unofficial visits during the past year. With more than 30 schools having extended scholarship offers, it won't be easy to land the na- tion's fourth-ranked rusher, as rated by Rivals.com. But the Nittany Lions put themselves in a good position fol- lowing his first trip to Happy Valley. "It was an outstanding visit," said Terence Cain, Noah's father. "This was our first time there, but we defi- nitely felt the chemistry with their coaches. I think we connected very well. Of course, Coach [James] Franklin was out at the NFL Draft to support Saquon [Barkley] and the other guys who got drafted, but he made sure that he FaceTimed with Noah and myself and even his mom, who was back home in Dallas. Throughout the visit, he would check in on us. We appreciated that. He was joking around saying that next time we come, we're going to see so much of him that we're going to get sick of looking at him. "But we really felt good about Penn State. We felt at home. We really got the chance to bond with the coaching staff. The area was nice, too. We were out with the staff eating and he had fans coming up to him. I was sur- prised, but the fans knew who he was. Happy Valley really seems like a nice, family-oriented college town." The coaches weren't the only people who Cain got to meet during his trip, as he also spent time with running backs Johnathan Thomas and Miles Sanders, as well as freshman line- backer Micah Parsons. "That was awesome," Terence Cain said. "I think it was good for him to speak with some of the guys that have been in his shoes before." But if there's one person at Penn State who will play a crucial role in earning Cain's signature, it's new run- ning backs coach Ja'Juan Seider. "Those two have known each other for a long time now," the elder Cain said. "I remember Noah telling me that, after the New Year, Coach Seider came in one day in Florida gear, then came in about two days later in some Penn State gear. "He's always had a strong desire to help Noah with his ongoing develop- ment. They had a good rapport back then, and they still have a good rap- port now. They connect very well." Academics will also play a big role in Cain's decision. That may have been the one aspect that Penn State em- phasized the most during the visit. "We met with everyone from aca- demics," Terence Cain said. "They take that seriously there. Mom had a lot of questions that she had us ask, and everything was answered for us. We also saw some kids in study hall. They were putting that work in, which says a lot. Now, we're looking forward to getting back up there with Mom to show her everything." So, when will that next visit likely come? Noah's father said it may be sooner rather than later. "We're definitely going to be coming back out there," he said. "We haven't set a visit date yet, but at some point in June, before Noah reports to IMG Academy in July, we're planning to come back there. We do have a date in mind for the next step in his recruit- ment, which we'll announce in the coming months, but we plan to take our time with that. I can say that Penn State will get one of Noah's official visits [during the season]. "We feel like the landscape changes so much sometimes that we just don't want to rush all of this. When we were looking at sending him to IMG, I vis- ited that place a handful of times to check everything out, and we plan to do that again with colleges. I'm not someone that likes seeing guys com- mit, then de-commit, then commit again. I don't want that for my son, so we're going to take our time with all of this and make sure we find the place where he's most comfortable." –R.S.

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