Tag: Noah Cain

Top 21 players for the Nittany Lions entering 2021

Penn State football returns soon. Who are the key players to watch for the Nittany Lions in 2021?

Penn State enters the 2021 college football season with a bit of a chip on their shoulders. Following a rare losing season played during a pandemic, James Franklin and the Nittany Lions are eager to prove they are better than their 2020 record would indicate. With a challenging schedule right out of the gate, Penn State will have plenty of opportunities to prove itself to the masses this fall.

And they will do so with enough talent on the roster to make some things happen. With experience at quarterback, one of the top wide receivers in the Big Ten, and one of the nation’s top defensive secondaries to rely on, there are a lot of good ingredients for a successful season in Happy Valley. Every position has a chance to play a key role in the fortunes of Penn State this season too.

Here is a look at 21 key players Penn State has on the roster in 2021, listed in no particular order.

Big Ten Network’s Howard Griffith impressed with Penn State’s running back depth

According to Big Ten Network analyst Howard Griffith, Penn State may have the best running back group in the Big Ten.

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We are two weeks away from Penn State kicking off the 2021 season on the road at Wisconsin. During training camp, you find out where you have a strong point and Penn State has that on the offensive side of the ball.

On Monday, the Big Ten Network made a stop to Happy Valley on their training camp tour. During their visit to Happy Valley, analyst Howard Griffith said he came away impressed with what Penn State has at the running back position. He even went so far as to suggest the Nittany Lions have one of the best running back groups in the Big Ten.

The running backs will be lead by Noah Cain, John Lovett who is a transfer from Baylor, Keyvone Lee, Caziah Holmes and Devyn Ford. Cain, Lovett, and Lee all appeared on the watch list for the nation’s top running back award, the Doak Walker Award. Penn State is the only school in the nation with three players appearing on the Doak Walker Award’s watch list.

One of the questions will be how Cain will look after missing practically all of the 2020 season due to injury and how the rotation will go the rest of the season. Head coach James Franklin has suggested he believes Lovett has the potential to be a home-run hitter, an idea that seemed to be supported by Griffith’s comments.

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21 days until Penn State football season opener

Penn State football returns in 21 days! Let’s talk about one key to the offense, a healthy Noah Cain.

We are 21 days away from Penn State football!

Yesterday, we spent some time talking about former Penn State running back John Cappelletti. Today, we will be talking about the current starting running back for Penn State who wears the number 21, Noah Cain, who many hope takes a big leap this season.

Cain was the next man in line after former Nittany Lion running back Journey Brown’s career was unfortunately cut short due to a health condition.

As a recruit, Cain attended IMG Academy, one of the most highly prolific high schools in the nation terms of looking for high school talent. He committed to Penn State in the class of 2019. Cain was a four-star running back who had offers from all over the country, including Georgia, Ohio State, Clemson and Penn State.

We have seen several running backs come through State College and really flourish. Cain has shown flashes that he can potentially be the next man in line to lead that Penn State backfield.

Cain enters this season as a junior. With limited playing time, he comes in hopefully showing everyone that he has what it takes to have the keys to that backfield and be a leader in that running back room.

During the 2019 season, Cain was already breaking records. He set a record for eight rushing touchdowns as a freshman, passing both D.J. Dozier and Saquon Barkley, who both had seven.

Cain suffered a season-ending injury during the 2020 season opener against Indiana. Coming into the season, he is hungry for a breakout year, despite the addition of Baylor transfer running back John Lovett.

Cain mentioned in an article that even though he struggled through his injury last season, it made him better and stronger.

We are 21 days away. The countdown continues, and today starts with Noah Cain.

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Penn State leads nation in Doak Walker Award watch list running backs

Penn State is the only school with THREE Doak Walker Award watch list players. Can any of them win it for the second time in school history?

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If you had any doubts about the quality depth at the running back position in Happy Valley, then doubt no more. Penn State landed three players on the watch list for the Doak Walker Award on Wednesday, more than any other school in the country.

The Doak Walker Award is awarded annually to the top running back in college football. This year’s watch list was first released with Penn State’s Noah Cain, Keyvone Lee, and John Lovett on the watch list. As is typically the case, a player does not need to appear on the watch list before the season to be eligible to win the award, but it is still nice to be included among the nation’s best at your respective position. Other Nittany Lions aren’t able to say the same this week.

Cain suffered an early season-ending injury in 2020 but appears to be on track to be available for the Nittany Lions in 2021. If healthy, it is expected Cain will be the leading rusher for Penn State.

In Cain’s absence last season, Lee was one of the younger players (along with Devyn Ford) to receive more playing time in the offense, and he showed some good glimpses of what he can do as well.

Lovett is the newest member to the Penn State family, but he is already the most experienced back in the program after transferring from Baylor. Lovett was a key offensive player for Baylor early on in his time in Waco, and he is expected to be a solid piece of the offensive gameplan at Penn State.

Penn State has had just one Doak Walker Award winner in program history despite the award first being presented in 1990. Larry Johnson won the Doak Walker Award in 2002. Ki-Jana Carter missed out on the Doak Walker Award in 1994 behind Heisman Trophy winner Rashaan Salaam from Colorado. More recently, Saquon Barkley couldn’t get past Stanford’s Bryce Love or Texas’ D’Onta Foreman for the award.

Alabama’s Najee Harris (drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers along with Penn State tight end Pat Freiermuth this spring) won the Doak Walker Award in 2020.

Penn State wide receiver Jahan Dotson and safety Jaquan Brisker were recently named to the watch lists for the Maxwell Award and Chuck Bednarik Award, respectively.

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5 questions for Penn State at Big Ten media day

5 questions Penn State will be asked during Big Ten media day

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The summer convergence of Big Ten media, coaches, and players will take place this week in Chicago. As they arrive in the Windy City from Happy Valley, Penn State head coach James Franklin and his player representatives will have some tough questions to answer after last season.

Penn State limped out of the gates of the modified 2020 season to a historically bad 0-5 record before turning a corner and ending the season on a four-game winning streak. The Nittany Lions missed an opportunity to even their record and avoid a losing season by deciding as a team not to participate in a postseason bowl game at the end of a trying year. But perhaps the biggest question for Penn State to answer in 2021 was whether or not you can chalk up the 2020 season to being a product of unique circumstances or if it is a sign of a program on the decline.

So what are we to actually make of 2020?

Head coach James Franklin will be very likely to be asked some questions riding along the lines of wondering how Penn State bounces back in 2021 after last year’s setbacks. You can fully expect Franklin to push forward and leave 2020 behind him, but it is an important question to raise for anyone trying to figure out who Penn State is in 2021.

Prior to last season, Penn State had won 11 games three out of the previous four seasons with three appearances in a New Years Six bowl game and winning two of them. This is why the 2020 results were so surprising for many. Injuries and player availability throughout the week were issues as well, as Penn State at times may have been riding a thinner roster than realized at times due to COVID protocols.

So when Franklin is asked about last season and what to expect this season, expect the standard response that Penn State has a lot going right in the program and they are ready to prove something after last season.

Will Penn State still add a transfer quarterback?

As things stand right now, Penn State’s offense is Sean Clifford or bust, or so it would seem. One of the main talking points during the spring football practice season was what Penn State will do to add depth and exp[erience at the quarterback position. Pulling a target from the transfer portal seemed obvious, and Penn State did make a push to add to its roster at the position before ultimately losing out on TJ Finley from LSU. Spring has now come and gone and the summer is half over and Penn State still has not found a suitable passer in the transfer portal to pad the depth chart.

When will Penn State grab a QB out of the transfer portal?

So, is this still part of the game plan, or is Penn State now going to move forward running the risk of not having experience behind Clifford? The ceiling may be pretty high for options like Taquan Roberson and Christian Veilleux, but Franklin made it seem pretty clear he’d much prefer to have a more experienced option available should he need it this fall.

NEXT: What is the confidence level of the defensive line?

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Here is every Penn State player on PFF’s preseason All-Big Ten team

Eight Penn State platers appear on PFF’s preseason All-Big Ten team for 2021, including a couple of First-Team honors.

The Pro Football Focus preseason All-American team may have been light on Nittany Lion representation, but the eAll-Big Ten team is a different story. As you would expect,m once you focus on just one conference, Penn State figures to receive much more attention in forming a preseason All-Big Ten team. And the PFF preseason All-Big Ten team entering the 2021 season is certainly proof of that.

In all, eight players appear on the PFF All-Big ten team at least once as a First-Team, Second-Team, Third-Team, or honorable mention on offense, defense, or special teams. Wide receiver Jahan Dotson actually appears twice on the preseason All-Big Ten list as both a wide receiver and as a punt returner.

You can check out the full PFF preseason All-Big ten roster here. Below is a full list of which Penn State players are named on the list.

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Jahan Dotson and Rasheed Walker among Athlon Sports All-Big Ten players for 2021

Penn State had 10 players named to the Athlon Sports preseason All-Big Ten teams for 2021.

We are now officially in preseason mode. In addition to kickoff times being released, the preseason all-conference lists are starting to make the rounds. Athlon Sports released its 2021 All-Big Ten team heading into the upcoming season, and a few Penn State players were scattered throughout.

Penn State wide receiver Jahan Dotson and offensive lineman Rasheed Walker were included on the first-team offense. This is not too surprising given Dotson was among the Big Ten’s best receivers in 2020 and Walker is already being projected as a potential first-round draft pick in the 2022 NFL draft. Jaquan Brisker was the only Nittany Lion to appear on the first-team defense by Athlon Sports.

Offensive lineman Mike Miranda was the only Penn State player to appear on the second team for either offense or defense. Dotson was honored as the second-team punt returner, however.

Running back Noah Cain, defensive lineman P.J. Mustipher, linebacker Brandon Smith, and cornerback Tariq Castro-Fields appear on the third team. Wide receiver Parker Washington made the fourth team.

Penn State’s 10 players making the four all-conference teams by Athlon Sports is tied for the third-most in the Big Ten. Ohio State leads the way with 13 players. Wisconsin and Iowa each had 11 players included. Indiana also had 10 players represented. For what it is worth, Rutgers had nine players and Michigan had seven. Make of that what you will.

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2021 Penn State Nittany Lions Profile Card: Noah Cain

Penn State running back Noah Cain has shown great flashes when healthy, but can he stay on the field in 2021?

Name: Noah Cain

Number: 21

Position: Running Back

Class: Junior

Height: 5′-10″

Weight: 226

Hometown: Baton Rouge, LA

High School: IMG Academy (Florida)

Twitter: @TheRealNoahCain

Overview

Noah Cain, a Baton Rouge native who thrives at IMG Academy in Florida, burst onto the scene as a powerful asset in Penn State’s running game during his freshman season in 2019. Cain proved to be a solid complement to Journey Brown by rushing for 443 yards and eight touchdowns for the Nittany Lions. Back-to-back 100-yard games against Purdue and Iowa in the middle of the season seemed to set the tone for big things out of Noah during his college career with the Nittany Lions.

Unfortunately, injuries slowed Cain down in the second half of the 2019 season, where he missed three of the final four regular-season games and was only used sparingly in games he did play. But Cain returned healthy for the Cotton Bowl against Memphis, and he issued a solid reminder just how much of an impact he can have. Cain rushed for 92 yards and two touchdowns in an offensive explosion by the Nittany Lions in their Cotton Bowl victory over Memphis, seemingly laying the foundation for big things in 2020.

But Cain’s 2020 season came to an abrupt end in the delayed 2020 season opener. After just three rushing attempts against the Indiana Hoosiers, Cain’s season was done. A season-ending injury on the season’s opening possession shut Cain down for the remainder of the 2020 season, giving him plenty of time to rehab and prepare for the 2021 season.

Cain has been monitored closely during the spring and head coach James Franklin believes Cain will be ready to go in the fall as he aims to return to being the top running back on the field for the Penn State offense.

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Penn State Blue-White game preview: 5 questions for the offense

Penn State’s offense has been the main story of the spring. On Saturday, fans will get to see what the fuss is all about.

Penn State’s spring football practice schedule will culminate this weekend with the final spring practice being held on Saturday inside Beaver Stadium. A small fraction of fans will be allowed to enter through the gates of Beaver Stadium for the first time since 2019, which is exciting on its own, but the offense of the Nittany Lions has a real chance to offer its own form of excitement. The Blue-White Game, in whatever form it will hold this week, should offer a glimpse of big things to come, but just how much of that will we see in live action?

With a new offensive coordinator in Mike Yurcich, a third-year starting quarterback in Sena Clifford, and one of the Big Ten’s top wide receivers in Jahan Dotson, the key ingredients for a fun offense appear to be in place. Here are five questions about the offense to keep in mind this weekend.

1. Just how much of the Mike Yurcich offense will we actually see?

Penn State made an upgrade on the coaching staff this offseason with the addition of Mike Yurcich, formerly of Texas. Yurcich inherits an offense that got off to a tough start in 2020 but started to turn a corner in the second half of the season. There is no question Yurcich has some good players to work with in the Penn State offense, but for reasons that will be outlined in a moment, it may not be fair to judge the status of the Penn State offense based on whatever is shown off on Saturday.

Saturday’s final spring practice will not likely be a showcase for all that will be unfolding in the Yurcich offense, either because some of the key players may not be on the field long enough to get a chance to shine the way they may in the fall. Instead, this could be a good opportunity to see what some other players on the roster have to offer.

Speaking of which…

2. What will the quarterback situation look like after the spring game?

One of the biggest questions Penn State head coach James Franklin has faced this offseason has been what he will do with the quarterback situation after the spring. Sean Clifford is without hesitation the team’s starting quarterback, but the experience and depth behind him is a looming concern following the transfer of Will Levis (to Kentucky) and Micah Bowens (to Oklahoma).

How much time in the final spring practice is dedicated to Sean Clifford may be relatively brief. Instead, this will serve as a good opportunity to get more reps for backups Taquan Roberson and Christian Veilleux. If all goes well, both will show they have blossomed this spring and given Franklin and Yurcich much more confidence about what they have on the depth chart behind Clifford. Otherwise, Penn State’s search in the transfer portal could intensify in a hurry.

Next: Brenton Strange taking charge at tight end

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