Penn State is hopeful that running back Noah Cain will be healthy enough to return for at least the second half of spring ball according to coach James Franklin.
“We think probably the second half of spring ball we’ll get some work out of him,” Franklin said on Monday. “It’s hard to predict how much – obviously a lot can change over over a three, four week period of time.”
Cain made it just three carries into Penn State’s 2020 season before suffering a season-ending lower body injury to his left leg/ankle in the first quarter against Indiana. He did not return to the game and the injury itself was not immediately apparent to observers when it happened.
Fortunately for Penn State the Nittany Lions are not short on quality in the running back room. Following Cain’s injury Penn State leaned on a trio of backs led by Keyvone Lee and supplemented with health doses of Devyn Ford and Caziah Holmes.
All told Penn State still managed nearly 1,600 yards on the ground as team, rushing for 15 touchdowns and averaging nearly four yards a carry. Penn State finished the season fifth best in the Big Ten averaging 174 yards per contest.
To a certain extent the depth at running back gives Cain slightly less pressure to return at the first possible moment as he continues to recover from the injury. That said, Franklin appeared optimistic about Cain’s return sooner rather than later, at least in some capacity.
“We’ll see,” Franklin added. “I was out there, doing my old man workout walking around campus and then around the practice facility and saw him out there with our trainers doing rehab and things like that so we fully expect him back. When that is hard to say.”
