Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/1410640
Those assurances proved accurate. Cain finished the game with eight car- ries for 48 yards and a touchdown on the ground and added 27 yards receiv- ing on five catches. Along the way, he established himself as an integral com- ponent in Penn State's offensive attack, finishing with 44 total snaps out of 54 for the game while producing two of the Nittany Lions' six chunk plays. For two of his fellow offensive start- ers — senior quarterback Sean Clifford and senior wide receiver Jahan Dotson — Cain's return also revealed just how important he is to the team's success. "We know we have a great back in Noah Cain. Anytime we get the ball in his hands, we know anything can happen," Dotson said. "So that's a big focal point for us, making sure he touches the rock, because we know the type of weapon we have on our team." Or, as Clifford put it, "The Cain train is back." Cain appears poised to maintain his spot as the Nittany Lions' top run- ning back option even though the depth chart is loaded with talented players. With plenty of competitors vying for carries, a list that includes sophomores Keyvone Lee and Caziah Holmes, junior Devyn Ford and senior transfer John Lovett, Cain is focused on keeping that train steady on the tracks. Having played a significant role in one of the defining road wins of the James Franklin era at Penn State, Cain is determined to make up for all the experiences he missed out on last year. Backed by the support system of family and friends who helped him overcome those obstacles, he's well on his way to turning his goals into reality. "It was just exciting for me to be able to go out there and play the game that I love again," Cain said. "And for my mom and dad and the rest of my family to be in the stands, it was just an unreal moment. It's something I will always remember." ■ "Getting hurt the third play of the game is never in anyone's head. … I had to learn how to embrace the process every day — going through the rehab and going through a lot of roller coasters with an injury, some weeks being good, some weeks being bad." C A I N O C T O B E R 2 0 2 1 3 5 "He really sets the tone when he walks in the room," Clifford said. "We feed off of that. He's hard on you sometimes, but it's for the better. I think that I really needed that this past year, just to set my mind straight and get my confidence truly back." Establishing a rapport with Clifford was at the top of Yurcich's list of priorities when he arrived in State College after spending last season as the offensive coordinator at Texas. He has developed an outstanding quarterback at each of his previous stops at the Division I level, from Mason Rudolph at Oklahoma State to Justin Fields at Ohio State and Sam Ehlinger with the Longhorns. For Penn State to rebound from a dismal 4-5 showing in 2020, it will need much more from Clifford, whose 1,883 passing yards, 16 touchdowns and nine interceptions can only be described as a step backward from a solid first season under center in 2019. This year's opener at Wisconsin was a mixed bag, as the offense did virtually nothing in the first half, totaling just one first down, but then produced a series of big plays in the second half to lift the Lions to a 16-10 victory. Clifford competed 18 of 33 passes for 247 yards and a touchdown. He didn't have any interceptions, and Penn State won the turnover battle handily, collecting three takeaways without a single giveaway. Nittany Lions are banking on Yurcich to extract the best out of their signal-caller, and the signs this offseason have been promising, head coach James Franklin said. "Mike has been different, and I think in a lot of ways it's been good for Sean," Franklin said. "Mike is aggressive in how he coaches, and I think that's important, because come Saturdays, it's going to be an aggressive game. You've got to pick and choose your spots, and I think he does a really good job of balancing those things and putting pressure on our quarterbacks and other positions at times during practice so the games are easy. That's been our overall philosophy since I've been a head coach and how we've run our programs." Yurcich is the fourth offensive coordinator of Clifford's career with the Nittany Lions; Joe Moor- head, Ricky Rahne and Kirk Ciarrocca preceded him. Moorhead and Rahne each left to pursue head coaching opportunities, and Ciarrocca was replaced by Yurcich after just one season at the helm. The schemes, Franklin said, are similar around college football. It's the way the schemes are packaged that separates offensive coordinators, and Clifford has adjusted well to Yurcich's style. "I think one of the things that's most impressive about Sean is the way he prepares and how he is from a football IQ standpoint and understanding protections and what we need to do to solve prob- lems, things like that," Franklin said. "He does a really good job and he works at it. He's got a really good football IQ, but he also really works at it." — David Eckert W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M After a scoreless first half, Clifford was effective in the second half of Penn State's visit to Wisconsin, leading the Nittany Lions to a season-opening 16-10 victory. PHOTO BY STEVE MANUEL