Penn State Football: 3 breakout candidates for Nittany Lions in 2021

Noah Cain

Noah Cain‘s breakout season was supposed to happen in 2020. Yet he was limited to one game and three carries for 13 yards thanks to a leg injury.

It was a huge disappointment for Penn State football last season, but Cain should be healthy for the start of the season and even though the Nittany Lions added John Lovett from Baylor in the transfer portal, Cain should be the starter as long as he’s close to 100 percent.

In 2019, he burst onto the scene as a freshman with 443 yards and eight touchdowns, while averaging 5.3 yards per attempt. Keyvone Lee will also be in the mix for the Nittany Lions in the backfield, so the depth is solid.

But Penn State football has been built around a strong running game for years and one way to help quarterback Sean Clifford be more effective is getting a breakout season from Cain, who is hoping to pick up where he left off before getting hurt.