Heading home: Penn State RB Cain announces transfer destination

NOTE: See update at the bottom with where Cain is transferring. It's fascinating.

ALTOONA, Pa. -- Noah Cain showed so much promise in 2019, when everyone was convinced he was Penn State's best running back. That was, remember, even with Journey Brown on the team (and before Brown was sensational late that season).

The table was set for Cain to become a star for the Nittany Lions. He entered the 2020 season as the starting tailback, after Brown was forced to medically retire, and we all thought he was going to be in store for big things.

But it never happened.

And now, Cain will be leaving Penn State, with word coming out Wednesday that he has entered the transfer portal.

It really wasn't a surprise.

What happened with Cain? Why wasn't he able to live up to the potential he showed in 2019?

The KISS (keep it simple stupid) answer is that Cain never recovered from the unfortunate and very untimely season-ending leg injury he suffered on the first series of the season at Indiana in 2020. Had he been healthy that whole season, who knows what he might have accomplished?

Still, Cain was excited about his return during the 2021 season, and claimed he was back to being fully healthy.

But clearly he wasn't the same running back. That was evident early on in the season, when he showed little explosiveness and was tentative running the ball.

He lost the starting job to Keyvone Lee and wound up having a very disappointing season. He rushed for just 350 yards on 106 carries (3.3 ypc) and had four TDs.

Was Cain really healthy? And that question means both physically and mentally.

There was never any indication early on that he was still physically banged up. The way he was running, however, made it appear that he wasn't fully mentally over his injury. He didn't attack on runs, didn't explode into holes and just seemed unsure of himself.

Look, Penn State's running game was atrocious this past season. Absolutely awful. The offensive line was beyond abysmal in run blocking, so it may not have mattered which tailback was back there. That surely made Cain look even worse.

But again, Cain looked like a shell of the running back we saw in 2019, when he rushed for 443 yards and eight TDs on 84 carries (5.3 ypc). He also missed a good bit of time that season with injuries.

It's possible Cain wasn't 100 percent physically this past season. But again, from this perspective, it looked like a lot of the issues he was having came down more to lack of confidence or uneasiness or something mental.

Either way, Cain now will be transferring to another program. There will be a lot of suitors, no doubt, based on what he accomplished in 2019 and the potential upside he still has. If, that is, he truly is physically 100 percent.

If he is, Cain will still be able to become an outstanding college running back if he lands in the right system. He has all the tools and physical skills, as long as he takes advantage of them by running with reckless abandon, as he did in 2019.

With Cain departing, Lee figures to be the starting tailback early next season.

The Lions are bringing in the national player of the year in running back Nick Singleton, and he could be in line for an outstanding career. But it seems doubtful that Singleton will step right into college football and become the starter over Lee right away, although that potentially could happen as the 2022 season goes along.

UPDATE: Thursday, 8:30 p.m.

Cain didn't take long to find a new home, and it's actually his old home. He's headed to ... LSU, making the announcement this evening on Twitter.

Cain is from Baton Rouge, so this will be a homecoming in the truest since for him.

It was no surprise that Cain entered the transfer portal, because he faced challenges at Penn State. At the same time, it also should come as no surprise that he's headed to another major program with huge aspirations.

When healthy, Cain can be an outstanding running back. He showed that in 2019.

Can he return to that form? And as mentioned up above, that means both physically and mentally.

If he does, then Cain could end up doing big things at LSU. It's a good story for him since he's from Baton Rouge, so he will have a chance to try and become a standout playing in front of his friends and family.