The Miami Hurricanes have another first round pick in the 2026 NFL Draft as EDGE Rueben Bain Jr. earned that distinction by being taken with the 15th overall pick in the first round of the draft on Thursday night by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Similar to Mauigoa, “Hurricane” Bain is a true Miami story from start to finish. A product of Miami Central High School, where he won four consecutive state championships and racked up 77 career sacks, he turned down Alabama, Ohio State, and virtually every blue-chip program in the country to stay home and play for Mario Cristobal’s Hurricanes.
Bain came in immediately and delivered: ACC Defensive Rookie of the Year as a true freshman in 2023, followed by a sophomore year cut short by injury, and then an absolutely dominant 2025 season that saw him earn consensus first-team All-American honors and become the ACC Defensive Player of the Year. He finished with 121 career tackles, 33.5 tackles for loss, 20.5 sacks, and also had 83 pressures in 2025 alone – the most of any edge rusher in college football. Bain also recorded an interception during Miami’s magical College Football Playoff run, and his most jaw-dropping stretch came in the postseason: 6.5 of his 9.5 sacks on the year came in the final five games, all against ranked opponents.
The knock on Bain going into draft night was well-documented: his arms measured 30 7/8 inches at the combine, a historical outlier for an edge rusher position that traditionally demands elite length. Multiple evaluators raised red flags, and some publicly moved him outside the top 10 as a result. But Bain’s answer at the combine became the most memorable quote of the entire pre-draft process: comparing himself to Mike Tyson – not the tallest or the longest-limbed, but when you felt him, you felt him.
Rueben will certainly make his presence felt at the next level. Congrats, Rueben, and best of luck with the Buccaneers.
