Maybe it was the predraft noise. The fatal car accident he was never charged in. The measurements that didn’t quite fit the prototype, the kind of narrative that grows louder the closer you get to draft night.
Whatever the reason, it was enough to push Rueben Bain Jr. down the board and right into the Buccaneers’ lap at No. 15 in the first round.
The Bucs didn’t overthink it. They saw what Miami coach Mario Cristobal witnessed every Saturday — an “agent of change” for the Hurricanes program.
“I know you measure arm length and height and all that stuff, but do you measure who kicks the s--t out of who?” Cristobal said. “That’s how I assess a player and evaluate a player. If he kicked the bleep out of everybody he played against.
“If you think about it, four years ago we left the University of Oregon, we’re coming off a season where we’re playing for the conference title. Won it twice. Won a Rose Bowl and wanted to come back home to rebuild Miami, and the key to rebuilding Miami is it starts with your best local players making a stand and staying home at a time when it wasn’t popular because Miami had floundered for a while.
“It starts up front, and we knew it had to start on both sides of the ball up front, and Rueben was the key to that,“ Cristobal continued. ”The fact that he stuck with us following a 5-7 season (in 2022) and decided to be what I call an agent of change — a guy that I want to be the reason why Miami turns it around.”
The Bucs are hoping Bain can do the same for their once-proud defense under Todd Bowles, which slumped dramatically last season.
“I’d be lying if I said (Thursday) that Todd and I were going into the draft thinking there would be a good chance of getting Rueben,” general manager Jason Licht said Friday. “A lot of times we say surprises suck, but this surprise did not suck.”
Friday was a whirlwind day for Bain and his family, who attended the NFL draft on Thursday in Pittsburgh. They boarded a private jet and flew to Tampa, arriving at One Buc Place for an introductory news conference.
Bain showed up with an entourage of eight friends and family members. They toured the facility, pausing at the picture in the hallway of Pro Football Hall of Fame defensive tackle Warren Sapp, who spoke with Bain on the phone Friday. ”He was telling me this is his city," Bain said of his fellow Hurricane. “Telling me good luck, and there’s a standard to live up to.”
After meeting with the media, it was off to the indoor facility and a roundtable with several hundred Krewe Members and a panel discussion with Ring of Honor tight end Jimmie Giles and receiver Emeka Egbuka, last year’s first-round pick.
Giles took over and led the crowd in a chant of ”Tampa! Bain! Tampa! Bain!”
Expect Bain to announce his arrival loudly as a rookie. As a high school freshman, an injury forced him into the lineup at Miami Central High School, and his play prevented coaches from ever removing him.
“He just took off like his fuel was lit,” said Miami Central defensive line coach Jamal Sheffield.
That said, progress will be based on his schedule. Sheffield said Bain nearly missed the bus to his first of two state championship games.
”I had a test to do," Bain explained. “We got the pass to miss it, but I felt I was ready, so I went home and studied for it. I took it, and when it was time to leave, I almost missed the bus. I had to jump the gate and run after the bus. I made it, though.”
Cristobal correctly predicted Bain would make a successful leap from high school to ACC Defensive Freshman of the Year in 2023.
“With certain people, you know,” Cristobal said. “I mean, we don’t make those statements often, but guys like (former Oregon tackle) Penei Sewell and (quarterback Justin) Herbert and (edge rusher) Kayvon Thibodeaux, (Bain) was a guy that I knew was really special. And again, he’s only been in college for three years. Twenty-one years old.”
Cristobal believes the Bucs defense is the perfect fit for Bain. At Miami, he was coached by Hall of Fame defensive end Jason Taylor, who played for Bowles when he was the Dolphins’ defensive coordinator.
“He told me it was the perfect place to be because of the kind of player I am and the kind of coach Bowles is,” Bain said. “He’s just speaking from experience. It’s not like he’s talking out of his ass. Coach J.T., I feel like he prepared me to get ready for any place I would go.”