The crux of a ferocious Miami Hurricanes defense, Rueben Bain Jr. was drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with the No. 15 pick in the 2026 NFL draft.
Bain has been a force over the past three seasons, winning ACC Defensive Player of the Year honors in 2025 as the Hurricanes made it all the way to the national championship game. The Miami Central High School product burst onto the scene as a freshman, and the defense took a massive step back while he battled injuries in 2024.
But alongside fellow projected first-round pick Akheem Mesidor, Bain was part of a terrifying pass rush that finished fifth in the nation in scoring and first in sacks. He sacked Marcel Reed three times in Miami's College Football Playoff opener at Texas A&M, adding Ohio State's Julian Sayin and Indiana's Fernando Mendoza, who went No. 1 overall to the Las Vegas Raiders earlier in the night, to his sack list throughout the CFP.
Bain was considered a sleeper No. 1 overall pick early in the season, but his stock fell at the NFL scouting combine in February when his short arm measurements made waves in draft circles. Then on April 13, news broke that Bain was the driver in a 2024 car crash that put a woman in a coma. She died three months later. Bain was cited with reckless driving, but the charge was later dismissed.
Those issues aside, his on-field production can't be overstated. Bain routinely fought off double teams to clear the way for Mesidor and others along the defensive line to wreak havoc upon opposing quarterbacks.
A consensus All-American in 2025, Bain set career highs with 54 tackles, 15½ tackles for loss and 9½ sacks last season for Miami. He added an interception in the season opener against Notre Dame and forced a fumble, stacking up five sacks across the Hurricanes' four College Football Playoff games.
"Bain stepped up in the College Football Playoff and that improved his stock. At 6-foot-2 and 263 pounds, his physicality and power will fit in at the NFL level immediately. He wasn't as productive numbers-wise as you'd like from a top-10 pick and his arm length may force him inside long-term. But he has the makings of a high-end No. 2 pass rusher." - Ayrton Ostly, USA TODAY
Bain did not take part in drills at the NFL scouting combine, but his official measurements caused concerns when his arm length came in at 30⅞ inches, tied for the third-shortest among edge rushers and eighth-shortest among defensive linemen at the NFL combine since 2010, according to the MockDraftable database.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Rueben Bain drafted by Buccaneers. Why Miami's star defensive end slid