Central’s Bain jumps into national spotlight vs. IMG. Cristobal, UM make strong impression
.JPG "Miami Central High School take on IMG Academy in a Friday night football matchup, Bradenton ,Friday, Feb. 28, 2020.(Photo/Chris Tilley)")
It was maybe the signature performance of this still-young high school football season and, for Rueben Bain, it meant about 24 hours of swiping notifications off his phone.
The star defensive lineman was the engine for Miami Central in its stunning upset of Bradenton IMG Academy last month, racking up three sacks against an offensive line with five Division I prospects to help get Central a 20-14 win in Bradenton.
When he got back to the locker room and pulled out his phone, he had 30 minutes worth of text messages and social media alerts to tap through, and then his phone died because of how often it was lighting up. When he woke up in the morning, his phone was still buzzing with new notifications from college coaches, friends, family and even just fans praising his performance and tagging him on Twitter or Instagram. In the middle of it all, he did something out of character: He typed up a tweet and said, “I’m tired of being humble I didn’t get my respect when I was.”
“It wasn’t a bad part of it, or being cocky or anything. It was just not being quiet about what I do now,” Bain said. “Instead of letting other people talk for me, I’ll talk for myself.”
Mostly, his play speaks for itself, and it’s why he’s one of the most sought-after recruits in South Florida, with, essentially, carte blanche to pick whatever college he wants to go to. He has had a long list of powerhouse programs courting him — the Miami Hurricanes, Florida State Seminoles, Alabama Crimson Tide, Auburn Tigers and Oklahoma Sooners have been near the top of an unofficial list, and the latter three hosted him for official visits in June — and the IMG game added another one, too, with the USC Trojans now trying to get involved. He’s the No. 95 player in the Class of 2023, according to the 247Sports composite rankings, and it means the freedom to take his time with his recruitment, potentially waiting all the way until December to make a decision because almost anyone will hold a spot for him.
“That’s what I’m hearing,” the 6-foot-2, 250-pound senior said.
For the most part, he plans to spend the next few weeks and months focusing on Central’s chase for a national championship — the Rockets are up to No. 4 in MaxPreps’ rankings — and it means he isn’t actively working on setting up any more long-distance trips, except for an already scheduled trip to Kentucky for the Louisville Cardinals’ game against the Florida State Seminoles on Sept. 16.
It could ultimately create an advantageous situation for the hometown team. Bain was in Miami Gardens on Saturday for the Hurricanes’ season-opening 70-13 rout of the FCS Bethune-Cookman Wildcats and he said he’ll “most likely” be back at Hard Rock Stadium again Saturday to watch Miami host the Southern Miss Golden Eagles.
Even though it was against an FCS opponent, the Hurricanes’ win against Bethune-Cookman impressed Bain because of the way it set the tone for this new era with coach Mario Cristobal at the helm.
“It was good, especially the fans,” Bain said. “It’s a whole new atmosphere, really. I couldn’t see one Dolphins seat on the Miami side. It’s just orange and green. I had a little headache after the game, too, just how loud it was. I finally got to see the student section. It’s never been like that before, so just thinking everything now — it’s a good welcome because it shows Miami’s headed in a new direction, a better direction.”
At some point, Bain wants to get to USC and he still has two official visits left to use, but those bigger plans are all on hold, while Central chases bigger dreams.
Rockets coach Jube Joseph intentionally scheduled a bye week for Week 2, Bain said, to make sure Central would have time to come down from a potential season-opening win against the then-No. 4 Ascenders and now it continues its season Friday with a rivalry game against Booker T. Washington.
From there, the Rockets will have at least two more matchups against teams ranked in the national top 100 — Dillard and Northwestern — and could have more during the postseason, as they share Class 2M with Plantation American Heritage and Fort Lauderdale Cardinal Gibbons.
After losing back-to-back games against out-of-state opponents to start last season, Central has won 13 in a row, including a third straight state title.
“We had national championship dreams and it kind of got crushed,” Bain said. “We came back this year and did what it had to do, so now it sets us up for a national championship and we’ve just got to do our part, dominate everybody from here on out.”
